The Shark Riddle

Production of The Shark Riddle, a new episode of the children’s series called The Riddle Solvers. The Shark Riddle follows a brother-and-sister riddle-solving team on an adventure through the pages of a magical journal to solve a mysterious riddle about shark teeth. Meet a raucous group of singing sea lions, experience the underwater game show ‘Are You a Shark?’, hear a shark lullaby and discover the powerful and magnificent world of sharks. Featuring high-definition footage of 20 different shark species from around the world, this charming and hilarious look at the ocean’s top predators has received ‘two fins up’ from sharks everywhere.

The film is designed to help children develop empathy and positive feelings towards sharks, learn about the diversity of shark species and learn how sharks are necessary for a healthy ocean. Sisbro Studios, LLC will also develop a live educational programme based on the shark episode, as well as The Shark Packet, a packet of educational and family fun activities about sharks.

Sisbro are very passionate about sharing positive stories with children, so that they may learn to love the ocean before they are asked to save it. As we write the shark episode and educational materials, we will be dedicated to helping children develop environmental sensitivity in positive ways.

Research shows that knowledge of a subject does not necessarily lead to action. In Hungerford and Volk’s Theory of Responsible Environmental Behaviour (1990), they suggest three stages needed to encourage action: empathy, ownership and empowerment. In the empathy stage, people must develop environmental sensitivity, knowledge and positive feelings toward a subject (e.g.,‘I think sharks are amazing’). In the ownership stage, people must understand how a subject affects them (e.g., ‘Without sharks in the water, the food chain would not work very well, and I might not be able to see all the pretty animals on the reef’). Finally in the empowerment stage, people must learn skills so they know how to make a difference (i.e.,‘I can teach people not to hurt sharks’). Research suggests focusing mostly on the empathy stage for young children, which is where much of the shark episode will concentrate. We will, however, include pieces that help children move toward taking ownership and developing empowerment skills.

In addition, Sisbro Studios has received a separate grant to create ‘Shark Days’. These are shark-themed family events at science museums, aquariums and libraries on the west coast of the United States, in order to further the impact of The Shark Riddle and SOSF’s mission of shark education and conservation. Designed especially for families with children aged between five and 12 years, these events will offer the chance for true family learning and will provide the opportunity for people to generate and share real excitement about sharks during and after each event. Each event will include a screening of The Shark Riddle, along with a live shark-based educational programme from filmmakers Laura and Robert Sams, and the chance to see a life-sized inflatable version of a basking shark. For outreach activities, children and families will be given free shark bookmarks and will participate in hands-on crafts, games and activities from ‘The Shark Packet’ of family fun and educational activities based on the film The Shark Riddle.

The aims and objectives of this project are to:

• Produce a half-hour children’s film about sharks.
• Produce an educational packet of activities to accompany the episode for use by educators.
• Help children develop empathy and positive feelings towards sharks.