On Nov. 10, 1969, Sesame Street premiered on television and was met by high ratings, positive reviews and some controversy.

Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett created the popular children’s show. 

Sesame Street’s target audience is 3 to 5 year old children. When it first aired, it aimed to prepare them for school. Now, the purpose of Sesame Street remains the same, but the curriculum has evolved to encompass more topics such as nature, math, science and engineering, and problem-solving concepts.

Sesame Street’s new curriculum is introducing kids to ideas such as the pulley system, ramps and other scientific concepts.

Elmo’s character stars in daily musicals of his own creation in which he includes math. A new and improved Grover character, known as Grover 2.0, encourages kids to explore, investigate and solve problems. However, Grover 2.0 is not actually teaching the child audience anything new.

Recent studies show that more children correctly answer questions after watching a Sesame Street episode than before watching the episode. Other studies have also revealed that the same children are better able to define words and concepts after watching an episode.

Educational development experts say that children are able to learn basic scientific concepts because most of them are curious about the world around them.

This new curriculum has been met with some controversy, however. Another study showed that when the children were asked an abstract question after watching a Sesame Street episode, they were unable to answer. The questions required skills the children learned from the episode, but they were asked to apply them in a slightly different way. This stumped the kids.

However, applying critical thinking skills is not generally something 3 to 5 year old children know how to do very well. If the researched changes even one word in a question, young children often will have no idea how to answer.

I believe this new curriculum is really doing something. When I was little, I went into school ready with the idea of the numbers and alphabet, but now Sesame Street is giving kids the chance to learn a whole lot more. Sure, the new curriculum seems to focus more on science than before, but since our nation is lagging behind others in science scores, is that really a bad thing?

The new curriculum is controversial because it is new. Despite the criticism, Sesame Street is still teaching.