Major Paper
The Repetition of Blue’s Clues
By
Lindsey Wagner
Mr. Smith
AP English 11
25 May 2012
We all remember Nickelodeon’s popular television show for preschoolers, Blue’s Clues. The idea is whether or not repetition has effectively worked on getting children intellectually active with Blue’s Clues. Steve, the host, presents the audience with a puzzle involving Blue, the animated dog. Throughout the show are different challenges applied to figure out the different things that Blue likes to do. However, in addition to this, Blue also plays a series of mathematical games in between the clues; mini-puzzles. Producers take children through a magical journey of discovery searching for clues while also going on a learning adventure. The clues conclude of Blue’s paw prints tattooed on different objects. At the end of the show Steve sits down in a chair, known as the “Thinking Chair”, and puzzles Blue’s clues together. (Source A) The creators of Blue’s Clues had went back and borrowed parts from Sesame Street that did work, and they took those sticky elements, applied them to Blue’s Clues, and tried to make them even stickier. The main focus was to build a show around the idea that kids participate and become more “intellectually active” and interested, creating the “philosophy” for Blue’s Clues. Repeating elements was the biggest idea of repetition that Blue’s Clues had taken from Sesame Street. Studies found that children had adapted to this idea of repeating the elements for at least a week but, eventually developed nostalgia. (Source B). Not long afterwards the Sesame Street writers had figured out why children like repetition so much. They had noticed in a segment regarding to the alphabet, after a long pause that the children would boom out the names of the letters that appeared on the screen. After a few repetitions the children would “anticipate” the letters before they even appeared. “At CTW, the idea of learning through repetition was
By
Lindsey Wagner
Mr. Smith
AP English 11
25 May 2012
We all remember Nickelodeon’s popular television show for preschoolers, Blue’s Clues. The idea is whether or not repetition has effectively worked on getting children intellectually active with Blue’s Clues. Steve, the host, presents the audience with a puzzle involving Blue, the animated dog. Throughout the show are different challenges applied to figure out the different things that Blue likes to do. However, in addition to this, Blue also plays a series of mathematical games in between the clues; mini-puzzles. Producers take children through a magical journey of discovery searching for clues while also going on a learning adventure. The clues conclude of Blue’s paw prints tattooed on different objects. At the end of the show Steve sits down in a chair, known as the “Thinking Chair”, and puzzles Blue’s clues together. (Source A) The creators of Blue’s Clues had went back and borrowed parts from Sesame Street that did work, and they took those sticky elements, applied them to Blue’s Clues, and tried to make them even stickier. The main focus was to build a show around the idea that kids participate and become more “intellectually active” and interested, creating the “philosophy” for Blue’s Clues. Repeating elements was the biggest idea of repetition that Blue’s Clues had taken from Sesame Street. Studies found that children had adapted to this idea of repeating the elements for at least a week but, eventually developed nostalgia. (Source B). Not long afterwards the Sesame Street writers had figured out why children like repetition so much. They had noticed in a segment regarding to the alphabet, after a long pause that the children would boom out the names of the letters that appeared on the screen. After a few repetitions the children would “anticipate” the letters before they even appeared. “At CTW, the idea of learning through repetition was