Children and Television
Book cover
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| Author | Gerald S. Lesser |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Vintage Books |
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Publication date
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1974 |
| Media type | Mass-market paperback |
| Pages | 291 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 1289005 |
| 791.457 | |
| LC Class | PN1992.77.S43 L4 |
Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street (1974) is a non-fiction book written by Gerald S. Lesser, in which he describes the production of Sesame Street, and the formation and pedagogical philosophy of the Children's Television Workshop. Lesser was a professor at Harvard University, studying how social class and ethnicity interacted with school achievement and was one of the first academics in the US who researched how watching television affected children and their development. He was initially skeptical about the potential of using television as a teaching tool, but he was eventually named as the advisory board chairman of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the organization created to oversee the production and research of Sesame Street, and was the show's first educational director. Lesser wrote the book early in Sesame Street's history, to evaluate the show's effectiveness, to explain what its writers, researchers, and producers were attempting to do, and to respond to criticism of Sesame Street.
Children and Television has four sections, "A Proposal", "Planning", "Broadcasting" and "Lessons from Sesame Street". The book also has a preface and an epilogue, written by Lesser, a foreword written by co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney, and an introduction by co-creator Lloyd Morrisett. Scattered throughout the book are cartoons drawn by children's author Maurice Sendak. Lesser describes the origin and development of Sesame Street and his part in it. He also describes the research involved in the show's creation and production.
Gerald S. Lesser was the Biglow Professor of Education and Developmental Psychology at Harvard University. He studied how social class and ethnicity interacted with school achievement and was one of the first academics in the US who researched how watching television affected children and their development. In 1963, he served as an academic adviser for the NBC educational program, Exploring. In 1968, Sesame Street co-creator Lloyd Morrisett, whom he had met as a student at Yale University, asked Lesser to assist with the research of a new children's show he and producer Joan Ganz Cooney were developing, a show that eventually became Sesame Street.
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