LOOP is the working title for a multiplatform project to promote environmental and scientific literacy about sustainability for children ages 6-9 and their families. Unlike most educational materials for this age group, the LOOP approach requires the audience to learn about the interconnectedness of environmental and human systems in a cross-disciplinary manner. Produced by WGBH, the center piece of the project will be a television series designed for PBS with accompanying digital media on the web and an extensive "Get to Know Your World" outreach initiative. The U.S. Forest Service is one of the project's partners.
At this development stage, the project will: - Conduct front-end research to obtain a baseline understanding about what kids know about environmental sustainability. - Further develop and test LOOP's proposed creative style. - Produce an animatic (a simple mock-up) of a full episode and accompanying live-action video, with input from Content Directors. - Perform formative evaluation to assess the learning impact of the animatic and live-action video to inform series production. Concord Evaluation Group will conduct the front-end research to assess children's knowledge of environmental sustainability and formative evaluation of the animatic pilot. Global Mechanic is the animation producer.
The project has the potential to (1) inform the field on how to enhance young children's understanding of complex ecological concepts; and (2) "push the envelope" by exploring how mass media can support local environmental investigation and promote outdoor family explorations. Introducing children to systems thinking, especially around environmental subjects, could make a significant contribution to their understanding of and approach to STEM.
LOOP NSF’s investment in LOOP was critical for WGBH to complete the development of a multiplatform project for PBS (centered around an animated TV show), and move into full-scale production. Designed to improve the environmental and scientific literacy of children, LOOP’s intended impacts are to: (1) meet the national call to deliver educational media to 6- to 8-year-olds that increases their understanding of science and sustainability issues; (2) teach the science concepts and model the habits of mind required to understand and investigate ecosystems; and (3) connect children and their families to nature. Through this pathway project, WGBH was able to accomplish the following activities: 1. To assess kids’ baseline knowledge and attitudes about the environment and sustainability and inform the development of the project, Concord Evaluation Group (CEG) conducted front-end research with children ranging in age from 6 to 9, from diverse socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds., CEG found that kids uniformly demonstrated positive attitudes towards the environment, though their perspectives were limited. Not surprisingly, recycling featured very prominently in kids’ association with the environment. Kids understood that by not recycling humans have an impact on the environment; however, many could not explain why they recycled. Most didn’t understand that factors "far away" can affect their own environment. Kids understood that different species depend on each other for food, but did not understand that humans, animals, and plants all share, and need, the same water. Interestingly, the vast majority of kids said that they enjoyed outdoor activities but only a very small number (6%) reported that they liked to engage in nature activities. These findings corroborated our vision for the project. LOOP should expose children to ecosystems that are far away and close to home. Parallels should be drawn between the familiar and the unfamiliar. LOOP should demonstrate the interconnectedness of all living things by getting kids outdoors, investigating their own neighborhoods. Ultimately, LOOP should be a project that shows kids how to think more deeply and creatively about the world they live in, and to make choices based on what they discover. 2. WGBH produced a 25-minute animatic (animated storyboard) of a LOOP episode and an accompanying 3-minute live-action video. In the animatic, the cast has been sucked into a video game called LOOP and has landed in the "Desert World." There, they take on their first challenge: to bring a Sphinx a glass of water. Focusing on the fundamental importance of water to ecosystems, the episode’s key science concepts are that deserts are regions with very little water; deserts are created when rainfall is limited or water can’t be retained in the soil; even in a desert, there are places where water can be found (in plants, in rock formations, in oases, and in underground aquifers); and in an oasis, a concentration of water allows for a greater abundance of life. These concepts were brought to life in the "real world" through the production of the live-action video. Featuring a 9-year-old girl, the video explores how drought conditions have affected her vegetable garden. Making the connection that plants need water to survive, she learns how to conserve this precious resource by making a rain barrel. 3. To evaluate LOOP’s impact on kids’ science learning and to assess its appeal, CEG conducted a summative evaluation of the animatic and live-action video with the target audience. CEG found that kids who viewed the LOOP pilot episode demonstrated significantly better knowledge about specific science concepts than kids who did not. Kids who had watched the animatic were significantly more likely to report that there was water in the desert than kids who had not watched the pilot (75% vs. 34%); were able to describe what an "oasis" was (53% vs, 23%); and understand that water can be found underground (53% vs. 11%) or in an oasis (31% vs. 0%). 82% of the kids in the study reported that the episode helped them learn that "water is important." CEG also found that LOOP was universally appealing across gender, all races and ethnicities, all age groups, and all socioeconomic backgrounds, geographic regions, and settings. These activities, along with those funded by PBS, have allowed us to lay LOOP’s foundation. Armed with these results, WGBH submitted a proposal to NSF for full-scale development funding for LOOP. The full project includes an animated TV show, live-action videos, an immersive online game, a Web site, a mobile application, and a robust outreach initiative involving a national partner network, which will give kids, parents, and informal educators numerous, integrated ways to explore ecosystems. WGBH was awarded the grant in August 2011, which has provided us with the necessary cornerstone funding to help us attract the remaining support and fulfill our goal to create a much-needed environmental science experience for children.
