Author(s)

Donna Farland-Smith, Theodore Chao

The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.

In an effort to compare what process skills preschoolers were exposed to during an average episode of Sid the Science Kid and an average episode of Team Umizoomi 35 episodes of each were compared using T-test statistical analysis. The goal of this study was to analyze evidence of process skills in each episode: observing, inferring, classifying, measuring, predicting, and communicating and compare each math and science show and determine their differences in their use of inquiry to presentation science and mathematics content. Results demonstrated a significant difference between the two shows with preschoolers being exposed to observing and communicating when watching Sid the Science Kid and preschoolers being exposed to classifying and measuring while watching Team Umizoomi. In addition, it is worth mentioning that young children watching Team Umizoomi are experiencing more questions when compared with Sid the Science Kid.

Mathematics, Science, Preschool

Farland-Smith, D. and Chao, T. (2017) What Are My Children Watching? Analyzing the Scientific & Mathematical Questions of Preschool Television Shows Using Process Skills. Creative Education, 8, 847-856. doi: 10.4236/ce.2017.86061.