KIDS FIRST! News

Cartoons help make learning fun, even for kids who struggle with reading. Did you know that financier Charles Schwab was dyslexic and passed his literature classes by doing book reports based on comic-book versions of classic stories? Jim Davis, creator of the Garfield comic series, incorporated the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation SparkTop.org content with the Professor Garfield Foundation programming in 2007 to create a fun website where kids go to have fun and learn. The programs are designed specifically for children with learning and attention problems, although all kids benefit from the free edutainment.

“One of the unexpected joys of being in this line of work has been hearing from the parents of children who learned to read thanks to the Garfield comic strip,” said Davis. “After nearly 30 years of doing the strip, we’ve heard this often enough that we’re convinced the strip is a great teaching tool – the simple combination of words and pictures stimulates learning. That’s why we created the Professor Garfield Foundation and the Professor Garfield website. We all learn in different ways, or as SparkTop.org says, ‘No two brains spark alike.’ It’s very gratifying that the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation elected Garfield to carry on their vision. It’s a responsibility we take seriously. It will encourage us to redouble our efforts to help kids grow and learn.”

CYBERCHASE, the only math series for children on American TV will be premiering new episodes starting on April 20, featuring NBC-TV meteorologist Janice Huff as part of its seventh-season Weather Watchers initiative that helps kids learn more and get motivated about climate change.CYBERCHASE’s Weather Watchers episodes explore real-world math connections in a context that encourages kids to take action and seek answers to our environmental problems. The Weather Watchers initiative features five math and weather-themed episodes, including four new premieres, an interactive Web game on pbskidsgo.org/cyberchase, a hands-on activity booklet, tips for parents and teachers, and other outreach efforts.The CYBERCHASE episodes embed math concepts in situations where the CyberSquad measures physical properties, quantifies atmospheric conditions and makes predictions to get out of jams. Janice Huff will be featured on the first two premiere week episodes, April 20 and 21 (check local listings). In three live-action shortform videos for Weather Watchers, to debut on CYBERCHASE Online and the PBS KIDS GO! broadband player, Cyberchase goes behind the scenes with meteorologist Janice Huff, the voice of Stormy Gale in the Weather Watchers episodes, and real kids engage in weather-related activities that motivate viewers to “try this at home!”The Cyberchase Weather Watchers programs are:·               “Gone with the Fog” (April 20, new! Check local listings) The Cybersquad must figure out the mysteries of dew point to make a daring rescue under the cover of fog.  Math topics:  Algebraic Thinking, measurement.  Weather topic:  Fog·                “The Emperor Has Snow Clothes” (April 21, new! Check local listings) Hacker turns the Emperor of Penguia into an icy statue, and the kids have to track a powerful storm so they can avoid it and save the Emperor from a frozen fate.  Math topic: Algebraic thinking.  Weather topic:  Tracking Storms·               “The X Factor” (April 22, EARTH DAY, new! check local listings) One tiny, seemingly harmless act multiplied hundreds of times creates a huge problem in Perfectamundo, and the CyberSquad must use that same power of multiplication to find a solution.  Math topic: Power of Multiplication.  Weather topic:  Climate Change.·               “Blowin’ In The Wind” (April 23, new! check local listings) The key to curing Motherboard’s virus may be at the windiest place in the Northern Frontier, and the CyberSquad must measure and compare wind speeds to find it.  Math topic: Measurement.  Weather topic:  Wind Speed.·               “Digit’s B-Day Surprise” (April 24, encore.  Check local listings) In a misunderstanding about a surprise b-day party, Hacker nearly convinces Digit to join his team!  Math topic: Measurement.  Weather topic:  Evaporative cooling.

In response to the phenomenally successful first round of qubopics premieres, qubo, the TV and online entertainment service for children and families, will again select user-generated short animated films to debut on national TV.   Between now and April 30, 2009, aspiring young filmmakers can create mini animated movies at qubo.com using the innovative storytelling web application called ZIMMER TWINS.  Fifteen films will be selected by qubo to be professionally adapted into fully animated mini movies and screened on national TV this summer on qubo Channel as well as on qubo’s broadcast blocks on NBC, ION Television and Telemundo.

Launched on qubo.com in the fall of 2007, the Zimmer Twins, Edgar and Eva, are animated characters featured in interactive cartoons that kids can create from scratch, modify and share with their friends in a rich, safe web environment.  The ZIMMER TWINS section on qubo.com includes storytelling tools, pre-made animated clips and simple editing instructions that tap into kids’ inherent love of stories.  The clips and storytelling prompts explore classic kid themes like science, animals, magic and adventure.  The animation interface is designed around the basic elements of sentence structure, and reinforces reading, grammar, and writing techniques. After creating their stories, users can post and share their creations and even vote for their favorite user-created submissions online.  In 2007, the ZIMMER TWINS won the International Interactive Emmy® Award.

