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9/30/10
By Ben Wolff
Kids Engage Through Tinkering
In this short podcast, Miquela Craytor, executive director of Sustainable South Bronx, talks about how in the process of making things and tinkering, students get a glimpse of the systems and processes that go into producing something.9/30/10
By Matt Haber
Teens Build, Tinker and Demo Digital Games and Inventions at World Maker Faire in New York
At the World Maker Faire held earlier this month at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, N.Y., fish swam on dry land, a squid and a raven competed in a chariot race, and a larger-than-life version of the board game Mouse Trap, complete with a real claw-foot tub, made observers feel like extras in a remake of “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” (Either that, or the giant mouse problem in New York City has gotten out of control.)9/30/10
New Youth City Learning Network: Creating a New Vision for Out-of-School Learning
With scientists, designers and educators from some of the city’s cultural institutions serving as mentors, teens in New York City this summer learned to see their neighborhoods in a new light.9/16/10
By Josh Karp
YOUmedia Program Builds On Success at Downtown Library, Expands to Underserved Chicago Neighborhoods
YOUmedia is taking its successful model for 21st-century learning to more Chicago students across the city.8/18/10
By Ben Wolff
Tinkering the Classroom: Makers Combine the Digital and the Physical for Hands-On Learning
In Detroit, a new workshop space is giving community members the opportunity to take part in self-directed and participatory learning. In an effort create more “making” experiences in his community, Jeff Sturges recently founded a digital fabrication lab—the Mt. Elliott Makerspace.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.8/18/10
By Matt Haber
Re-Making Detroit: How Jeff Sturges and a Merry Band of Makers Are Building a New City - Literally
What do education reformer John Dewey and 1970s Detroit have in common? Both were committed to making things as a route to success. As Matt Haber reports, we may be witnessing a rebirth of both ideas in Jeff Sturges’ efforts to “re-make” Detroit and re-engage kids in learning.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.7/20/10
By Barbara Ray
Q&A: Anil Dash on Building Open-Source Communities, Empowering Citizens and Transforming Policy
Spotlight talks with Anil Dash, founding director of Expert Labs, a non-profit organization working to connect policymakers with the expertise of the general public.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.7/07/10
By Josh Karp
Theft or Tribute? Copyright Butts Heads With Online Habits
Members of today’s “YouTube generation” have been sharing files and downloading media for free since practically the day they were born. How does their view of remix and copyright conflict with today’s intellectual property law? Spotlight talks with attorney Jaime Wolf and with Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons, about the movement for greater latitude in reuse and remix, and forging a “third way” for future copyright.7/07/10
By Ben Wolff
“They Made it Their Own:” Classroom Remix Projects From Chicago Middle School Students
Students at Carter G. Woodson Middle School in Chicago work together on projects that use digital media and remixing. In this example, students were asked to use the documentary “The Black List” as a jumping-off point to make their own documentary about what it means to be a black teenager in Chicago today.7/07/10
By Ben Wolff
YOUMedia Students Remix Their World
The YOUMedia after school program at the Chicago Public Library encourages students to be active media producers and consumers. For many young people this includes remixing, sharing, applying and critiquing work made by others. In these examples of student work, the young artists use literature, games and music to express their own political beliefs and hopes for the future.7/07/10
By Josh Karp
