FACT SHEET
TITLE: WHEN LEARNING COMES NATURALLY
LENGTH: 1x30
FORMATS: 16:9 SD Letterbox and HD
NOLA: WLCN 000 SD-Base Revision 001 WLCN 000 HD-Base Revision 001
CATEGORY: Documentary / Social / Education
OFFERED: Spring 2009 – free to Exchange subscribers
RELEASE DATE: September 1, 2009
CONTRACT TERMS: Unlimited releases to be completed by August 31, 2013. Additional rights granted: Noncommercial cable, one-year school re- record, simulcast and video-on-demand rights.
PRODUCER: Jonathan Diamond Associates, Inc. in association with the Child Development Institute at Sarah Lawrence College
DISTRIBUTOR/PRESENTER: American Public Television (APT)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: When Learning Comes Naturally documents innovative outdoor-education programs around the country created to help children understand and experience the wonders and joys of nature. The film explores the immediate and lasting benefits of introducing young children to "green" experiences. Natural spaces — in the form of gardens, small trails and outdoor "green adventure" areas — allow for the discoveries and choices vital to child development and learning. In addition, outdoor education can cultivate in children a permanent connection with the natural world — a crucial ethic of environmental responsibility.
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS: Use above for listing. Also included: a press release and producer biography. Visit APTonline.org to download photos.
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COPYRIGHT DATE: ©2009 Jonathan Diamond Associates, Inc.
PRODUCTION CREDITS: Executive Producer, Director & Writer: Jonathan Diamond. Editor: Kyle Kramb. Associate Producer: Hannah Thonet. Camera: Danny Vecchione. Audio: Nick Canfield. Music Composer: Bob Christianson. Sound Mix: Rich Macar Buttons Sound. Title Design: Marcia Bujold Design.
NATIONAL UNDERWRITERS: Abigail Angell Canfield Community Playthings Marjorie & Morgan Miller John C. & Elizabeth Duncan Jenkins Jennifer Caldwell & John Fisher David Netto Carol B. Hillman Florence V. Burden Foundation Roy E. Larsen Chair Fund The Brimstone Fund Jim & Katie Robinson Monika A. Heimbold & Charles A. Heimbold, Jr.
BROADCAST HISTORY: U.S. television premiere
SCHEDULING SUGGESTION: When Learning Comes Naturally is the fourth special in the award-winning The Learning Child public television series. Consider pairing it with the other titles in Back-to-School programming blocks: When Values Go to School, When a Child Pretends and From Pictures to Words, all are currently available free through APT Exchange.
RELATED MERCHANDISE: Individual viewer purchase: The program is available on VHS and on DVD for $29.95, plus $5.00 shipping and handling. To order, please visit http://www.thelearningchildseries.org or call 1-888-503-2291.
Pledge: Please contact APT Station Services, 617-338-4455, if you are interested in pledging this program. -more- WHEN LEARNING COMES NATURALLY /3 FACT SHEET
VIEWER INQUIRIES: Jonathan Diamond 825 West End Avenue, Suite 9G New York, NY 10025 (212) 222-0144
WEB SITE: www.thelearningchildseries.org
STATION CONTACT: Dawn Anderson American Public Television (APT) (617) 338-4455, ext. 149 [email protected] CONTACT: Dawn Anderson (617) 338-4455, ext. 149 [email protected] PRESS RELEASE
WHEN LEARNING COMES NATURALLY Children Discover Nature’s Classroom
(Boston, MA – June 15, 2009) Modern technology – computers, cell phones video games and television – all conspire to draw and keep children indoors and isolate them from the natural world.
The new high-definition program When Learning Comes Naturally profiles innovative outdoor-education programs created to help children of all ages understand and experience the wonders and joys of nature. It also shows how parents can involve their children in outdoor discovery.
The half-hour film, airing on public television stations nationwide beginning in September 2009 (check local listings), explores the immediate and lasting benefits of introducing young children to "green" experiences.
Natural spaces — in the form of gardens, small trails and outdoor "green adventure" areas — allow for the discoveries and choices vital to child development and learning. In addition, outdoor education can cultivate in children a permanent connection with the natural world — a crucial ethic of environmental responsibility.
When Learning Comes Naturally visits three progressive U.S. schools utilizing this approach to eco-education. Fourth-graders at Lewisboro Elementary in South Salem, New York, use a tiny trail as an outdoor science laboratory to observe and document – by measuring with thermometers, extracting small samples and recording data – the natural processes of decomposition. Later, second-graders use the same trail as a setting to inspire their Thanksgiving poetry. At Seth Boyden Elementary School in New Jersey, in an outdoor garden, young students gleefully uncover and study slugs. In addition to the focus and determination these children bring to their “observations,” the film documents something not always seen at school – students having fun.
The San Francisco School in California also places nature education at the center of its curriculum in a way designed to cultivate environmental stewardship. The school’s constructed a natural playground, where children can make choices about how to spend their recess – from playing, planting and constructing forts to befriending two ducks.
As children connect with the outdoors, educators also encourage them to master a more complicated idea: the natural world, even the small space they inhabit – is vulnerable and needs protection. So while younger, third-grade students participate in conservation efforts by recycling lunchtime leftovers into a compost pile, the older students study the effects of global warming and engage in projects that examine its dangers.
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When Learning Comes Naturally, the fourth program in the award-winning The Learning Child Series, will begin airing on public television stations nationwide in September 2009 (check local listings). Past titles include: When Values Go to School, When a Child Pretends and From Pictures to Words, all currently in distribution through American Public Television (APT).
Produced by Jonathan Diamond Associates with guidance from the Child Development Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, When Learning Comes Naturally™ is presented by American Public Television through the Exchange service at no cost to public television stations nationwide.
About Jonathan Diamond, Executive Producer Jonathan Diamond is the executive producer, director and writer of The Learning Child Series. He has also produced the public television special Women Going Global, and has created and produced series for Animal Planet, Discovery Health and ESPN. As president and founder of the independent documentary production company, Jonathan Diamond Associates, Diamond has been committed to producing video and television programs in the public interest on such topics as education, health and the environment for broadcast, cable and home video distribution.
About American Public Television With more than 10,000 hours of programming in its library, American Public Television (APT) has been a prime source of programming for the nation’s public television stations for 48 years, distributing more than 300 new titles per year. In 2006, APT launched Create – the TV channel featuring the best of public television’s lifestyle programming. Known for its leadership in identifying innovative, worthwhile and viewer-friendly programming, APT has established a tradition of providing public television stations with program choices that strengthen and customize their schedules, such as Passport & Palette, Rick Steves’ Europe, Worldfocus, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, Sara’s Weeknight Meals, America’s Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, Doc Martin, Lidia’s Italy, Rosemary and Thyme, P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home, Biz Kid$, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Pavarotti: Salute Petra, The Best of the Jack Benny Show, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Spain...on the road Again, and other prominent documentaries, dramatic series, how-to programs, children’s series and classic movies. For more information about APT’s programs and services, visit APTonline.org.
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