Sesame Street made its debut 40 years ago. Four decades later what have the social, educational and cultural ramifications of the show done to transform children's television?

Mark Bauerlein is author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future; Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30 and an English professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Pat Ellingson has been the Creative Head of Children’s Programming for TVO since October 1998. She has been instrumental in building the trusted tvokids educational brand, overseeing multi-platform productions developed for every kind of young learner and covering virtually all areas of the Ontario JK-5 curriculum: Gisèle’s Big Backyard, Reading Rangers, Super Citizens and Tumbletown Tales to name just a few.

Clive VanderBurgh is Interim Chair of the School of Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson University. As a professor at Ryerson, Clive taught courses in television production with a special interest in children’s television production and research.

James P. Steyer is the CEO and Founder of Common Sense Media, the nation's leading nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the media lives of kids and families, where he works as a National Children's Policy Expert and Media Entrepreneur.

Shalom Fisch is President and Founder of MediaKidz Research & Consulting, a consulting firm that provides educational content development, hands-on testing, and writing for children's media.

Sandra Gionas is a producer for The Agenda with Steve Paikin. She has been at TVO for eleven years, first as a producer for the Daily Unit at Studio 2, and then as a producer for More 2 Life. She has covered health and education issues extensively for TVO. Sandra is a graduate of the University of Toronto, and Ryerson University’s School of Journalism. Follow Sandra on Twitter.

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Dr. John Ratey on the connection between exercise and the brain's performance.

John Ratey is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and is the author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.

Yasmina Sekkat is an associate producer for The Agenda with Steve Paikin. She has an undergraduate degree in Film and Media Studies from Queen's University and a postgraduate certificate in Writing and Producing for Television from Humber College. She previously interned at The Agenda. Follow Yasmina on Twitter.

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