PEG + CAT

The PEG + CAT animated preschool series intends to include stories that are at once engaging, appealing, accessible, and age-appropriate. Every half-hour televised episode will feature 2 stories, each an 11-minute adventure in which Peg and Cat find themselves thrust into an unexpected math word problem. It is not just an abstract academic exercise for them - it is "a messy and funny quandary they have to solve". Peg and Cat's adventures take them from farms to purple planets, from 16th-century Verona to New York's Radio City Music Hall, from a land of pirates to a prehistoric valley - demonstrating that math is everywhere. The show focuses not only on helping kids build math skills, such as how to add or subtract, but on how to think about larger math concepts as well in an attempt to introduce concepts that form the foundation for learning math at any level. As Peg solves a seemingly insurmountable problem, she has to think through what went wrong and how she can get back on track. In each episode, Peg and Cat use foundational concepts like relative size, geometry, and algebraic thinking to solve the problem and save the day. The series' curriculum is based on Common Core State Standards.

Life skills such as cooperation are also important parts of the series, as Peg and her friends have to work together to solve problems - and, since Peg might not get it right the first time, viewers also see value of learning from mistakes and experimentation. Music is also used as a teaching tool throughout the math series; each episode features an original song that incorporates math.

The PEG + CAT website includes math games for young viewers, as well as information for the adults in their lives.

Children, Education

According to "Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity", Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics, National Research Council of the National Academies (2009), math understanding and skills are essential, yet national assessments show that 60% of students are performing below proficient levels in math by the 4th grade, and this learning gap is more pronounced in children from low-income families (National Assessment of Education Progress Report, 2011). To help support math learning for young children, the National Research Council's Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics has highlighted the need for "increased informal programming, curricular resources, software, and other media" to help build key math skills.