June 2nd, 2013 | EVALUATION
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.
Document
2015-09-30_ScientasticSummative_062513.pdf
Team Members
Planet Earth Television, Inc., ContributorCamellia Sanford-Dolly, Evaluator, Rockman et al
Funders
Funding Source: NSF
Award Number: 1248211
Funding Amount: 166201
Related URLs
Tags
Audience: Educators | Teachers | Elementary School Children (6-10) | Families | Middle School Children (11-13)
Discipline: General STEM | Health and medicine
Resource Type: Evaluation Reports | Interview Protocol | Research and Evaluation Instruments | Summative | Survey
Environment Type: Broadcast Media | Media and Technology | Websites | Mobile Apps | Online Media