On September 26, Sesame Street launched its 42nd season with a new focus: science, technology, engineering, and math. The show will teach preschoolers about STEM to help prepare them for school in areas where the U.S. is falling behind other countries.
Throughout the season, the show’s loveable characters will use scientific inquiry on challenging problems—from experiments on “what worms like to squirm on best” to engineering a boat for Zoe’s pet rock—to get kids thinking like engineers and scientists.
While once students were lucky if they got any exposure to engineering before they hit college, this push to show younger and younger kids the excitement of engineering and technology reflects a growing national trend.
PE magazine examines this overall effort as well as one specific program in the October cover story, “Learning Liftoff.” The article tells about an extraordinary after-school program at Cora Kelly STEM School in Alexandria, Virginia, which complements the elementary school’s daytime science, technology, engineering, and math curriculum with fun hands-on activities for students, such as building bottle rockets and solar boats.
There are also some great multimedia resources to complement the article: an extra photo slideshow, videos, and a podcast.
Watch an ABC News segment about Sesame Street's venture into science, technology, engineering, and math.
