Bill Nye the Science Guy is a widely-viewed, children's television series on science. Designed for eight-to-ten year olds, this series is shown in late afternoons Monday through Friday on PBS stations and on commercial television over the weekends. Rockman et al, an independent research group in San Francisco, was contracted by KCTS, Seattle, WA, to undertake an evaluation of the Bill Nye the Science Guy television series. The evaluation was charged with exploring the impact of the series on children at home, in school, and in other settings where children can watch television. Both the
Research Communications Ltd. will develop research designs, measurement, and analysis techniques for the assessment of the impacts of informal science learning television programming and other media. Experts in the fields of psychology, science education, communications research, and evaluation and testing will develop methodologies and instruments to: better assess impact on attitudes, cognition, and behavior for specific audiences, take into account the idea that informal science learning may take a variety of forms, and better assess cumulative impacts of television and other media on informal science learning. The PI's for the project will be Valerie Crane, President of RCL, and Beth Rabin and Suzanne Carter, both on the RCL staff. Advisors would include experts in research on children's television programming such as Ellen Wartella and Keith Mielke, specialists in inquiry-based learning and formal and informal science curricula such as Matthew Schneps, and specialists in evaluation and testing such as Edward Chittenden.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Valerie CraneBeth RabinSuzanne Carter
This project will explore new ways to reach a broadcast audience wider than those who normally would watch an NSF funded television program on PBS. The PI will define new, non-competitive relationships between PBS and other broadcast or cable venues and will explore incentives for pursuing such relationships. The specific tasks to be conducted under the grant include: developing and testing procedures for distributing a program or series in a venue in addition to PBS, implementing such distribution, and evaluating the impact on audience size in the new venue as well as on subsequent broadcast on PBS. The final report will document the results of this research and describe the steps required to arrange for multiple venues. This project represents examination of an untested idea, the results of which may establish the basis for significantly increasing the impact of broadcast programming supported by NSF. Traditionally, when PBS has agreed to schedule a program or series, they have insisted on a window of exclusivity for a period three years. If the data from this project indicates that broadcast of a PBS program in a new venue reaches new audiences and, potentially, attracts some of that audience to PBS, it should establish a more open attitude on the part of PBS toward multiple venues at a much earlier time.