Learning Science from Children’s Radio: Summative Evaluation of Kinetic City Super Crew

The impact of four half-hour science programs aired on commercial children's radio was assessed by Dr. Barbara Flagg of Multimedia Research in a causal-comparative between-groups study with prebroadcast and postbroadcast questionnaires. Of 253 fourth graders, 34% listened to one or more shows of the Kinetic City Super Crew series. Significantly more girls listened than boys. Listeners and Non-listeners did not differ on background variables of ethnic status, science attitudes, science reading and television viewing, and participation in seven of eight common at-home science activities. After broadcast, significant group differences, all favoring Listeners over Non-Listeners, were obtained on five of twelve true-false statements and two of four science phenomena questions. Significantly more Listeners than Non-listeners engaged in home science activities, which included projects directly related to the series' content. The programs were not successful in affecting science attitudes or countering stereotypes. Overall, results were interpreted as suggesting the positive potential for using radio to expose children to science at an early age.