Thanks, Isabelle! It's really interesting and unique that you use narrative in the environmental education space. I'm interested to know more! 

Hi Joan. We also submitted a video project about it called Science Strikes Back! https://stemforall2019.videohall.com/presentations/1516

We use technology to encourage kids to collect data in their environment and craft stories about it. I have a great one where a student uses the data to predict which Pokemon would appear! You can read some of the stories and learn more about what we do here: https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/uphamwoods/programs/dots-at-upham-woods/

Thanks, Isabelle. I'll check it out!

Hello Sally!  I'm the TPT researcher on this project and am excited to share with you that we have conducted numerous rounds of characters appeals testing with diverse children (particularly targeting our RTL demographic- low-income, LatinX communities, English Language Learners, and children with special needs) in Minnesota and California. We've been very intentional about the characters' names, clothes, and interests. In addition to quotes such as "It looks like me," kids said, "He has puffy hair like me!" and "“She is strong and I help my dad carry stuff.”  This research was presented at the Meaningful Play conference and our presentation abstract can be found here in a couple of weeks:

http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu/proceedings2018/

We've found that kids are absolutely paying attention to the extent to which a character is relatable.

 As for the pace, we test our stories at storybook, animatic, and full animation phases in front of K-2nd grader children, and are able to identify whether or not the pace is developmentally appropriate (e.g. if children don't understand what they just saw and are confused). Because we do so much research - especially early on- we're able to catch when the pace is not appropriate. Although our intro music is fast-paced and exciting, the show itself is a slower paced, and the dialogue is paced appropriately for K-2nd graders.

Thanks, Tasha. We agree -- there are great opportunities for multi-generational play and learning with Hero Elementary! We are in the process of developing our family outreach plans. The centerpiece will be the app that we are developing for families to play together. It incorporates the "Superpowers of Science" and supports family discourse around science topics and processes in a fun, interactive game. Plus it offers users the opportunity to generate their own content. We are envisioning family science events in the community -- possibly sponsored by local public television stations, libraries, community centers, schools, afterschool programs, etc. These events could include Hero Elementary episodes, science books, Hero Elementary hands-on activities, and the family science app. Details to come, so stay tuned! Of course, content will be available online at all times -- games, shows, songs, and all kinds of science-focused play and learning. We will be researching ways for families to use the content. Let us know if you have some ideas we should consider.

The "HOME" connection is super exciting since that is where children first see their role models.  I'm so happy to hear that you have put a home connection in motion.  I also love the community opportunities this will create.  Wonderful ideas and great potential.  Thanks!

Thank you, DeLene! We feel it's important to connect with families and communities, especially when working with younger children. We also emphasize ways for children to connect science practices and content to the places where they live.

Hi Acacia and thanks for your question! We have worked with Dr. Roni Ellington and Dr. Alicia Santiago to create a framework that helps us develop characters, environments, and content that speaks authentically to our target audiences. We have a fairly small "main cast" of characters; in that group we have an African-American character, two LatinX characters, a character who has autism, a bi-racial Asian American character and a Caucasian character. As we develop ancillary characters, we are developing characters representing a broad range of races and ethnicities, a variety of jobs (for adults), etc.

For educators, we are developing a number of support materials to help them use the core products with the children they serve. For example:

• To support our Super Science Notebook -- a digital tool for young scientists -- we have an introductory activity plan, a general routine that supports pre-writing activities, and a series of "Notebook Talks" that provide detail for helping young children use graphic organizers.
• Each video has a Coviewing Guide to help educators prompt meaningful discussion about the science in the story.
• Our hands-on activities come with detailed Activity Plans that include guides for the activities as well as for science discourse on a K-2 level.

I will leave the research question to some of my co-presenters!

Hi Acacia! Great question! I'm really excited to share that we are meticulously taking documenting through our telemetry and educators, the type, quantity, and duration, each child participates in during their Hero Elementary experience. Our external evaluation partner, WestEd, is collecting data on a QED designed pilot in an afterschool setting (and soon in summer schools). We'll be able to examine the data and see what combination of activities (E.g. tv show + hands on activity + digital games vs.  tv show and digital games, etc.) impact children's science gains the most. Stay tuned!

Wow, tough question! We are out in the field a lot, testing all these pieces with children in our target audiences. I'd say that children like each aspect differently. They are entranced with the stories, and they talk enthusiastically about Superpowers of Science and how our characters use science to solve problems. They get engrossed in the digital games and will return to them again and again. And they get so focused and happily active when they do hands-on science; they have lots to say about what they discover. They also enjoy working in the Science Power Notebook, our digital notebook tool. They love being able to write, draw, upload photos, use stickers, and record their voices. Using the notebook to express their scientific ideas can be challenging at this age, but we are confident that -- as children get more familiar with the process -- they will grow in this area! When given "choice time," we have thus far found children gravitating primarily to the digital games and the Science Power Notebook. But these findings are very preliminary.

