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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-13051\" title=\"school26_ss\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/school26_ss1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stereotypical video game player is a young male under age 18, but \u003ca href=\"http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2011.pdf\">study\u003c/a> after \u003ca href=\"http://www.bizreport.com/2011/03/report-sheds-light-on-gamer-demographics.html\">study\u003c/a> has shown that majority of the game-playing population does not fall into that demographic. Only 18% of gamers are under age 18, and women over 18 represent a significantly greater proportion of this population (37%) than do boys age 17 or younger (13%).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the explosive growth in social gaming, particularly on Facebook, more games are being targeted at women. Games like \u003ca href=\"http://www.farmville.com\">Farmville\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"http://www.petsociety.com\"> Pet Society\u003c/a>, while not explicitly aimed at women, have been embraced by an older and female gaming population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what about girls? As we have written about often here at MindShift, video games are increasingly considered an \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/ten-surprising-truths-about-video-games-and-learning/\">important tool for learning\u003c/a>. And even though plenty of women do play video games, there is still a sense -- particularly among girls -- that games are a \"boy thing.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">There isn't swordplay here. No princesses to rescue. No alien invaders to vanquish.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>That girl-gamer audience is the focus of the Vancouver, B.C.-based gaming studio \u003ca href=\"http://www.siliconsisters.ca/\">Silicon Sisters\u003c/a>. The first female-owned and run video game studio in Canada, Silicon Sisters is committed to building games for women and girls \u003cem>by\u003c/em> women and girls. Founded by former Radical Entertainment executive producer Kristen Forbes and former Deep Fried Entertainment COO Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, the studio released their very first game, \u003ca href=\"http://www.school26.ca./\">School 26\u003c/a>, to critical acclaim back in April. (We featured the game in our April round-up of the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/04/new-educational-apps-of-the-month/\">best new educational apps\u003c/a> of the month.) The studio plans to release their next School 26 game -- \"Summer of Secrets\" -- next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The School 26 games are geared towards tweens and teens, and the storyline is built around the very complicated social hierarchy of high school. You play the game as a young girl who's a newcomer to a school. She comes from a nomadic family, which has made it difficult for her to maintain long-term friendships. As she enrolls in this, her 26th school, she strikes a bargain with her parents: If she can make friends, they'll stay put.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the player of School 26 must help the character do just that: build friendships and navigate the sticky, awkward and sometimes awful moral dilemmas of school. These range from power struggles to peer pressure, romance, betrayal, alienation, acceptance - all real and relevant situations that girls face every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The player must select appropriate emotional responses to certain scenarios and answer quizzes that provide insights into players' personalities. The emphasis here is on empathy and networking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's a very different set of goals and behaviors than what most video games encourage. There isn't swordplay here. No princesses to rescue. No alien invaders to vanquish. There isn't \"action.\" There's \"talk.\" The rewards aren't cash or weaponry. The skills honed in School 26 aren't the ability to time your jumps or dodge bullets or land killing blows. Of course, there are plenty of casual games aimed at tweens that aren't action-oriented, and there are lots aimed at girls. But unlike many games that target this girl market, there is no emphasis on shopping, fashion, or beauty in School 26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicon Sisters says that all their games will emphasize this sort of \"social engineering\" -- an emphasis on relationships and communication. These are important skills for girls and women to develop, the studio argues, and will allow them to navigate the sometimes treacherous social situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the female gaming population grows, it's likely that more companies will begin to cater to this market. But as it stands, there still aren't a lot of games that meet women and girl gamers' needs. A recent report by the entertainment market research firm \u003ca href=\"http://interpretllc.com/\">Interpret\u003c/a> entitled \u003cem>\"Games and Girls: Video Gaming's Ignored Audience\"\u003c/em> argues that the female gaming market is far more nuanced than some of the \"casual-centric reputation\" suggests. Indeed, 44% of those who responded to the survey say that they prefer genres other than exercise, music, and casual games -- the kind that are most often marketed to women and girls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But making games for girls isn't simply about providing good entertainment. Some of girls' reluctance to play video games may have other repercussions: a lack of familiarity with or comfort around technology, for example, and a missed opportunity to learn more about science, technology and engineering.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The School 26 games are geared towards tweens and teens, and the storyline is built around the very complicated social hierarchy of high school. You play the game as a young girl who's a newcomer to a school. She comes from a nomadic family, which has made it difficult for her to maintain long-term friendships. As she enrolls in this, her 26th school, she strikes a bargain with her parents: If she can make friends, they'll stay put.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the player of School 26 must help the character do just that: build friendships and navigate the sticky, awkward and sometimes awful moral dilemmas of school. These range from power struggles to peer pressure, romance, betrayal, alienation, acceptance - all real and relevant situations that girls face every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The player must select appropriate emotional responses to certain scenarios and answer quizzes that provide insights into players' personalities. The emphasis here is on empathy and networking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's a very different set of goals and behaviors than what most video games encourage. There isn't swordplay here. No princesses to rescue. No alien invaders to vanquish. There isn't \"action.