Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

PLAYBACK: Hacking Education, MIT Students to the (STEM) Rescue, Teaching Media Literacy and More

This week’s Playback looks at issues of digital access and how education is being re-thought and re-taught in the United States and around the world.

I, Robot: Master Lego Builders, All-Girl Robotics Teams and Architects of the Future

National Robotics Week gets underway, inspiring students to pursue careers in robotics and related STEM fields. Plus, meet the youngest Lego Master Model Builder; five reasons not to buy gendered Lego’s; and the rise of all-girl robotics teams.

Launching Red Bird Into Space: Angry Birds Goes for Ride With NASA

NASA is playing a key role in the fourth installment of the popular mobile- and browser-based game “Angry Birds.” Plus, how physics teachers are using the game with student-scientists in the classroom.

Calling All Game Makers: National STEM Video Game Challenge Extends Deadline

The 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge is extending the application deadline and making a push for submissions from college students and educators.

Conversations with Education Visionaries, Technologists, and Students at the 2012 Digital Media and Learning Conference

Researchers mingled with makers, hive learners and digital artists at the 2012 Digital Media and Learning Conference in San Francisco last week.

The Truth About Girl Scouts and the Need for Digital Literacy

Why the Girl Scouts may have a thing or two to teach an Indiana Republican state legislator about digital and media literacy.

From MIT to the Great Beyond: Erin King, 17, Launches Acceptance Letter Tube into Space

Let’s say your college acceptance letter arrived in a cardboard tube, along with a note from the university to “hack the tube.” What would do? Paint it? Turn it into a kaleidoscope? Create an aperture science handheld portal device?

Second White House Science Fair Features More Student Exhibits, More STEM Proposals

Students exhibited dozens of smartly designed and eco-savvy projects, and President Obama launched a marshmallow and a number of proposals to help prepare STEM teachers.

Programming With Scratch Jr: When it Comes to Screen Time and Young Kids, Content and Context Are Important

Since MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten group released Scratch in 2007, kids ages 8 to 13 have built more than 2.2 million animations, games, music, videos and stories using the kid-friendly programming language. Now with a grant from the National Foundation of Science, Lifelong Kindergarten is collaborating with Tufts University’s DevTech Research Group to make Scratch Jr, a new version aimed at kids in preschool to second grade.

PLAYBACK: Access, Literacy, The New and The Old Digital Divide

Tutoring via technology; the old digital divide persists while the drive toward mobile creates a new one; and Youth Radio’s Lissa Soep and HASTAC’s Cathy Davidson on what we know about teaching digital literacy … All in this week’s PLAYBACK.

Google Science Fair Winners: Teen-Age Scientists Inspire at TEDxWomen, Also Cite Need for Mentors

At TEDxWomen, Google Science Fair winners Lauren Hodge, Shree Bose and Naomi Shah describe their research and passion for scientific inquiry, and the difficulty of finding mentors.

Access For All: The White House Announces New Summer Jobs Initiative to Teach STEM to Low-Income Teens, Prepare Them for Jobs

President Obama has called on businesses and non-profits to help close the youth unemployment gap. Is teaching kids to code enough? We look at other models that encourage minority students from low-income communities to develop mobile apps, robotics and other technologies and to consider STEM careers.