Herbert Ginsburg, a cognitive developmental psychologist and math educator at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network (HITN) have created a series of five Spanish-English animations designed to help children ages 3-5 learn fundamental mathematics concepts related to number and quantity . The 45- to 60-second spots begin airing during HITN’s regularly scheduled children’s programming block during the week of February 29^th between 10 and 11 a.m. and 5 and 6 p.m.

Ginsburg, the College’s Jacob H. Schiff Foundations Professor of Psychology & Education, has achieved global recognition for his groundbreaking studies demonstrating that children as young as 18 months employ “every day math” in their thinking. He has consulted with several different media groups, including Sesame Street, Blue’s Clues, and Team Umizoomi, and is the developer of MathemAntics, a software platform that promotes children’s math learning. The characters in the new HITN spots are drawn from his digital “Monster Music Factory” storybooks, which have been marketed by Speakaboos, an education technology start-up focused on reading motivation for which the Emmy Award-winning TC Alumna Alice Wilder (Ed.D. ’98) serves as chief learning officer. The spots are a pilot for subsequent educational math animation that could be used with an app.

“The goal is for children to learn something about language and math concepts, and to find the experience amusing,” Ginsburg said.

HITN is a national public media entity with various technology-related, not-for-profit, business activities. HITN-TV is a PBS-like television network that is the first and only non-commercial network targeting the U.S. Latino market, reaching over 40 million households throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. 

“Our viewers are primarily Spanish language-dominant or Spanish bilingual,” said the producer, Esther Yoon (Ph.D. ’15), Senior Associate for Research & Partnership Development at HITN and a former doctoral student of Ginsburg’s at TC. “Most of our programming is in Spanish and we have programming designed to teach English to our viewers.

Published Wednesday, Feb 24, 2016