Abstract

"Broader Impacts: The Magic School Bus and the Rise of Public-Private Partnerships for Science Education"

Matthew Wisnioski, Virginia Tech (mwisnios@vt.edu), Michael Meindl, Radford University (mmeindl@radford.edu)

In 1991, children’s publisher Scholastic approached the National Science Foundation to adapt its bestselling book series The Magic School Bus (MSB) into an animated television show. “Here is an opportunity that combines the best features of sponsorship and public service,” Scholastic pitched, one that encouraged girls and minority children to pursue scientific careers and also provided “unlimited merchandising opportunities.” Airing on PBS, with over $10 million in federal grants, MSB ultimately reached hundreds of millions of children. A marquee effort to enhance scientific literacy, MSB also was an experiment in how to pay for the nation’s technoscientific future. Its multimillion dollar partnership involved Scholastic, Microsoft, Fox, and animation studio Nelvana; NSF and Department of Energy; PBS and Carnegie Corporation; and many other stakeholders.

This talk contributes to scholarship on the motivations, tensions, and impacts of public-private
partnerships in science education. MSB was one of several initiatives such as Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Cro, that utilized private enterprise to pursue national goals in a “multimedia” era of government austerity. Did collaborations between government, corporations, and nonprofits result in a “synergy” greater than the sum of its parts? (James and Singer, 2016; Roehrich, et al., 2014) Or, were they neoliberal encroachment into science, education, and the commodification of children (Cain, 2021; Ames, 2019; Sims, 2018; Banet-Weiser, 2007; Cook, 2004)? Utilizing archives, government and industry publications, and animated media, we analyze the micro- and macro-processes that made public-private partnerships desirable and productive, but also problematic and hard to sustain. We investigate the tension between “science as inquiry” and “STEM competitiveness” among educational reformers. We explore the role of a new generation of women media executives in leading these initiatives. Finally, we demonstrate how NSF’s very definition of broader impacts stemmed from the corporate partnerships that brought MSB to life.