Imserba Webstore - Blue's Clues - Blue's Discoveries

I understand well that the material that's presented here needs to be given at a preschooler's level. There's bound to be a great deal of simplification, or even over-simplification. But it should be *correct* as far as it goes. Scientific illiteracy is a growing problem in our increasingly technological society, and it would be best to start things off on the right foot, so to speak, in a child's science education. Unfortunately, neither of the episodes in this tape satisfactorily conveys the lessons they're intended to because the information they give is either misleading or flat-out wrong.

In the first episode, we're looking for clues about what "science experiment" Blue wants to perform today. Some of the experiments we see in the beginning are excellent examples. They run along the lines of, "What happens if...?" "Let's find out!" This is actually the essence of a good science experiment. But the "science experiment" Blue is pointing to with the clues -- and therefore the one thing about the episode preschoolers are most likely to remember -- isn't an experiment at all. It's just a demonstration of an interesting phenomenon. It's also something that's just as readily observable in the bathtub, although that isn't pointed out. No question is asked, and no answer is found. That's not an experiment.

Not even the otherwise helpful "Planet Song" is without problems. Blue and Steve "skiddoo" into a picture on the wall for this segment. Steve's attention is first drawn to the picture when a fireball, sporting a firey tail, swooshes past the inside of the frame. "A meteor!" says Steve. "In space!" WRONG. Meteors of that appearance are strictly *atmospheric* phenomena; they are NEVER encountered in space. And they make no sound, not even in the atmosphere. (For some obervers, there's an impression of sound associated with some meteors, but this is actually caused by electromagnetic interference that they're probably picking up on their fillings.)

The second episode is little better. It's ostensibly about recycling. "Recycle, recycle, recycle!" is chanted repeatedly, like a mantra. It seems the viewer is expected to take this as an article of religious faith, since it's never explained why recycling is a good idea, other than Steve's dislike of wasting packaging materials. They needn't have delved into complex environmental issues; a simple "So we don't run out!" or "Where will we put so much garbage?" would have been enough. (An old Sesame Street episode from my youth had a segment showing what happened at a garbage dump. It was fascinating, and would not have been out of place here.) But just as the "science experiment" turned out not to be one, the closest we get to actual recycling here is when Steve chucks some recyclables into the appropriate bin. Everything else is actually *reuse*. A child is likely to get an entirely wrong impression of what recycled goods are like. This is especially true of the "Recycle Town" to which Blue and Steve "skiddoo", as well as the recycled thing Blue clues she wants to make (a guitar from a paper towel tube, empty tissue box, and rubber bands.) How about a complicated looking machine that takes in waste paper at one end and spits out clean, new paper at the other? That sounds silly, but it actually would have provided a truer picture both of the recycling process and of recycled products.

Children will no doubt enjoy this tape. I know mine do. But it would be nice if they were being given lessons that weren't so misleading at the same time.