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Facts
Aired: Fall 1994
Network: PBS (Some commercial stations ran syndicated episodes as early as a year before.)
Target Audience: Fourth graders, especially minorities and girls around age 9*
In the words of Bill Nye, "Science Rules!" Bill Nye IS The Science Guy, and he wants everyone to love science as much as he does. He tries to make science seem fun by doing crazy demonstrations of scientific principles. For example, one show when he talked about weather, he had snow, water, wind, and sand blown on him in a matter of about four seconds. The show also includes well known pop or rock song that have had the words rewritten to speak about science. They usually have an almost satiric twist on the actual name of the song and artist.
One potential problem with his show is that with all his enthusiastic energy, he moves through lessons quite fast cramming a ton of information into each show. It could be quite difficult for some children to keep up and remember everything he says.
Point of Interest: Bill Nye isnt an actor. He is a real scientist! He graduated from Cornell University with a degree in mechanical engineering. He also worked at Boeing before he started the show. (Stu Borman. "Science series for kids to appear on public TV". Chemical & Engineering News; May 9,1994, v72, n19, p6) Boeing is a company in the aerospace and defense industry.
*Cheryl Heuton. "Bill Nye is Disneys guy". Media Week; May 16 1994, v4, n20, p14.