Hello world!

I haven't done one of these bloggy things before; I'm much more used to a good old scribbly sketchbook.  But it's the space year 2017, and such things are frowned upon. Got to save the trees and all that. So here I am.

My aim here is to document the progress of my MA in animation, so you can expect to see sketches, storyboards, puppets, etc, at some point in the future, alongside many inane ramblings, odd ideas, and scathing criticisms of cartoons aimed at babies.

So what's the aim of all this?

My research question at this stage -- although it may well evolve or completely change over time -- is "What is the value of the animated television series as a medium for educating pre-school children?"

I will be looking at two different types of educational content:-


  • Academic education, which is the more obvious type of education, teaching children facts or practical skills, such as might be taught in school. Examples include definitions of words, facts about animals, or how to play a game.
  • Social, moral, spiritual and cultural development (SMSC), which is a bit more nebulous, but involves developing the childrens' knowledge of the way society works. Examples include manners and social skills, keeping safe, differences between people (age, race, disability, gender). This type of educational content is usually much more subtle and may even be unintentional, especially in terms of things like gender roles which we take for granted.

On this blog I will be looking at a great deal of children's programming and analyzing their content. I will also be researching topics such as how children learn, the National Curriculum for early years, and how television programming has been structured in order to encourage learning and to be positively influential.

The outcome of this is to develop a "pitch bible" for an animated television series aimed at children 3 - 6 years old, which is entertaining and appealing to the target audience, but also has a strong educational value.

Join me next time to see what I discover!

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