Hi DeLene!

Like Beth mentioned above we've found that most of our activities have been well received by the target audience (Yay user testing). There is a bias towards games and the science notebook, but I think those interventions have a lot of things going for them that makes them easier to implement and engage with. For example, the science notebook and the games are all self contained experiences where the other activities require some facilitator support or physical materials. Being self contained also allows those activities to be replayed several times. The games and the Notebook are also self paced with some of the games allowing for multiple levels of completion/difficulty. The game mechanics are also tied very closely to the content which sets up a mini sandbox that players can engage with in many different ways (the students love to try to solve different levels puzzles in various ways). That said, if the hands on activities, like dissecting a flower or melting chocolate, were a bit easier to set up and redo by individual students I have no doubt those would also be replayed several times.

Terri, people have asked me, "Will the hero characters ever get older?" I have certainly wondered about this possibility...

Hi, Terri--

Our outreach program is national and uses a train the trainer model. We look to partner with child-serving organizations that have: a commitment to equity and diversity, a track record of providing quality enrichment focused programming, a strong family program, and the ability to implement the Hero Elementary collection of resources to fidelity. Our partners work with children in after school and summer school (aka informal) settings, but our program would also work for formal K-2 classrooms.

Our professional development training includes both an NGSS overview, since our curriculum is based on the new standards, and details about doing tech integrated work. This is new for some of our partners and others are already using technology in their programs. Our pilot cohort trained in February and will be implementing this summer. WestEd is evaluating the implementation and we plan to integrate changes quickly, so new partners can benefit from our learnings. 

Thanks for your interest in Hero Elementary. Middle school sounds daunting right now--but the super hero genre is very flexible in terms of story telling, so you never know! : )

Building on what Emily said, Hero Elementary aligns with both the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA). Partner programs will begin using Hero Elementary content this summer. Hero Elementary will be available on television, starting in 2020. Hero Elementary games will be available online, as will selected activity plans. We will have two apps that will run on iOS and Android -- the Science Power Notebook and our family science app. 

Hi, DeLene--

I'm a bit late to the party, but I wanted to answer your intriguing question! 

Our program aims to reach K-2 students with special emphasis on Latino communities, English Language Learners, youth with disabilities, and children from low-income households. We had the good fortune of learning about a great publication, which one of our Advisors, Dr. Okhee Lee from NYU, edited with Emily Miller and Rita Januszyk. It's called NGSS For All Students and it was published by NSTA Press. The editors for this publication looked at the existing research about equity strategies for STEM inclusion. They have chapters covering a variety of audiences. We did a crosswalk of the chapters that address our target audiences and came up with strategies for our project: 

1. Connect science to children’s “sense of place”—the physical, historical and socio-cultural aspects of their local community.
2. Empower children to be doers of science by valuing the knowledge and experiences from their families and communities.
3. Engage children’s curiosity through real-world and hands-on experiences.
4. Use multimodal experiences and multiple representations to engage all children.
5. Facilitate discussion of ideas and reflection about science experiences.
6. Support ongoing learning by connecting home, community, and the learning program.

We specifically aimed to use no edu jargon in this list, since many of the child-serving organizations employ youth workers who do not necessarily have formal education backgrounds. We call this list: Hero Elementary: Proven Strategies for Engaging Young Learners in Science. It's been really helpful for us in focussing our efforts and helping our partners do the same. 

That's my "ah-ha" moment. For us practitioners, it's so useful to build on existing, well-vetted work. I would recommend NGSS For All Students. It's a great resource!

Carol-Lynn, you beat me to it! I was going to write that the Superpowers of Science have been the biggest "Ah-ha" for me, as an educator. From the time you first talked to me about the idea, these superpowers have grown in importance. We see the Superpowers of Science as the superpowers that everyone has and that anyone can use to make sense of the world, solve a problem, and save the day. We feature the Superpowers of Science in TV, in our hands-on activities, in songs (yes--songs!), and in games. As Letitia Wright, who played super-scientist Shuri in Black Panther, said, "I hope it can spark someone to say, ‘I’m not a superhero, but I can be a scientist or build the next spaceship, like Shuri.’"

Hi Jessica, thanks for stopping by and for your comment! We have learned a lot from our formative testing and are eager to see what insights we can glean from this summer's pilot study.