Computer Science

Cartoon Network Launches STEAM Advisory Board

• By Sri Ravipati
• 12/09/16

Amid Computer Science Education Week events, one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2016 — and a favorite TV channel for many K–12 students — Cartoon Network (CN) has assembled an advisory board of academic and industry experts to help shape its STEAM education efforts.

The STEAM advisory board includes Mimi Ito, UC Irvine researcher and lead author of one of the most extensive U.S. studies to date on teens and their use of digital media; Zach Klein, CEO of DIY and co-founder of Vimeo; Karen Peterson, CEO of National Girls Collaborative Project; Mitchel Resnick, MIT Media Lab professor of learning research and head of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group; Diana Skaar, head of business innovation for robotics at Google’s “moonshot factory” X (formerly Google X); and show creator Rebecca Sugar.

Additionally, CN is launching its third coding project this year with coding platform and community Scratch, which will offer STEAM activities based on its animated TV series “Steven Universe.” CN also teamed up with Google CS First to develop a one-hour activity that encourages students (ages 10-13) to create their own scene in “The Amazing World of Gumball” show for Hour of Code, a national CS Ed Week event from Code.org.

These new commitments follow an announcement made earlier this year when CN launched a $30 million campaign to engage today's youth in computer science.

To learn more, watch the video interview with advisory board member Rebecca Sugar below, or visit the Cartoon network site.