There had been an article in 'Physics Today' several months back about a
new
show on PBS Kids called 'Design Squad' which looked to be in the spirit of
Junkyard Kids, the short-lived series.
Interested, I wrote to 'Physics Today' and endorsed the show's getting
children involved in the sciences. Just got a note back from the letters
editor of the magazine indicating that they wish to print my letter...
Cool.
The letter should go in as follows:
I was happy to read about the upcoming TV show Design Squad and look
forward to watching it. I was an enthusiastic viewer of the now cancelled
Junkyard Wars on the TLC cable channel. The show at least initially did a
good job of teaching “stealth science” in a way that was both exciting and
educational. I saw it as a way to get young people interested in sciences
by
active demonstration. Unfortunately, Junkyard Wars changed its tone to
compete with “reality” shows, which turned me off. The UK version,
Scrapheap
Challenge, is still in production, but apparently no American market is
interested in airing it.
I am embarrassed to write that, as enthusiastic as I was to see the
listing, I have not been able to catch the program on-screen yet. They do
have a website: http://pbskids.org/designsquad/
which I have looked
through
and wholeheartedly endorse. A link to TV schedules
http://pbskids.org/tvschedules/airdates.html?title_id=DESQ
did tell me why
I
have not been able to catch the show. It is on Sunday mornings at 10 am on
channel 21 in the NY city metro area. I am in church choir at that time...
OK, so time to dust off the 'ol vcr.
Robert Oppenheimer
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