‘Sesame’ To Launch Science Story Series
Slimey, the intrepid sidekick of Oscar the Grouch on “Sesame Street,” is poised to go boldly where no worm has gone before: outer space.
In an attempt to do for science what it has long done for the A-B-Cs and 1-2-3s, “Sesame Street” will launch an 18-week story line next week that will send Slimey to the moon.
“We’ve never done anything like this before,” said “Sesame Street” executive producer Michael Loman. “But we thought it would be a wonderful way to introduce a science curriculum to the show.”
Slimey’s lunar adventure begins when WASA - Worm and Space Agency - announces it is looking for a few good worms to undertake a mission to the moon. Like many brave space explorers before him, Slimey heeds his country’s call and wriggles into action.
His journey will be the centerpiece of “The Science of Discovery,” the running theme of the 29th season of “Sesame Street.” Celebrity guests like Bill Nye the Science Guy and author Alice Walker will explore such phenomena as rain, light and stars with the furry denizens of “Sesame Street” and the at-home audience of 11 million.
While science programs aren’t new, programs like Nye’s show and “The Magic School Bus” are aimed at an older audience. Walking a preschool audience through a lengthy scientific story line represents something new; indeed, “Sesame Street” is touting this season as “the first-ever science-based curriculum for preschoolers.”
Children’s TV advocate Peggy Charren, said the subject of science is easy compared to death, a topic they covered when the actor playing Mr. Hooper died.
“Science is something that is getting more and more important, because the health of the planet depends so much on understanding what we’re doing to it,” she said.
But are toddlers really ready for science lessons?
“We aren’t going to be teaching heavy-duty gravity to 2-year-olds,” Loman said. “We just want to give them an idea of the world around them, in the same way we try to prepare them by teaching the alphabet. We’ll teach them that the moon is very, very, very far away from them, that it’s way beyond the birds flying in the sky.”
The idea of introducing science to “Sesame Street” originated among preschool education experts who participated in a series of seminars convened by the Children’s Television Workshop, which produces the show. CTW programmers were told that science is an underexplored area on television.
“Since our mission is preparing children for success when they go to school, we felt this was a good time to explore science,” he said.
The story line will allow the program to incorporate the subject of computers, an area some fear poor children are being left behind, Lowman said.
From liftoff on Monday to landing on May 15, Slimey and crew will undergo a variety of adventures designed to teach basic science, literacy and social lessons to preschoolers.