Telenovela Supports Family Science Learning
PERCENT OF LATINES
19%
7%
U.S.
WORKFORCE
STEM
WORKFORCE
GAP
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Award #2115621. Any opinions, ndings,
and conclusions or recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
WHAT WE DID: Iteratively created and evaluated a
Spanish-speaking telenovela that models everyday science
activities and careers and incorporates working-class Latine
family values.
OUR REACH: The Emmy-award—winning telenovela
reached 2 million U.S. viewers through Univision’s original
broadcast and is now streaming on ViX.
EMMY AWARD:
2024 Children's
and Family Public
Service Initative
THE COMMUNICATOR
AWARDS:
Award of Distinction
Winner
THE TELLY
AWARDS:
Silver Winner,
Social Impact
WHY IT MATTERS:
• Results demonstrate positive impacts of a brief, entertaining
intervention—a social impact telenovela—on Spanish-speaking
caregivers’ attitudes and beliefs about informal science.
• In addition, on-screen depictions of Latines in science-
related careers provide opportunities for the audience to see
themselves as scientists—and to envision science careers
for their children.
• Given the positive ndings from this research, our model
for creating La Fuerza de Creer: Dulce Sazón can serve as a
roadmap for changing parents' attitudes and behaviors
through broad-reach public access programming.
WHAT WE FOUND:
Caregivers who watched Dulce Sazón scored
signicantly higher on
• the belief that it is important to encourage
children’s wonder in the natural world;
• the role of science in their child’s life;
• the role of science in their child’s future.