The Behaviouristic School bus

By Natalia Diquech and Ma. Florencia Dominguez

As my Aunt Minerva used to say, ‘there's nothing more marvelous than mud.’

Mr. Frizzle (The Magical School Bus, 1994)

Can you imagine a magic school bus? A bus which can take you to extraordinary didactic journeys with an adventurous, intelligent and wise teacher? Actually, it’s not far from imagination. In 1993, a clever writer called Joanna Cole, who previously had written about science and humour, decided to explore this fields by turning complex topics into simple and engaging ones. In order to achieve her ideas, she wrote a book named “The Magic School Bus.” Cole was then supported by Craig Walker, the vice-president and senior editorial director at Scholastic. According to walker, the main idea of the book was to combine science with fictional stories. Later, in 1994 the idea was taken to the TV.

The show places an elementary school teacher called Ms. Frizzle and her students as the main characters. They all travel in the magical bus which takes them to unreachable places such as the solar system, the sea, and other sceneries. Although all the characters take an important role in the show, the teacher is the one who has the knowledge. Can be possible that Ms. Frizzle is following a behaviouristic approach?

During the different episodes you can see how children are transported by a magical bus driven by the teacher to meet knowledge. Children are taken to the centre of knowledge, where they take a passive role because they only observe what the teacher shows them. For example, in one episode the teacher drove the bus, with the children in it, inside the human body in order to teach them how the body functions.

Walker once said that a teacher he had when he was a child inspired him to help Joanna Cole to create Ms. Frizzle. Considering he was born in the 60’s, we can infer his teacher may have followed a behaviouristic view. As a result, Ms. Frizzle may have behaviouristic characteristics concerning her active role in the TV programme.

But what about Joanna? She never stated she had been inspired by any of her school teachers, however, as she was born in 1944, she may have also had a behaviouristic view of education, in which the teacher is the one who posses the knowledge and transmits it to the students. This is something shown in all the episodes. Ms. Frizzle posses the knowledge and she always leads her students to it.

There is a student, called Arnold, which cannot reach learning because he feels he is not brave enough to face the different adventures. That’s why the teacher tries over and over again to teach him until he reaches the teacher’s goal. Once the child has learned the teacher fells she had succeeded. This is a clear example of how the behaviouristic view is immersed in the teacher’s active role.

This analysis understands the show as having a behavioural background in relation to the context in which it was created. As we have mentioned before, the show itself shows behavioural aspects concerning the teacher’s role, the students` role and the way in which knowledge is presented.

We need to be aware of the mixture between science and fiction used to engage children but without forgetting the hidden ground on which the TV series was built up.