Science With Me Announces New Animation Designed To Educate Children About Their Senses

New animation by Science With Me offers an engaging look at how the human senses function

On March 23, 2009, Science With Me, the premier free educational science website for elementary age children announced the release of a new animation designed to teach children about the five senses. The new animation engages children with vivid color, fast paced animations and sing-a-long lyrics.

For many children, the task of learning science from a textbook can be dull, tiresome and confusing. Science With Me attempts to correct this age-old problem. By turning science into entertainment, Drs Elva O'Sullivan and Scott Rickard, co-creators of the Science With Me program, believe that it is possible that children need not develop negative feelings towards the subject, but may rather see science as it truly is; a wondrous and fascinating journey into the physical world in which we live.

"I thought about how I would teach science to children differently," said Dr. O'Sullivan. "There wasn't much out there for teachers that was entertaining and at the same time that would show children how science relates to the real world."

Like all animations on the site, the fast paced new senses animation is designed to be upbeat, amusing and wildly entertaining.

"As parents, we tend not to give our children enough credit for their intellectual capabilities," said Dr. O'Sullivan. "We tend to think we need to wait until our kids are older to introduce them to more complex ideas in math and science. Scott and I think this is a mistake."

Dr. O’Sullivan's animations teach children how science relates to everyday life, without "dumbing it down" to their age level. The key is to get children excited about science and to encourage parental involvement in the process. The animations accomplish this goal perfectly through very heavy emphasis on the entertainment value and interaction. There is also a good deal of instruction specifically geared towards parents, who may have forgotten the most basic of science lessons learned so long ago. In this respect, the Science With Me site can be quite helpful in regards to 'teaching the teacher'.

This 'entertainment first' concept works very well, as currently the Science With Me web site boasts about 43,500 members. The site has become extremely popular with parents and children alike, as the site offers the opportunity for both to interact and to share in the learning process. Membership is free.

The site currently offers science animations, educational games, worksheets, science projects, free e-books, entertaining coloring books, informative articles and blogs. More offerings are planned in the very near future.

Science With Me began as an after school program in Princeton, NJ, which became a free online animation series to reach a larger audience. A resident of Princeton for 10 years, Dr. O'Sullivan first came to the states after graduating with a bachelor's of science degree from the University College of Dublin, Ireland. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Clarkson University in New York, and then settled in Princeton, where she met her husband, Dr. Rickard, who has a Ph.D. in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University.

"The beauty is that the number of animations we can produce is infinite, as there are so many topics to present," said Dr. O'Sullivan.

The new animation, along with all the resources mentioned above, can be viewed at http://www.sciencewithme.com.

Contact: Dr. Elva O’Sullivan
Company: Science With Me
Web: www.sciencewithme.com
Email: media@sciencewithme.com

Company Background:

Science With Me, founded by Drs Elva O'Sullivan and Scott Rickard, began as an after school program in Princeton, NJ, which soon became a free online animation series to reach a larger audience. Dr. O'Sullivan first came to the states after graduating with a bachelor's of science degree from the University College of Dublin, Ireland. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Clarkson University in New York, and then settled in Princeton, where she met her husband, Dr. Rickard, who has a Ph.D. in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University.