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The Case of the Show Aprende en Casa II and the Mix with Entertainment

Abstract:

The first case of COVID-19 was detected in Mexico on February 28, 2020. To mitigate the spread of the virus, the Mexican Ministry of Health implemented a confinement strategy that received the name “Stay at Home.” This strategy forced the closure of all schools and educational centers in the country on March 17. In this context, the Ministry of Education designed the strategy “Aprende en casa II”(Learning at Home I), which consisted of broadcasting virtual lessons via three public television channels for elementary and secondary schools. Additionally, the Ministry opened an Internet website to provide instructional basic materials for students. This program ran from April 20 to July 3, 2020, with the idea that it would be a one-term initiative. After summer vacations (July–August), the Ministry of Health decided that the conditions still did not permit the reopening of schools. Therefore, for the beginning of the 2020–2021 school year, the Ministry of Public Education implemented a more ambitious strategy called “Aprende en casa II”(Learning at Home II). This strategy consisted of producing TV educational programs to broadcast on:(a) commercial television networks and (b) serve each grade from preschool to secondary school with specific “educational lessons” produced as TV shows. Thousands of TV shows were produced in a range of subjects, to be viewed by all students via public and commercial television. To fulfill this ambitious project, hundreds of teachers and TV hosts were hired to instruct their lessons via a TV format with the form of entertainment education associated with the work of Miguel Sabido (2003) and Sesame Street (1969) and the …