Kids’ TV and EdTech: Bridging the Distance Divide

The ACTF holds a unique position at the intersection of
children’s media, education and culture. This role is perhaps most apparent
during our virtual learning events for schools. Our
live video conferences enable teachers and students Australia-wide to connect
with the industry professionals behind current children’s series, regardless of
their school’s location. Around 800 primary students registered for our most
recent video conference, which featured Semisi Cheekam, Erin Choy, Reannah
Hamdan and Logan Reberger – cast members from the popular children’s series Hardball.

Set across the backdrop of colourful Western Sydney, Hardball traverses the highs and lows of pre-teen life. The series begins when main character Mikey (Semisi Cheekam) moves from New Zealand to Australia and finds himself drawn into the competitive schoolyard game of handball. Mikey is befriended by Jerry (Logan Reberger) and Salwa (Reannah Hamdan), who join forces to develop his precision and skill on the court. Their joint goal - to topple the school’s reigning handball champion, Tiffany (Erin Choy).

Themes of family, multiculturalism, and resilience, along with the series’ diverse cast, make Hardball a series that appeals to both students and teachers. With reference to our Teacher Support Materials, participating schools formulated questions to ask the four young actors and forwarded these on. While developing student voice and agency, this process also shaped the content of the webinar, and gave insight into how Hardball is being used in classrooms across the country.

Students from Queensland’s remote Mornington Island State School used their first webinar experience to ask the actors about their favourite cultural foods. Peregian Springs State School – also in Queensland – drew on the cast members’ industry expertise, with students asking practical questions about media careers. Year 3-6 students from La Perouse Public School in New South Wales were particularly interested in the production of the series, as filming took place at their school.

Developing
interesting questions for the cast became a learning focus for Year 5 students
from South Australia’s Braeview Primary School. With the context providing an
authentic purpose and audience, students’ valuable perspectives as the child
audience led to engaging questions such as: ‘If there was a real handball
competition on set, who would win? Who would gloat, who would be humble, and
whose parents would turn up?’

The
class also generated thoughtful questions about media representation, asking:
‘How important is it to you as actors that your different cultures are
represented on a kids’ television show? We appreciate this as there are many
cultures in our class.’

When
this question was put to the actors, Reannah responded, ‘What I like about
diverse shows is they show we don’t have to be the same skin colour or same
culture to cooperate and be friends. We can all come together even if we’re not
the same.’

Year
5 students from St Kevin’s Catholic Primary School Eastwood in New South Wales posed
questions via the chat function in the video conference software. Their teacher
used this as an opportunity to introduce webinars as a ‘text type’ – another
way in which we read, respond, write, and represent our communication with each
other.

We greatly enjoyed the opportunity to interview and learn from Semisi, Erin, Reannah and Logan. Positive feedback from schools across the country assures us that participating students felt the same.

FOR TEACHERS: Year 3-6 teachers wanting to learn more about this popular series are encouraged to download the free Hardball Teaching Toolkit, which focusses on the General Capabilities. An on-demand version of the Hardball Q&A Webinar will be uploaded to the ACTF YouTube channel in the coming weeks.