The role of formative research in teaching playful problem solving on Sesame Street

ABSTRACT

Through extensive research with early childhood educators, Sesame Workshop identified a critical educational need, as today’s preschoolers commonly lack curiosity, creativity, and perseverance in the face of challenges – an issue that impacts their ability to navigate obstacles at school and in life. To address this educational need, Sesame Street designed a playful problem-solving curriculum to help foster preschoolers’ curiosity, critical thinking skills, creativity, and perseverance which are foundational skills to instill a positive approach to learning. Following the Sesame Workshop Model, formative research played a critical role in Sesame Street story development, especially with a new curriculum focus that involved a unique story format designed to support preschoolers’ comprehension. We conducted formative research, in schools (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) and virtually (during the COVID-19 pandemic), wherein children aged 3–5 years old watched a rough draft version of an in-progress script (a “storymatic”) and researchers analyzed children’s comprehension. Findings guided script development to enhance the educational impact of each story.

KEYWORDS:

• Approaches to learning curriculum
• preschool
• playful problem solving
• cognitive processing skills
• formative research
• sesame street

Acknowledgments

We thank the Sesame Street Education Team: Autumn Zitani, Jessica DiSalvo, Hei Min You; the Production Team: Ken Scarborough, Brown Johnson, Ben Lehman, Sal Perez, Kay Wilson-Stallings; and the Research Team: Jennifer Kotler Clark, Kim Foulds, Courtney Wong Chin, and Remi Torres for all their contributions at various stages of the production process, guided by the Sesame Workshop Model.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rosemarie T. Truglio

Rosemarie T. Truglio, SVP of Curriculum and Content at Sesame Workshop, is responsible for curriculum and content development for Sesame Street and all new show productions, including Esme & Roy, Mecha Builders, Helpsters, Ghostwriter, and Bea’s Block. She is the author of Ready for School! A Parent’s Guide to Playful Learning for Children Ages 2 to 5 (2019). Dr. Truglio received a Ph.D. in Developmental and Child Psychology from the University of Kansas.

Becca Seibert Nast

Becca Seibert Nast (they/them) is the Senior Manager of Content Research at Sesame Workshop, focusing on formative research related to video content, digital games, and parent & educator resources. They have a master’s degree in Educational Theater from NYU, and they bring that perspective to their research with preschoolers for Sesame Street and Sesame Workshop content. Becca cherishes any opportunity to widely share children’s amazing points of view.