PBS Kids

• The strategic investment in 9 Story's team and best-in-class production, sales and licensing capabilities significantly expands Scholastic's opportunities to leverage its trusted brand, best-selling publishing and beloved global children's franchises across print, screens and merchandising.
• Scholastic Entertainment was rebooted under Lucchese's leadership in 2017, recognizing the untapped potential of Scholastic's engaging children's content.
• 9 Story recorded revenue of approximately USD $104 million in its most recent fiscal year, ended August 31, 2023.
• A supplemental presentation with further details on the transaction and its strategic rationale is available at:

• The show stars Nora, who first became globally recognized in 2007 as a musically gifted internet sensation after a YouTube video of her playing the piano went viral.
• Despite this loss, her memory endures through the music and joy she brought to her devoted global fanbase.
• "I did not adopt Nora the Piano Cat, she adopted me," says Nora's owner Betsy Alexander.
• This new series, produced in Nora's hometown of Philadelphia, aims to enrich global audiences by showcasing diverse music genres.

• Students and teachers will also experience tabletop demos to engage in one-on-one personalized EdTech learning experiences.
• "The technology at the ED Games Expo has the potential to affect schools across the country and ensure our learners fully recover from the instructional time lost during the pandemic."
• Starting today, September 20, at 5:30 p.m. EST, the Expo will be open to the public and free to attend.
• Registered attendees will learn about the EdTech innovations, meet face-to-face with developers, test new learning technologies, and attend engaging performances.

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

• She then listens to their responses and replies with feedback specific to their answers, or provides additional clues when needed.
• In this case, Elinor follows up by asking, “Yeah, I wonder why the ketchup is stuck inside the bottle.
• After the children watched the episodes, we assessed their understanding of the science concepts that were presented, including aerodynamics and reptile shedding.
• We found that children watching the semi-interactive version quickly lost interest in responding to Elinor’s questions after they realized she could not comprehend their answers.

Why it matters

• Children in the U.S. spend an average of nearly two hours per day watching TV or online videos, according to a national survey.
• While platforms like PBS Kids provide free educational TV programs, the educational benefits can be limited by the lack of interaction with the content.
• This could make watching TV a more active and engaging way for kids to learn science.

What other research is being done

• AI is being integrated into a range of media products, including e-books, smart toys and social robots.
• Meanwhile, advances in AI technology will likely increase its accuracy in processing children’s speech, and therefore enable more natural interactions between children and AI.

What’s next

• A study involving children who speak Spanish and English is in progress.
• We also have plans to integrate AI into more PBS Kids shows, including an upcoming series called “Lyla in the Loop,” which highlights creative problem-solving for children ages 4-8.