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Impact Data - Baghch-e-Simsim

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"Does watching Baghch-e-Simsim have a positive impact on children’s learning?"

Baghch-e-Simsim ("Sesame Garden" in Dari and Pashto) is designed to deliver lessons of literacy, math, and life skills to Afghan children ages 3 to 7 years, with a special emphasis on girls' empowerment, cultural diversity, and mutual respect and understanding. It is a locally developed Afghan version of Sesame Workshop's edutainment initiative Sesame Street. Baghch-e-Simsim (BSS)'s twenty-six 22-minute-long episodes celebrate the country's cultural heritage and diversity. (See Related Summaries below for more details.)

Methodologies

101 children participated in the study, which was carried out by Sesame Workshop and Glevum Associates, LLC. In addition, 101 parents provided demographic, media use, and viewership information. At both the intervention school (n=49) and control school (n=52), a pretest was conducted in January 2013. For 8 weeks, the intervention group watched BSS during the school day (at school) 3 times a week, while the control group participated in typical school activities. The post-test was conducted in April 2013. (Because of challenges of conducting research in the Afghan context, selection of schools and assignment to intervention was not randomised.)

Measures were developed based on content represented in Season 1 of BSS; they include:

  • Literacy: (i) letter identification and (ii) phonemic awareness
  • Math: (i) number identification, (ii) counting, (iii) shapes, and (iv) pattern completion
  • Socio-emotional knowledge: (i) gender equity, (ii) emotions, (iii) prosocial reasoning, and (iv) knowledge of community
Knowledge Shifts

With regard to phonemic awareness (5 items were measured), at pretest, the control group scored at 4.46 (compared to 2.98 amongst the experimental group. The control group's score increased only slightly (to 4.92), whereas the experimental group showed a greater gain: up to 4.76.

With regard to gains in counting, the control group at pretest scored 5.90 out of a total of 6 items measured; this score was 5.92 at post-test. The experimental group began at 5.08 and increased to 5.73.

Attitudes

With regard to gender equity attitudes (8 items were measured), at pretest, the control group scored 5.77 on a scale of 8; this number actually dropped to 5.48 at post-test. In contrast, the experimental group started at 4.55 and increased to 5.86.

With regard to "gains in emotions", the control group at pretest scored 2.65 out of a total of 4 items measured; this score was 2.75 at post-test. The experimental group began at 2.02 and increased to 2.90.

Access

98.8% of respondents whose child watches BSS (both intervention and control groups) reported that their child watches BSS at home. In total (both groups), 60.2% said their child watches 2-3 times per week; 25.3% said "about once a week"; 13.3% said 2-3 times per month; 1.2% said "about once a month"; and none said less than once a month.

"Children in the study already watched Baghch-e-Simsim at home. Thus, the intervention has an additive effect, above and beyond exposure they already had at home."

Other Impacts

Adult respondents had very positive perceptions of BSS in terms of education, appeal, and trust. For example, 100% of respondents "strongly agree" or "agree" that BSS is educational, encourages creativity and imagination, and teaches problem solving. Similarly high percentages were reported for: teaching basic skills like counting, letters, and words; teaching children to appreciate people from diverse backgrounds; teaching things children would not learn on most other shows, and teaching social skills (kindness, respect, manners).

Source

PowerPoint presentation: "The Educational Impact of Baghch-e-Simsim: Findings from a Pilot Experimental Study", June 2013, sent via email from June Lee to The Communication Initiative on December 17 2013. © 2013 "Sesame Street" ® and associated characters, trademarks, and design elements are owned and licensed by Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved.