PHILADELPHIA — "Work It Out Wombats!," a new animated series for kids 3 to 6, premieres this week on PBS Kids. The stars of the show are marsupial siblings Malik, Zadie and Zeke, who take their young audiences on a parade of adventures, tackling challenges, problem-solving and seeking creative solutions — all while having fun. The adults who got federal and major funding for the series call all that computational thinking that is key to the STEM disciplines and which Wombats artfully lays the foundation to explore.
The trio's Treeborhood is a diverse place, where their friends are many different kinds of animals. They sometimes speak different languages and have varied customs, but all share the same adventurous world.
That's all right up Kareem Edouard's alley. The assistant professor in Drexel University's School of Education researches the intersectionality of race, culture and STEM engagement for students of color. He and his wife, Darlene Mortel Edouard, head of the Ole Greens Group, a media consulting organization, are co-creative producers of the new show. Kareem Edouard is a consultant with Ole Greens Group.
