Sixty years ago, Joan Ganz Cooney asked whether television could do more than capture children’s attention—could it help them learn how to think? That idea became a hallmark of Sesame Street, where children were invited to sing along, answer back, and go make things. Today, children are not just watching media; they’re creating, designing, and shaping it.
This week, our contributors to The Blueprint Outlasted the Medium explore what it means to move from making media for children to making it with them—and why engagement and learning are not the same.
“Everyone, without exception, advanced the view that the children should be encouraged, and provided every opportunity to interact with the program, by singing, dancing, clapping, and answering questions, so viewing would be active, not passive.”
—The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education, 1966
Michael Preston | Gary Goldberger | Sal Perez | Elizabeth Milovidov | Jason Krogh | Jason Yip
Read more contributions to The Blueprint Outlasted the Medium: The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education, Sixty Years Later.
