Nostalgia has officially set in across America as the characters of good ol’ “Sesame Street” have been spotted gracing magazine covers, dancing across Internet sites and popping up on television. The visits from Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover and Elmo (always accompanied by good morals and values) come with good reason, too: tomorrow, “Sesame Street” will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Yet just as the intergenerational, multicultural Street wouldn’t be complete without all of its characters, the same goes for its early entrepreneurs and contributors - and that includes Ed Palmer, head of research for “Sesame Street” in its formative years who was hired because of his research experience at the University of Michigan. Today, preschoolers around the globe can thank people like Ed for introducing them to various cultures, faiths and communities.

When “Sesame Street” was dreamed up in the late 1960s, the television world was a desolate place. It wasn’t until Lloyd Morrisett, an experimental psychologist, one day found his 3-year-old daughter enamored with the TV test pattern that he realized something had to change. After friend Joan Ganz Cooney heard about Morrisett’s daughter’s behavior, she began visualizing a program that captured children’s imaginations and taught them life lessons. Cooney knew that the right show could reach children on a deep level, teaching them both their ABCs and about accepting people of other cultures and religions in the same episode.

Cooney realized that the intellect of preschool children needed to be challenged, and Children’s Television Workshop - the parent company of “Sesame Street” - turned to a man by the name of Ed Palmer. Palmer was known for his research at the University of Michigan on the responses of preschool children to television. Eventually, Palmer’s findings would lead to the personality development of characters like Big Bird and Grover.

Palmer was instructed to determine whether or not the complex educational curriculum designed for “Sesame Street” was reaching its viewers. After intensive study of children watching the show, comparisons of “Sesame Street” to other cartoon shows and research on the attention span of children, Palmer reported his findings to the show’s producers. When the producers followed Palmer’s instructions, it was found that most “Sesame Street” episodes held a child’s attention for 85-90 percent of the show. As of 2008, “Sesame Street” had won more Emmy Awards than any other television show in history. Coincidentally, 2008 was also the year that “Sesame Street” introduced Leela, a Hindu character who “moved in” to teach children about Hindu and Indian culture.

According to producers, “Sesame Street” will remain popular as long as it changes with the world’s children. Today, the popular show has branched out into award-winning Web pages, colorful game sites, blogs, educational objectives and more. Perhaps with the help of shows like “Sesame Street,” global religious and cultural tolerance will be brought just a little bit closer.

Stephanie Fenton covers Faith for AnnArbor.com. Stephanie can be reached at Fenton.Stephanie@gmail.com.