Webinar Notes: Peep and the Big Wide World

Focused on kids 2-7 - 'Anywhere Science and Math'.

Goals model inquiry process skills
Encourage parents and caregivers to support childrens' hands on science and math

Half hour format
Narrated by Joan Cusack
110 animated stories
110 live action segments
97 offline anywhere science and math activities
New epsiodes exlusive to public television

Measurable Impact on Kids
- making predictions
- Making observations
- Applying problem solving strategies and successfully solving problems

Measurable Impact on Teachers
- Teachers become more involved over time with science
- More confident in teaching science topics
- Better able to create instructional environment supportive of science
- Easier to teach math,
- Easier to ask open ended questions

Educational Outreach
- WGBH worked with series advisers to create resources intended for informal educators and classroom teachers respectively.
- wanted to motivate parents to help them become more comfortable and let them understand they don't need to know everything about a topic in order to teach their youngsters
- This year special focus on Spanish speakers. Latinos very underrepresented in Science careers. Website has a spanish speaking portal.

For Families
- Neighborhood Safari - contains a parents guide and childrens activity pages. 9 Investigations in the Safari, ranging from documentation to how to use natural materials.
- Large library of anything science and math activities - eg. measuring distances with steps. Activities relate to a child's immediate environment.
- Teachers use this activities to help round out teaching principles in the classroom as well.

Explorers guide for Classrooms -
+ Field tested in 52 Head Start classrooms.
+ With 3 thematic units published originally,
+ Embraced by teachers from NHSA, NEA, and NACCRRA.
+ Now expanded to 6 topics.
* Go to peepandthebigwideworld.org/resources

Event Kit for discreet events, useful for PBS Stations.
+ 3 Separate events - shadows, structures and ramps.
+ Informative readers guides
+ Promotional fliers and press release
+ Evaluation form.
* Go to peepandthebigwideworld.org/resources

Station Support at
resourceroom.wgbh.org
+ Station toolkit
+ Web assets
+ NEW costume characters
+ Free tattoos
+ Coming: HTML postcard and e-blast to promote new Peep Explorer's Guide.

Education: The Examined Life, Age 8 - NYTimes.com

Via by Eóin Cunningham
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18philosophy-t.html

"A few times each month, second graders at a charter school in Springfield, Mass., take time from math and reading to engage in philosophical debate. There is no mention of Hegel or Descartes, no study of syllogism or solipsism. Instead, Prof. Thomas E. Wartenberg and his undergraduate students from nearby Mount Holyoke College use classic children’s books to raise philosophical questions, which the young students then dissect with the vigor of the ancient Greeks."Read More

STEM Advisory Seminar #3: Math Examples

Advisors presented STEM overview and current methodology, and explored both the integration of and the underlying processes linking content areas for both the Sesame Street and The Electric Company target audiences.

Sesame Worskhop will be focusing on STEM over a 2 year period, targeting all platforms including TV, Online, Publishing, Products etc.

Sara Sweetman, M.Ed.        Science Inquiry Specialist, University of Rhode Island
Preeti Gupta, Ph.D.           Senior Vice President for Education and Family Programs, New York Hall of Science   
Sybilla Beckmann, Ph.D.      Professor of Mathematics, University of Georgia

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3. Math Examples
Sybilla Beckmann, Professor of Mathematics, University of Georgia.

When thinking of math in terms of STEM, one way can describe math as the LANGUAGE of science and technology.

MATH PROCESS
1. Understand what the problem is --> what do we want to figure out?
2. Mathematize the situation --> bring out the math!
3. Solve the problem --> Explain the solution.
4. Look back and make connections to other situations.

UNITIZINGUnitizing makes math owrk. Creating a unit out of something, that makes a component out of something bigger.

** we could make a nice game out of this.

MATHEMATIZINGMathematical aspects:
    how many?
    how many more?
    how many in all?
    what kind of shape is this?

Formulate the situation in a mathematical way.
    eg.  small circles stand for actual things
           geometric shapes to model real-world objects.

COUNTING VS HOW MANYIt can be a difficult concept for pre-k kids to understand the concept of counting vs 'how many all together'.  Sybilla gave an example activity that showed how this can help:

More bugs or Beds?

Grouping by tens

Understanding teen numbers as tens and some ones

SHOW STRUCTURE BEHIND PROBLEMS
Showing physical examples of multiplication