Thursday, August 28, 2008

Curious George on Monday

It's that time of year again: the new television season. There are a slew of new programs hitting the air and new seasons of existing shows, besides DVD releases of past seasons and several recent announcements of things to watch for in 2009. Among them all I wanted to make mention of one, the third season of Curious George, which premieres on Monday September 1 on PBS Kids.
 


According to KidScreen a few weeks ago, this season's curriculum will focus on Earth science concepts such as recycling, weather patterns, the water cycle, solar power, and so forth. I've been reading about the restructuring of Sesame Street's science curriculum in the 1990s, when they changed it from being based on straight-forward scientific facts to emphasize instead the process of scientific discovery. The reason for doing this was because of how the scientific method mirrors children's natural curiosity and exploration of the world. And that, of course, is what Curious George is all about, from the first book right up to the present. So a science curriculum seems more than appropriate, and I expect it won't diminish the narrative quality of the show at all. Plus the fact that the show is co-produced by WGBH Boston, which already has its science pedagogy down pat via a few seasons of Peep and the Big Wide World, one of my favorite shows on the air. All in all I expect great things from Curious George this season.

You can see the show's Wikipedia page here or its official website here

1 comment:

Kellie said...

I always feel like a smarter and more informed parent after reading your posts, Randy. Thanks!