{"id":963289,"date":"2021-05-20T13:41:41","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T17:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/proof-pbs-kids\/"},"modified":"2023-09-27T02:53:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T06:53:37","slug":"proof-pbs-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/proof-pbs-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Proof that PBS KIDS\u00a0Continues to\u00a0Fulfill\u00a0Our Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Part of our job at WFSU is to help local educators find which PBS LearningMedia<\/a> resources are best for them to incorporate into their curriculum and why. Today, I want to help discuss the \u201cand why\u201d when we talk to educators about <\/span>Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>is a PBS KIDS program that aired in the summer of 2019. It has educational value in each episode<\/span>, and the show\u2019s curriculum is centered around teaching children about\u00a0<\/span>informational<\/span>\u00a0text\u2014how,\u00a0when,\u00a0why it\u2019s used.\u00a0<\/span>With that in mind, researchers began to ask questions: how effective is\u00a0<\/span>Molly of Denali\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(the show\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span><\/i>\u00a0the online games and apps) at teaching children about informational texts<\/span>?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With that in mind, e<\/span>ight brilliant authors from Education Development Center (EDC) and SRI Education recently published a\u00a0<\/span>massive<\/span><\/i>\u00a0study that evaluates the effectiveness of\u00a0<\/span>Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>. I\u2019ll link the research paper in its entirety at the bottom of the article, but I\u2019d like this article to exist as a summary of their work that\u2019s more accessible for everyone to take in because the original piece is\u00a0<\/span>51 pages long<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To briefly go over the goal of the study, researchers essentially want to know if\u00a0<\/span>Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>\u00a0is doing what it set out to do\u2014educate young children on how to approach, use, and be comfortable with informational text while being entertained at the same time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start with a quick overview<\/span>\u00a0of the first study:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team recruited 127 children from low-income families that weren\u2019t familiar with\u00a0<\/span>Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>. They then split the kiddos into two groups: one group had tablets stuffed with\u00a0<\/span>Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>\u00a0videos and software (and web\/app usage tracking software), and the other group\u00a0<\/span>had dummy tablets that had all\u00a0<\/span>Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>\u00a0material blocked, along with several other apps with strong informational text content. Families used the tablets an hour each week and logged their activity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They also<\/span>\u00a0administered\u00a0<\/span>pre- and post-exams to the children to gauge how effective of a learning tool\u00a0<\/span>Molly<\/span><\/i>\u00a0turned out to be.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though the pre-test was in-person\u00a0and the post-test was remote (COVID-19 prevented both tests from being in person), the kiddos in group 1 showed a significantly greater ability to use informational texts to solve problems and answer questions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After a successful first study, the team conducted another study to see if they could replicate the results of the first one.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the second study, the team tried to reach a more national audience. The largest difference, however, was that the entirety of study 2 had to be conducted remotely. Only the second half of the first study was affected by COVID-19. The circumstances of the second study were largely the same, barring some logistical changes to account for handling the study remotely. Sure enough, the second study parroted the findings of the first one. As far as the research can measure,\u00a0<\/span>Molly of Denali\u00a0<\/span><\/i>seems to be working.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some key findings<\/span>\u00a0and takeaways<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Younger children benefitted more from\u00a0<\/span>Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>\u00a0than older children.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>\u00a0doesn\u2019t appear to be significantly more or less effective based on gender, parent income, or parent education.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. The Molly of Denali\u00a0<\/span>games were\u00a0<\/span>not<\/span><\/i>\u00a0predictive of measurable learning. The games are good for engagement, but the videos seem to be where the education is at (for the time being).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Children that were more interested in\u00a0<\/span>Molly of Denali<\/span><\/i>\u00a0tended to score slightly higher than those who weren\u2019t.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          If this study tells us anything\u00a0<\/span>it’s that learning happens anywhere and everywhere. Even when our kiddos are enjoying time with the\u00a0<\/span>tablet, they\u2019re still learning, so it\u2019s on us to make sure that what they\u2019re watching is of the highest quality. I think Mr. Rogers said it best: <\/span>\u201cPlay is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious\u202f<\/span>learning<\/span>. But for children<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0play\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span><\/i>\u00a0serious\u202f<\/span>learning<\/span>. Play is really the work of childhood.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

          <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Check out one example of how PBS KIDS puts their money where their mouth is when it comes to research-driven content and curriculum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":963290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-963289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ed-scoop"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 01:18:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963289"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":963291,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963289\/revisions\/963291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/963290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

          If you want to check out the full research paper, you can do so here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n