CYBERCHASE: Formative Evaluation of Proposed Season 3 Show Topics

Produced by Thirteen/WNET New York and Nelvana International, the Award-winning series CYBERCHASE is the only mathematics series for children on American television. Designed for kids ages 8 to 12 and packed with mystery, humor, and action, each episode delivers positive messages about math by teaching concepts in a fun way that kids can understand. The goal of this formative evaluation for Season 3 evaluation was two-fold: 1) to observe and assess the performance of third-graders on tasks related to two math topics in development for Season 3 (Angle & Distance and Logic & Reasoning) and 2) to observe and assess the behavior, language and thought processes at work as third-graders talk through their problem-solving. The evaluation would reveal the children's level of engagement, the range and quality of their thought-processing, the informal words and language they use, the mistakes they make and the extent to which they can overcome cognitive obstacles to problem-solving. This would allow us to refine our approach to the math content for the two topics under evaluation as well as authenticate the actions and dialogue of the show's characters for future episodes in development. Barbara Flagg of Multimedia Research conducted the study.