By: Lauren Ataman-Millhouse -
The Oncofertility Consortium is excited to announce the release of ‘A New You, That’s Who’, part of the Childhood Reproductive Education Project. In collaboration with faculty from Northwestern’s School of Communication, including Ellen Wartella, PhD, Alexis Lauricella, PhD, Lisa Hurwitz, and Eric Patrick, MFA, the team worked to develop a series of animated videos targeted to children ages 10-14 so they can learn the basics of reproductive health and anatomy. The team also worked with parents and children to test the effectiveness of the videos through quantitative and summative evaluation. These animations are paired with catchy songs written and produced by award winning music composer Robert M. Charde who specializes in children’s songs and score for animations.
The goal of this project is to teach the basics of reproductive health in an authoritative way using the proper scientific and anatomically correct terms to describe puberty, anatomy, and the menstrual cycle. The songs and animations provide easy ways to grasp big concepts about reproductive health and the changes happening in the body during puberty as children transition to teenagers. It is important to note this is not sexual education, but rather reproductive health education to learn about basic human biology and physiology.
“A New You, That’s Who’ is great for parents, guardians, and teachers who want to simplify reproductive health concepts or who may not have learned these fundamental characteristics of a healthy body as reproductive system begins to mature. At the end of each video, there is a short review section to help with comprehension and application for both children and parents alike. To further supplement learning, visit Repropedia.org, a reproductive health lexicon, which provides authoritative reproductive health information to clear up any uncertainties or questions about this topic.
All of the videos are available on available on our new education website, Reprotopia, which aggregates all of our educational materials in one easy to navigate site.