Here’s an article Bill wrote at PBS KIDS for Parents about helping kids discover what’s real and what isn’t online.
Author: wgbhkids
Our award-winning Molly of Denali app now features our two newest games, Alaskan Adventure where players can explore local wildlife and help Molly take pictures for her vlog and Veggiezilla where players can grow vegetables in the garden!
This app is the 2020 Winner of the Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media award from the American Library Association.
Discover how everyday kids use technology with Search It Up! a delightful, new mini-series from WGBH and PBS Kids. Real kids talk about how they use the internet, navigate with GPS, keep in touch with family, and have endless fun with phones.
The series was produced with support provided by Internet Essentials from Comcast and is currently available through the Android and iOS versions of the PBS KIDS Video app as well as the other PBS KIDS video platforms including Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast and PBSKids.org/video for desktop.
The first video is also here here and the remaining 8 follow once you start watching.
The full series can also be found at the PBS KIDS channel on YouTube.
The project was devised and produced by Senior Executive Producer Bill Shribman and it builds on his prior work in media literacy with the Ruff Ruffman: Humble Media Genius project.
Bill says, “This is a pilot and my first foray into live-action video production so I was delighted to be in the capable hands of videographer and editor Geoff Adams. We worked in a fairly unscripted fashion with the kids. Luckily, we had our third and final shoot complete in February before the virus hit. All post-production then took place under lockdown conditions.
The whimsical illustration and design was provided by Digital’s Jesse Haley, with editorial support from Gentry Menzel, Deb Frank, and Kimberlee Manora in Children’s Media and Education with Alan West holding up the business end of this maverick operation.
WGBH has been recognized with three George Foster Peabody Awards for excellence in broadcasting in 2019, including the prestigious Institutional Award for the documentary series FRONTLINE. WGBH’s Children’s Media and Education team was honored for the children’s program Molly of Denali and FRONTLINE was also recognized for the Academy Award-nominated documentary For Sama.
“The distinguished Peabody Awards reflect the highest standards of broadcast and digital media that bring to light the issues that matter today,” said WGBH president and CEO Jon Abbott. “This recognition of both FRONTLINE and Molly of Denali is a testament to the important work of these teams, committed to representing a diversity of voices and exploring critical topics that might otherwise go overlooked.”
Each year, the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors honors the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio and digital media. Peabody Awards are bestowed upon a curated collection of stories that capture society’s most important issues. Sixty nominees were selected from approximately 1,300 entries from television, radio/podcasts, and the web in entertainment, news, documentary, children’s and public service programming. Thirty of these entries were honored with a Peabody award.
The WGBH’s Children’s Media and Education team was honored for MOLLY OF DENALI, the first nationally distributed children’s series with an Alaska Native lead character. The action-adventure comedy follows resourceful 10-year-old Molly Mabray, who helps her parents run the Denali Trading Post in interior Alaska. She and her friends explore the epic surroundings and rich Native culture that is home. Like many kids today, Molly is conversant with all forms of technology and has a vlog where she shares her discoveries with others.
“Molly of Denali’s animated series, podcast and games have been embraced by audiences everywhere,” said Executive Producer Dorothea Gillim. “We are grateful to the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors for this honor, which is shared with the entire team that brought Molly and her family, friends, and community to life.”
Over 60 Indigenous writers, advisors, producers and musicians are involved across the production, which is designed to help kids ages 4-8 develop informational text skills through video content, interactive games, and real-world activities.
”The stories we tell through Molly of Denali are a reflection of the heart and values of Alaska Native peoples — our truths, our histories, and our experience,“ said Creative Producer Princess Daazhraii Johnson. “For the first time, our children are able to experience the joy in seeing themselves reflected in a positive light and this is why representation truly matters.”
Producers from WGBH and Kentucky Educational Television and researchers from EDC have been collaborating on the research and development of brand-new computational thinking activities for preschoolers! These fun hands-on activities and apps (not yet published) were all created as part of a research project funded by the National Science Foundation called Integrating Computational Thinking into Mathematics Instruction in Rural and Urban Preschools.
Preschoolers can learn modularity and math through these fun activities:
Picnic Packer
Children work together to pack a (pretend) picnic lunch.
Animal Song
Children work together create a song with different animal sounds.
Make a Counting Book
Children create a counting book by breaking down the big job of making a book into smaller jobs.
Plan a Party
Children organize a (pretend) party with cake, balloons, and decorations.
Break It Down
Children put small dances together to make a bigger dance. Get a glimpse of the modularity app in development.
See how these activities are part of a larger computational thinking preschool curriculum in this Teacher Guide.
© 2019 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Funding provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1640135. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Producers from WGBH and Kentucky Educational Television and researchers from EDC have been collaborating on the research and development of brand-new computational thinking activities for preschoolers! These fun hands-on activities and apps (not yet published) were all created as part of a research project funded by the National Science Foundation called Integrating Computational Thinking into Mathematics Instruction in Rural and Urban Preschools.
Preschoolers can learn debugging and math through these fun activities:
Children fix sound shakers that don’t make sounds.
Monkey Dance
Children practice a two-step dance and identify mistakes in the teacher’s dance steps.
Monkey Bridge
Children fix a bridge that won’t stand up.
Colorful Caterpillars
Children debug clay caterpillars with colorful patterns.
Road Repair
Children use geometric shapes to fix holes in a road so a car can get across. Get a glimpse of the debugging app in development.
See how these activities are part of a larger computational thinking preschool curriculum in this Teacher Guide.
© 2019 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Funding provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1640135. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Producers from WGBH and Kentucky Educational Television and researchers from EDC have been collaborating on the research and development of brand-new computational thinking activities for preschoolers! These fun hands-on activities and apps (not yet published) were all created as part of a research project funded by the National Science Foundation called Integrating Computational Thinking into Mathematics Instruction in Rural and Urban Preschools.
Preschoolers can learn sequencing and math through these fun activities:
Play the Robot Game
Children teach a “robot” how to put on a jacket.
Make a Monkey Story
Children put pictures in order to make a story.
Make Snack Stacks
Children follow a recipe to a make a three-layer snack.
Monkey Parade
Children line up in numerical order to march in a parade.
1, 2, 3 Picnic
Children use ordinals to step out how to pick up friends and get to a picnic. Get a glimpse of the sequencing app in development.
See how these activities are part of a larger computational thinking preschool curriculum in this Teacher Guide.
© 2019 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Funding provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1640135. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Producers from WGBH and Kentucky Educational Television and researchers from EDC have been collaborating on the research and development of brand-new computational thinking activities for preschoolers! These fun hands-on activities and apps (not yet published) were all created as part of a research project funded by the National Science Foundation called Integrating Computational Thinking into Mathematics Instruction in Rural and Urban Preschools.
Not sure what computational thinking means? Computational thinking (CT) is a creative way of thinking that empowers children to use systematic strategies while solving problems or reaching a goal. CT allows children to identify problems/goals and then brainstorm and generate solutions that can be communicated and followed by computers or humans.
CT can be learned at a young age, and it can be practiced in non-programming contexts (in other words, without a computer). CT is not the same thing as coding or computer programming—instead, it’s a stepping stone that can help children learn these important skills when they get older. Practicing CT skills can also benefit children by strengthening their early math skills.
As children do these activities and play these apps, they will be practicing basic math skills, including: counting, one-to-one correspondence, ordinals, sequencing, and identifying geometric shapes. At the same time, they will be learning three core CT skills: sequencing, debugging, and modularity.
Check out the project in this video.
© 2019 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Funding provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1640135. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
