Sam Schwall- 1st period 'Sesame Street' Widens Its Focus

    

        I chose the article ‘Sesame Street’ Widens Its Focus, by Elizabeth Jensen. The article, published on the New York Times website, looks at the attempts by Sesame Workshop, an educational organization to incorporate subjects like engineering and physics in their Sesame Street programming. The company is planning to launch their new material on September 24^th. Despite that fact that math and science might not sound like easy subjects to explain to a preschooler, supporters believe that it makes perfect sense, given the love for exploration seen in young children. Studies have shown that the programming has led to improvement in answering questions regarding basic science and physics.

            The purpose of this article was to inform Americans of the new direction being taken by Sesame Street and to perhaps to publicize its launch for parents of young kids. Because the story was written for the New York Times, the opinions presented may have an American slant to them. It was posted on September 2^nd, which makes it especially relevant as these new materials are being aired on the 24^th. The article was interesting to me because, while growing up I watched Sesame Street so the presentation of a new concept within the show was significant to me. I wasn’t aware of this new programming before reading this article. The story mostly had a positive influence on the reader in mind, as it is presenting innovations in educating youth. This issue is important because it involves exposing concepts that are vital to our culture to its next generation. I predict that we will see more of this more sophisticated programming for the 3-5 set in the near future.