Educational entertainment, also referred to by the portmanteau edutainment, is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainment value. It has been used by academia, corporations, governments, and other entities in various countries to disseminate information in classrooms and/or via television, radio, and other media to influence viewers' opinions and behaviors.
History
Concept
Interest in combining education with entertainment, especially in order to make learning more enjoyable, has existed for hundreds of years, with the Renaissance and Enlightenment being movements in which this combination was presented to students. Komenský in particular is affiliated with the "school as play" concept, which proposes pedagogy with dramatic or delightful elements.
Poor Richard's Almanack demonstrates early implementation of edutainment, with Benjamin Franklin combining entertaining and educational content, such as puzzles and rules of conduct, into an instructional entity for colonists.
Later development of the concept of edutainment can be tied to Walt Disney, with his first educational short film, Tommy Tucker's Tooth, being commissioned and shot in 1922 for the Deneer Dental Institute. The entry of the U.S. into World War II also had a major impact on the popularity of educational entertainment, as a relationship between Disney and the U.S. government formed; Disney was able to experiment with educational and nonfiction films in a way that continued even after the war, with series such as True-Life Adventures and Disneyland. In the transcript of an interview with Alexander P. de Seversky from The Walt Disney Archives, of which its date and interviewer is unknown, the following quotation is found:Since the 1970s, various groups in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Latin America have used edutainment to address health and social issues such as substance abuse, immunization, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and cancer. Initiatives in major universities, such as Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, NGOs such as PCI-Media Impact, and government agencies such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have produced edutainment content.
Modern forms of edutainment include television productions, film, museum exhibits, and computer software which use entertainment to attract and maintain an audience, while incorporating deliberate educational content or messages. It is also apparent that educational elements are becoming implemented into traditionally recreational realms, such as vacations and games.
Terminology
The term edutainment was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney to describe the True Life Adventures series. The noun edutainment is a neologistic portmanteau used by Robert Heyman in 1973 while producing documentaries for the National Geographic Society. It was used by Dr. Chris Daniels in 1975 to encapsulate the theme of his Millennium Project. This project later became known as The Elysian World Project. The terms "edutainment" (and "busitainment") were used in 2001 to explain how the CRUMPET project, on context-aware and personalised Tourism, refers to people travelling for adventure yet who also travel for education and business and who do not perceive themselves as classical "tourists". The offshoot word "Edutainer" has been used by Craig Sim Webb since before the turn of the millennium to describe an individual who offers edutainment presentations and performances.
Application
Audio and video
Schoolhouse Rock, Wishbone, Sesame Street, and Bill Nye the Science Guy are examples of shows that use music and video to teach topics like math, science, and history. Using music to aid memory dates back to the passing of ancient oral traditions, including the Iliad and the Odyssey. Much of what edutainment can offer through audio and video especially, is accessible over the internet on platforms such as YouTube, with such channels as Vsauce, CGP Grey, MinutePhysics, Meet Arnold, Veritasium, and Crash Course.
Public Service Broadcasting is a band that incorporates audio and footage from the British Film Institute into their music and performances, and this partnership helps the British Film Institute showcase its material; their album Inform-Educate-Entertain, which covers topics such as the climbing of Mount Everest and highway safety, demonstrates the connection between the concept of edutainment and their music.