Hot Roc Kidz in Education
Hot Roc Kidz in Education
HOT ROC KIDZ is not just an animated children’s series. It is a creative and fun tool to help children as well as their parents to find new ways of looking at old problems. Sometimes understanding life can be very difficult, and profound questions do not get addressed. Our main focus is to support character development in the generations to come.
Each HOT ROC KIDZ animated children’s video series episode is designed with a formula to create a mutually enriching dialog.
Each character is completely different from one another and has an area that they are passionate about (e.g. Math, science, creativity, fitness and the arts). They use that passion as a tool to help solve life’s challenges. Because of this diversity they have to take action by working together and combining different philosophies that in the scheme of things ultimately combines two different worlds. In addition to this winning formula, we combine the reality of life into the equation. No civilization can survive without revenue and currency, so we add the principals of thriftiness and how they are going to give back in different ways to support the growth and maintenance of Stone City.
HOT ROC KIDZ INTRODUCTION: The Need for Positive Character Development
Children establish a sense of identity between the ages of 6-12, during which important developmental advances are taking shape in their lives. They make strides toward adulthood by becoming competent, independent, self-aware, and involved in the world beyond their households. Biological and cognitive changes transform children’s bodies and minds. Social relationships and roles change as children enter school, join programs and become involved with peers and adults outside of their nucleus. They begin to develop a sense of self-esteem and individuality, comparing themselves with their peers. They come to expect they will succeed or fail at different tasks. They may develop an orientation toward achievement that will color their response to school and other challenges for many years. The tumultuous physical and social changes that accompany puberty, the desire for autonomy and distance from the family, and the transition from elementary school to middle school or junior high can all cause problems for young people. When adolescents are in settings (in school, at home, or in community programs) that are not attuned to their needs and emerging independence, they can lose confidence in themselves and slip into negative behavior patterns such as truancy and school dropout.
We believe the HOT ROC KIDZ project is the necessary front-line partner that families and schools need to help reach children during their early developmental stage and reinforce success strategies they can use for the rest of their lives. Our overarching goal is to create an integrated, well-financed educational system that resonates with and supports the learning and development of life skills in all children, such as those living in more urban settings, and children with disabilities.
HOT ROC KIDZ PROJECT: A Learning and Growing Experience (Input)
HOT ROC KIDZ is an energetic collection of rocks that evolved after a meteor destined for planet Earth landed and exploded to form its community of rock life—The HOT ROC KIDZ. The characters are not clearly defined as any one particular ethnic, religious or racial group. Our objective is to provide children with characters in which they can relate to and identify with based on feelings and real life situations.
This children’s program targeted at children ages 6-12 brings young viewers into the imaginary world with real life dilemmas. HOT ROC KIDZ empowers young people to handle real life situations and dilemmas through the integration of cutting-edge music, dynamic storytelling, great character animation, and intriguing game sequences.
Using the animated HOT ROC KIDZ characters, young people will navigate various day-to-day life scenarios and have an opportunity to make choices. Each choice has a corresponding consequence and will be played so young people can learn the value and importance of making healthy choices, while subconsciously relating the musical tones back to the choices they make in life.
HOT ROC KIDZ PROGRAMMING: A New Way of Looking at Old Problems (Output)
The HOT ROC KIDZ Animated Children’s Video Series project is not your average story-based animated series. Instead, it is a set of ten 1-2 minute animated educational episodes about life skills (i.e. Schoolhouse Rock) produced in music video format featuring the HOT ROC KIDZ Band. One of the most powerful tools used to motivate and continually educate children is the musical component. Music is an integral part of our programming because its style and sound appeals to both children and adults, while its lyrical content continuously educates and motivates. This particular series of short animated music videos will focus on the following life skills and educational topics:
Bullying / Self Esteem / Diversity / Fear / Setting Goals / STEM Education / Respect / Health / Hygiene / Financial Literacy / Time Management
We realize that in order to effectively teach and engage our audience, it is imperative that we meet them where they are. With that said, we are taking a multi-pronged interactive approach to delivering and reinforcing our animated children’s video series educational programming, which includes digital, online, mobile and live tour components all driven by technology and music.
HOT ROC KIDZ IMPACT: Building Strong and Resilient Human Beings (Outcome)
Our goal is to help empower young people through positive imagery, real-life scenarios and inspiring music. With the world being a new place that is full of discoveries and fast moving technology, we are confident that this generation, and generations to come, will accept our creative and innovative animated children’s video series with open arms. Our willingness to do both the front-line work and strategic planning necessary to create change sets us on a path to make an immediate impact. The HOT ROC KIDZ are cool, cute, funny and hot, but more importantly designed to make a difference in the lives of others. Our programming packages life skills learning in a way that resonates with kids all around the world and uses technology to give them access at their fingertips.
HOT ROC KIDZ equip children with self-confidence as they make healthy choices in achieving their goals and quality of life. These ideas may seem simplistic, but they are the same issues that people struggle with their entire lives. Through interactive games, good storytelling, and encouraging messages, we will help to shape children’s lives in the formative years so that winning habits become second nature throughout the developmental stages of their lives.
Between the ages of 6-12, a child’s world expands outward from the family as relationships form with friends, teachers, coaches, caregivers, and others. Because their experiences are expanding, many factors can alter children’s actions and impact how they learn to get along in life. Some situations can create stress and affect self-esteem. The middle childhood period is a time to prepare for adolescence and children develop at various rates. Behavior may depend on the child’s mood, his or her experience with various types of people, or the digital content they view daily on mobile devices.
During the middle childhood stage, parents may begin to re-evaluate what kind of parent they have been up to this point and wonder if their child has what it takes to “make it” and succeed. With this in mind, HOT ROC KIDZ animated children’s video series can help parents better understand where their children may be challenged with making healthy choices by creating a fun and immersive environment for children, as well as their parents by combining educational content with cutting-edge music and great storytelling.
HOT ROC KIDZ RESULTS: A Model for Measuring Success (Evaluation)
Over the past several years, the youth development field has been in need of more educational programs that have documented effectiveness. On that same note, private funding sources want to know what the impact is on youth and families for the dollars invested in youth development programs.
Our goal is to use the Logic Model as a framework that guides our evaluation process, and link it with an adaptation of the Life Skills Evaluation System to help effectively design and determine the impact of the HOT ROC KIDZ animated children’s video series.
Qualitative and quantitative analysis will take place by way of empirical research, structured observations by a psychologist and administering pre and post surveys to parents and children who are exposed to the HOT ROC KIDZ animated children’s video series. In the end, our evaluation process will help us answer the following questions:
- Did our participants learn the life skills we hoped to teach?
- Do we want to make changes in how we taught the life skills?
- What changes, if any, would we make next time we offer the program?
- What was successful and should remain the same?
- Will different resources “inputs” be needed to offer the program again?
- Will we expect different “outputs” next time based on the response to the program?
- Will we expect different “outcomes” next time based on what we know about the program?
In this time of shrinking resources, we understand that educational programs must provide valid documentation to show the difference that the programs are making in the lives of young people.