Scientastic! Summative Evaluation Report

Planet Earth Television (PET) created Scientistic!, a television series that focuses on a young girl's scientific investigations of the world around her. The pilot episode, Sticks and Stones, explored bones and how they heal. A website and iPad app were also developed to supplement the program. REA evaluated the impact of the television program, website, and app on youth's knowledge about and interest in science and specific topics related to bone health and healing. REA recruited youth (grades 1-7) to participate either at home with their families or in a classroom with their teachers. REA developed surveys for youth to complete before and after viewing the episode, as well as after using the website and app. Parents and teachers were asked to track their use of the materials via a participant log, and to provide their opinions of the Scientistic! resources via telephone interviews. Key Findings - After watching the program, youth were significantly more confident in asking a scientific question, significantly increased their belief that science helps us understand the world, and were significantly more likely to indicate that they would ask a content expert in order to find out more information about a particular topic. - After watching the pilot episode, youth demonstrated a significantly deeper understanding of bones and could provide more sophisticated explanations of the healing process. - After watching the pilot episode, youth became significantly more familiar with science-related vocabulary. The website helped participants become even better acquainted with these terms.

Appendix includes instruments.