Last fall, nearly 25,000 children logged in to qubo.com to create nearly 50,000 qubopic ZIMMER TWINS films.  Qubo selected twelve stellar user-generated animations to be adapted into professionally animated films, converting them into high-resolution video with broadcast quality color, music and sound effects.  Qubo also enlisted actors to record the character voices and narration created by the filmmakers in their text bubble script. The qubopics were broadcast on qubo Channel and on qubo’s broadcast blocks between December 2008 and February 2009.

            Since the first round of qubopic ZIMMER TWINS film began premiering on qubo, the number of films and users has virtually doubled. An additional 66,000 ZIMMER TWINS films have been created on qubo.com in the past few months with more than 110,000 original user-generated animated films now posted on qubo’s site.  The number of registered users has more than doubled since December to reach more than 53,000!   Beyond driving a huge influx of  traffic to qubo.com, another measure of the qubopic initiative’s success are the feature stories that were garnered for the twelve young filmmakers among their local media.

“We were thrilled with the response to our first round of qubopic premieres and can’t think of a better way to honor and thank our viewers than by launching a second effort,” said  Rick Rodriguez, president and general manager, qubo.  “We are proud to showcase the creativity of these talented children on our air. The ZIMMER TWINS helps reinforce qubo’s mission of engaging children’s minds while promoting reading and literacy.”      ZIMMER TWINS is created by zinc Roe design, a company that specializes in advanced flash development and new media projects for children and youth. The property is licensed to qubo by Bejuba! Entertainment Inc.

Exposing infants and toddlers to television does not improve their language and visual motor skills at age 3, but does not appear to harm them either. In the study, “Television Viewing in Infancy and Child Cognition at 3 Years of Age in a US Cohort,” researchers looked at the amount of time 872 children spent watching television or videos from birth to 2 years of age, then assessed their language and visual motor skills at age 3. When researchers adjusted for other factors that could influence these skills, such as maternal education and breastfeeding, the effect of television appeared neutral.Dr. Marie Evans Schmidt, one of the authors of this study, offers more insight on the study and its results:CP: What was your reasoning behind doing this study?MS: In our prospective longitudinal cohort, we tested whether TV viewing in the first two years of life had any measurable impact on children’s  vocabulary and visual motor skills test scores at age 3.CP: What surprised you the most as you did the study?MS: We were most surprised that we didn’t find any effects of TV viewing in infancy on cognition (once relevant socioeconomic/demographic variables were controlled). We had hypothesized that hours of TV viewed would have negative effects on childhood cognition scores. The cohort was large and statistically we had enough power to detect a relationship if one was present, so, again, I think we were mostly surprised that hours of TV viewed did not have a negative effect on cognitive test scores.CP: Surprisingly (to me), it seemed as if children viewing Sesame Streetwere at a bit of a disadvantage over those who watched programs likeArthur, which is actually for older children, and yet studies haveshown that children who watch Sesame Street have improved overallscores in longitudinal studies. What is your take on this?MS: We didn’t look at content in this study. I think you might be referring to another study, most likely Linebarger and Walker (2005) . They found the results you describe. Linebarger and Walker (2005) have speculated that the reason they found positive effects on language from Arthur but not from Sesame Street is because Arthur follows a linear narrative whereas at that time Sesame Street did not (they now incorporate more narrative content in Sesame Street). The longitudinal study you are referring to, I think, is one by Dan Anderson et al (2001), which showed that Sesame Street viewing in preschool (age 3 +) was related to higher high school grades; the Linebarger study was looking at Sesame Street viewing between ages 6 and 30 months, I believe, so different age groups are represented in the two studies. I suspect that is why you find the difference.CP: When parents go to show media to their babies, are there certaintypes and styles you can recommend (please feel free to pull inexperience other than this report).MS: I don’t recommend that parents show media to their babies, especially the little ones. No studies have found positive effects of baby videos, and some studies have found negative effects, so I see no benefit, to the child, of watching those videos. Once children reach the second half of infancy, say 15 months to 2 or so, I think parents can try some educational TV, such as Elmo’s World, or Barney (curriculum based shows designed for toddlers). However, I would keep TV to a minimum at this age, since research overall has yet to find clear benefits. Once children reach preschool age (3+), I recommend age appropriate educational, curriculum based programming, with no commercials, if possible. These days, there are a lot of great educational programs for children. And, of course, I always recommend books!In general, I recommend parents choose content very carefully, as most research suggests what children watch is more important than how much. For babies, I would limit TV as much as possible, as there are no clear benefits to TV viewing in infancy. For older children, I recommend limiting the amount to no more than 10-11 hours a week, as high levels of TV viewing have been associated with obesity and sleep disturbances. I also recommend keeping the TV off in the home when no one is watching and limiting children’s exposure to adult TV as much as possible. Other research I have done, with Dan Anderson, suggests that TV in the background may disrupt children’s focused attention during toy play.

