‘Sesame Street’ & ‘Play School’

Abstract

Sesame Street and Play School are two educational television programs designed basically for the preoperational child, and watched regularly by many young Australians. Although both series have educational intentions, they are markedly different in character. It would thus be useful to know which elements used in these programs are most effective. Thus this study compared and contrasted Sesame Street and Play School as suitable programs for a four year-old target audience. In doing so, differences in four main areas were considered: goals; attention-getting qualities: humour; para-social interaction; and production techniques. It was found that overall Play School was more appropriate for the four year-old child since its producers placed prime importance on matching qualities of the program to the unique cognitive processes of the preoperational child. Both shows do, however, have good qualities and it is suggested that these could perhaps be combined to produce an even better program. However, definite conclusions cannot be reached until more controlled and empirical research is conducted on the effectiveness of the two shows.