Abstract
This study investigated whether a major new children’s television series on mathematics, produced primarily for an at-home audience, could be “repurposed” for classroom use. Segments were selected from the PBS children’s series, “Square One TV,” and edited into 30 videocassettes organized by curriculum topics. Teachers in two public elementary schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts, used the cassettes over a 10-week period. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected, including teacher interviews, teacher journals of classroom use, researcher observations, a survey of student attitudes toward mathematics, and student interviews. Teachers found the reformatted cassettes to be useful motivational and instructional resources, especially in demonstrating connections between mathematical ideas and real-world situations. A videotape of teacher and student responses is available from the authors.
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This paper written while Dr. Chen was an assistant professor at the same school, won the Instructional Video Paper Competition marking the 25th anniversary of the Agency for Instructional Technology, Bloomington, Indiana.
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Chen, M., Ellis, J. & Hoelscher, K. Repurposing children’s television for the classroom: teachers’ use of “square one tv” videocassettes. ECTJ 36, 161–178 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02765465
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02765465