Learn Together

The Kiddets television series brings to television the concept of learning through play and exploration in meaningful and contextualised settings. The producers/creators have enabled a socio-cultural perspective of learning to be showcased through the development of each episode, where the interaction between characters supports the construction of new knowledge using a range of strategies. The Kiddets series showcases learning as a social process where society, culture and the environment contribute to the knowledge constructed within it.

The holistic nature of the series shows value to inclusion. The series encompasses gender difference, diversity of ability and learning needs, values and morals. The values and concepts of leadership, empathy, friendship and team work are evident as the characters solve problems and support each other through the learning process. Taking a credit based and learner-centered view, the characters support each other’s personalities, differences and opinions.

The sequence of each episode mirrors that of the learning process for children. The characters show positive dispositions, such as courage and curiosity, trust and playfulness, perseverance and confidence, towards learning through the identification of learning goals, problems or questions. Each character then plays a part in solving the learning goal through asking questions, trial and error, testing out ideas, researching and developing working theories and schema about the world around them. Through this process key learning areas, such as science, math, technology and the arts are connected to everyday questions and problems that young children will encounter as they explore their own worlds, providing the viewer (child) focused and formal learning opportunities in fun and contextualised ways.

The Kiddets series provides opportunities for the viewer to refine and extend working theories as there are multiple opportunities within episode and across different episodes to revisit learning and interests, to refine and extend working theories and engage in new experiences. As the viewer learns new knowledge and gains opportunities with new experiences, their working theories become more connected, applicable and useful. The viewer is able to be more creative, imaginative and flexible in their thought processes.

The Kiddets television series demonstrates the value and importance of young children learning through play, in social contexts that are safe, fun and allow for creative and imaginative thought. The series is a fantastic display of the power of the make believe to inform the acquisition of knowledge, skills attitudes and experiences for young children.

Keri Cheetham
Kaihautū Mātauranga Kōhungahunga | Early Childhood Education Leader