Season 41 · Episode 2

Sesame Street: The Happy Scientists

Gordon is grading his classes’ science experiments when Elmo, Rosita, and Telly run in and accidentally land on the papers. Gordon encourages Elmo, Rosita, and Telly that anyone, including them, can be scientists. All they need to do is to ask questions and investigate! They look around Sesame Street and see Leela giving Barkley a bath. Elmo comes up with a question: Does everyone on Sesame Street take a bath? Gordon guides them through the scientific process. First, Elmo and Rosita hypothesize, or guess, that everyone takes a bath. Telly isn’t sure that everyone takes a bath so he forms a different hypothesis. They investigate and record their observations in their journals. They find out that Chris takes a bath, a cat licks itself and takes a tongue bath, a sparrow takes a dust bath, an owl takes a sun bath to get rid of germs, and even Oscar takes a mud bath in his trash can. This makes Telly mad since his hypothesis was wrong-everyone does take a bath on Sesame Street. Gordon explains that it’s okay to be wrong in science because the most important part is the process, or the steps you take to get your answer. Telly, Rosita, and Elmo become happy scientists! They not only learn all about the scientific process, but also find an answer to their important question!