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4/20/12
The Magic of Going Mobile: Augmented Reality, Design Thinking and the Power of Place
How a new augmented reality platform for the iPhone is helping educators explore the possibilities of mobile for learning, and the value of putting students in the driver’s seat.1/31/12
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.7/07/11
By Barbara Ray
Q&A: Asi Burak and Michelle Byrd On Changing the World (and Education) Via Social Impact Gaming
Spotlight talks with Games for Change co-presidents about the state of social impact games and the eighth annual Games for Change festival.6/15/11
By Matt Haber
Students Curate Their Own Virtual Museum Space at the New York Hall of Science
Forget bag lunches and permission slips, with new technologies students can embark on virtual field trips to learning spaces of their own design.6/02/11
By Josh Karp
Students Use Virtual Tools to Collaborate Across the Globe on Real World Environmental Conservation
With the help of the Field Museum, students in Chicago and Fiji work together to dive on coral reefs, examine living species, and learn about biodiversity and conservation.4/19/11
Digital Media in the Classroom Case Study: Gamestar Mechanic
Gamestar Mechanic is a video game that teaches kids how to design video games. With the first school year wrapping up in which Gamestar Mechanic was used, Spotlight takes a look at how teachers—and students—made progress with it in the classroom.1/04/11
Prototyping Our Way to Reforming Education
With ARIS, a new application for creating place-based mobile games, developers experiment with new models to get digital tools into educators hands more quickly - rapid prototyping of an idea and tons of user testing.11/11/10
Making a (Social) Impact: Gaming Companies Encourage Kids to Design Games With a Purpose
Spotlight talks with game developers about their plans to help kids design video games based on important social issues such as energy, nutrition and eco systems.11/10/10
Novel Public/Private Partnership Brings “Gamestar Mechanic” Video Game to Classrooms
After five years in the making “Gamestar Mechanic” is now available to educators via E-Line Media. Spotlight tells the story of how unique game-based learning platform came to be.8/18/10
By Ben Wolff
Talking Scratch: Educators Discuss Programming Kids Can Use to Build and Share Their Own Creations
At MIT’s Media Lab last week, educators from around the globe gathered to discuss Scratch, a new programming language with a growing community of followers who believe computer programming should not be left up to geeks.8/02/10
By Ben Wolff
New “Spore” Platform “DIASTEM” Teaches Kids to Think Like Game Developers
Spotlight talks with gamer Patrick Keller about why gaming should be an integral part of classroom learning and about the new platform he created for the popular video game “Spore.”7/28/10
By Ben Wolff
iCivics: How Games Can Teach Kids to be Better Citizens
Upon leaving the bench, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was concerned that civics education was faltering and that teachers needed better materials and support. (Watch her on John Stewart’s “The Daily Show” back in 2009 talk about how only one in three Americans can name the three branches of government.) So O’Connor helped start a web-based education project designed to inspire students to be more active citizens through online game play.7/15/10
By Ben Wolff
“Your Limitation is Your Imagination”: Stem Cell Sackboy Brings Science to Life
Spotlight talks with gamer David Dino about games-based learning and the new adventure level he created for the popular video game “LittleBigPlanet” that teaches young people about stem cell technology.6/14/10
By Ben Wolff
The Best Way to Get to a Good Idea? Fail.
Earlier this year, Spotlight asked Digital Media & Learning experts gathered in San Diego at the Digital Media & Learning conference what innovation they’d like to see in education. Drew Davidson, director of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, led the charge with his call for embracing failure as a learning device in classrooms. “The best way to get to a good idea,” Davidson says, “is to fail faster. You iterate through your design ideas and work your way toward the best solution.”6/14/10
By Ben Wolff
