The Kid Should See This  • June 24, 2025

🚲 WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK:

How did the Muppets break free from their puppeteers? ➜

🎙️⚡️ PBS, Mister Rogers’ field trips, why awe is a powerful tool for learning, and how TKSST began 14 years ago when my toddler asked questions I wanted to know the answers to, too. I had a great conversation with Ashley Bright on The IMPACT Tribe Podcast about these topics and more. (Here’s a quick peek.)

I’ve written before about how wonder fuels learning. Research from UC Berkeley shows that awe supports “cognitive accommodation” or knowledge restructuring, a process that helps kids absorb new ideas by shifting how they see and make sense of the world. In his book, Awe, 📖 UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner found that “as children develop, regular feelings of awe animate their curiosity in school and predict better academic performance.” Children as young as 4-9 years old demonstrate higher learning motivation when encountering awe-inspiring visual experiences.

Public media pioneers understood this intuitively. Not only did Joan Ganz Cooney want to harness the educational potential of television to provide early learning opportunities, but by partnering with Jim Henson, they transformed everyday moments into something magical. ✨ These creative video field trips, neighborhood outings, and animated shorts set to whimsical music made learning accessible while retaining all their awe-inspiring qualities.

So, when we witness Ella Fitzgerald scat-singing onstage, watch crayons being made at the factory, or see a cannonball and a feather fall at the same rate, we experience a wonder that changes how our brains work. And when students share these moments or when we watch with our kids at home, it also deepens our connections to each other.

How cool is that? - Rion

✨🌈🍃 FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNER

🧻 AND IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

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