On November 10th, 1969, the first episode of Sesame Street was aired on public television.  It featured the numbers 2 and 3 and the letters E, S, and W.  The show, produced by the Children's Television Workshop, was part of an experimental program designed to prepare young children for formal education.  It was funded by an eight million dollar grant from The Carnegie Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the U.S. Office of Education, the Office of Economic Opportunity and other federal agencies.
 

The development of Sesame Street involved significant research.  Developers wanted to know if techniques used in commercial television would be adaptable to teaching via television.  It was an experiment in public broadcasting, preschool instruction, film and television production, formative research and evaluation and the use of professional audience building techniques.  At the time of its development, it was the most researched, tested and studied program to date.  The primary challenge was to make the show entertaining without compromising the instructional objectives.

In the preliminary stages, an animation spot was developed to teach the letter J.  It was designed to be similar to a commercial.  This piece was known as the J Spot.  In the J Spot, the letter J was introduced and there was much repetition accompanied by a jingle.  The jingle allowed children to participate along with the piece.  Research showed that the repetition enhance learning and the animation captured the attention of young children.

In development of the program, several guidelines were established.  The show needed to be lively and full of novelty and variety.  There would be frequent use of animals, children and adults speaking in a friendly and affirming manner.  Several levels of learning would be built in for three to five year olds.  Finally, repetition would be essential.  The plans were to have three or four hosts of different races and some celebrity cameo spots - mainly to attract the attention of mothers who must turn on the television.

The promotional efforts of the show were mainly directed towards mothers and child day care centers.  They encouraged city mothers to host volunteer viewing group at their homes.  The Children's Television Workshop would distribute colorful program guides with educational content of future shows and follow-up activities to reinforce the program.

In research on the effectiveness of the program, it was found that the more children viewed, the more they learned.  Younger children generally learned more that older children when both viewed the same amount.  Advantaged children learned more that disadvantaged children though both groups learned.  Children whose parents were involved learned more than children whose parents were not, though both groups learned.  Spanish speaking children made significant gains.

Over thirty years later, the show is still a favorite of preschoolers and continues to have an important impact on the early learning development of children today.

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Last update: August 26, 2005 Comments to: Mary Miller mlmiller@uga.edu Created by Mary Miller and Teresa Cruce for Dr. Thomas Reeves' UGA class EDIT 6100, spring 2002 URL=//http://www.arches.uga.edu/~mlmiller/timeline/sesamestreet.html