Kids Streaming More than

One Million Video Clips Per Week on pbskidsgo.org

As a media leader exploiting new technology for educational enrichment, PBS KIDS GO! announced today the expansion of its video player capabilities to include new in-video gaming on pbskidsgo.org (www.pbskids.org/go/video).  Embedded in PBS KIDS GO! popular curriculum-based series, the new games foster greater learning comprehension and enhance the digital experience for early elementary school children. Currently, the PBS KIDS GO! video player offers hundreds of video clips and dozens of full-length episodes, and is streaming more than one million clips each week.

The first series adding the game overlay to online videos include ARTHUR, FETCH! WITH RUFF RUFFMAN, CYBERCHASE and WORDGIRL. THE ELECTRIC COMPANY and other series will feature this new gaming option in the coming months.

“PBS is committed to raising the bar when it comes to developing kids interactive experiences that are fun and educational,” said Jason Seiken, SVP of PBS Interactive. “Kids are accessing and using media in myriad ways. As pioneers of this new technology, PBS KIDS GO! is creating an even more immersive and enriching experience for children to further their learning alongside their favorite characters.”

“We’ve combined two of the things that kids love most – great TV shows and cool games – and are thrilled to bring such incredible interactivity to kids whenever they want it,” added Sara DeWitt, Senior Director of PBS KIDS Interactive. “As the leader in educational media, PBS KIDS GO! will continue to reach out to this audience with content that will bring learning with media to a new level.”  

With full screen, closed captioning, Spanish audio, and sharing and voting features, the PBS KIDS GO! video player showcases full episodes, sneak previews and clip highlights from PBS KIDS GO! broadcast properties primarily serving children ages 6 to 8, an audience with limited age-appropriate media choices. With fresh content added weekly, properties include ANIMALIA, ARTHUR, CYBERCHASE, DESIGN SQUAD, DRAGONFLYTV, THE ELECTRIC COMPANY, FETCH! WITH RUFF RUFFMAN, MARTHA SPEAKS, MAYA & MIGUEL, POSTCARDS FROM BUSTER, WISHBONE, WORDGIRL and ZOOM.  Additionally, kids can browse by themes, such as “robots” and “Earth Day,” and enjoy Web-exclusive content from pbskidsgo.org series including THE GREENS, KRATTS’ CREATURES and KIDS WORLD SPORTS.

Available on both Macs and PCs, the PBS KIDS GO! video player is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and is available at www.pbskids.org/go/video. The video player is also available via Web sites of participating local PBS member stations.

PBS KIDS GO! is an educational multimedia destination specifically designed for early elementary school kids which debuted online at pbskidsgo.org and as an afternoon program block on PBS member stations in October 2004. PBS KIDS worked closely with early elementary school kids and industry experts to create this destination for an audience with limited choices for media content that is both fun and educational. With engaging, smart, age-appropriate content and a fun, quirky setting, PBS KIDS GO! empowers kids to discover themselves, define the diverse world around them, explore new relationships and embrace a love of learning.  Pbskidsgo.org hosts sites from all PBS KIDS GO! series alongside unique destinations such as “EekoWorld” – an environment where kids create their own creatures and monitor them in the wild, and “It’s My Life” – a forum for kids to delve into the daily issues of school, family and friends. The PBS KIDS GO! Web site is also home to several PBS primetime companion sites, such as HISTORY DETECTIVES FOR KIDS, JAZZ, and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’S WAYBACK.

PBS KIDS, for preschoolers, and PBS KIDS GO!, for early elementary school kids, offer all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, online and outreach programs. With positive character role models and content designed to nurture a child’s total well-being, PBS’s online and community resources – including PBS KIDS online (pbskids.org), PBS KIDS GO! online (pbskidsgo.org), PBS Parents (pbsparents.org), PBS Teachers (pbsteachers.org), PBS KIDS Raising Readers and literacy events across the country – leverage the full spectrum of media, technology and community to build knowledge, critical thinking, imagination and curiosity. Empowering children for success in school and in life, only PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS GO! have earned the unanimous endorsement of parents, children, industry leaders and teachers. PBS is a nonprofit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation’s 356 public television stations, serving more than 115 million people on-air and online each month and reaching 99% of American homes.