\" There's \"talk.\" The rewards aren't cash or weaponry. The skills honed in School 26 aren't the ability to time your jumps or dodge bullets or land killing blows. Of course, there are plenty of casual games aimed at tweens that aren't action-oriented, and there are lots aimed at girls. But unlike many games that target this girl market, there is no emphasis on shopping, fashion, or beauty in School 26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicon Sisters says that all their games will emphasize this sort of \"social engineering\" -- an emphasis on relationships and communication. These are important skills for girls and women to develop, the studio argues, and will allow them to navigate the sometimes treacherous social situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the female gaming population grows, it's likely that more companies will begin to cater to this market. But as it stands, there still aren't a lot of games that meet women and girl gamers' needs. A recent report by the entertainment market research firm \u003ca href=\"http://interpretllc.com/\">Interpret\u003c/a> entitled \u003cem>\"Games and Girls: Video Gaming's Ignored Audience\"\u003c/em> argues that the female gaming market is far more nuanced than some of the \"casual-centric reputation\" suggests. Indeed, 44% of those who responded to the survey say that they prefer genres other than exercise, music, and casual games -- the kind that are most often marketed to women and girls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But making games for girls isn't simply about providing good entertainment. Some of girls' reluctance to play video games may have other repercussions: a lack of familiarity with or comfort around technology, for example, and a missed opportunity to learn more about science, technology and engineering.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Boredom Busters: 50 Fantastic Play-and-Learn Apps, Sites, and Toys",
"title": "Boredom Busters: 50 Fantastic Play-and-Learn Apps, Sites, and Toys",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12767\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-12767\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/06/boredom-busters-50-fantastic-play-and-learn-apps-sites-and-toys/mzl-rywfawgo-480x480-75/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-12767\" title=\"mzl.rywfawgo.480x480-75\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/mzl.rywfawgo.480x480-75-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ansel & Clair's Adventure app features animations, quests, puzzles and games in scenic African locations.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>School or no school, there's a world of learning opportunities for kids. When they're not exploring outdoors, keep kids engaged in learning throughout the summer months with these enjoyable and educational apps and websites. For kids, playing these games is a cool pastime; for parents, it's another way to get kids to exercise their thinking muscles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u003cstrong>VIRTUAL WORLDS\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.minecraft.net/\">MINECRAFT\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> This online game \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/legos-for-the-digital-age-students-build-imaginary-worlds/\">lets you build\u003c/a> entire worlds out of blocks. Minecraft’s visual simplicity belies what is a completely open-ended and therefore terrifically complex world. And the best of that world: it’s up to the player to design. Minecraft is what’s known as a “sandbox” game, giving players almost complete freedom to build within it.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://caesar3.heavengames.com/strategy/\"> \u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>CAESAR III\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> In this simulation, you begin as a lowly citizen trying to eke out an existence in a virgin landscape. The student begins by learning about the basic needs for survival and graduates to increasingly demanding scenarios. By the end, students will have gained a very sophisticated understanding of the influence played by the environment on the development of a civilization.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ansel-clairs-adventures-in/id433593765?mt=8\">\u003cstrong>ANSEL & CLAIR’S ADVENTURES IN AFRICA\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>.\u003c/span> Ansel and Clair are aliens who must recover their lost spaceship parts, and as they travel the continent (the Serengheti, the Nile River Valley, and the Sahara Desert) they not only work on that mission but learn about the geography and history of the area as well. The app takes full advantage of iPad technology — audio, video, the touchscreen, “tilt the iPad” games, and so on.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.thinkingworlds.com/\">\u003cstrong>THINKING WORLDS\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. Kids enter a virtual world that resides on their personal computer. Their avatar can be somewhat modified, and engage in a wide variety of explorations. In the unit dealing with volcanoes and earthquakes, they not only learn about the details, they visit places such as Herculaneum, subterraneous faults, and the ruins of Kobe in Japan.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/\">QUEST ATLANTIS\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>.\u003c/strong> Kids are engaged in a narrative as compelling as The Chronicles of Narnia, except not as passive spectators, but as active participants in the story. Their age and school appropriate avatars are able to explore and learn in an environment that is secure, monitored, and dynamically expansive. You can live with the First Nations people of Mesa Verde, negotiated plans to save the Black Rhino with the various stakeholders in Tanzania, taken rockets to space stations to learn about the technology they will need to deploy and use in order to deflect Near Earth Objects.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.wolfquest.org/\">\u003cstrong>WOLFQUEST\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. With this online game, you become a solitary wolf, struggling to find your place in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. You learn about the challenges of life in the wild, and the need for “others.” In time, you can mate, and form a pack of your own.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.cybernetworlds.com/\">\u003cstrong>CYBERNETWORLDS\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. In this family-run virtual universe called Viamus, kids can build and create any type of environment, like ancient civilizations that ring the Mediterranean.\u003c/li>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u003cstrong>STORIES AND WORD GAMES\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.mindsnacks.com/\">MINDSNACKS\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/strong> The idea with MindSnacks is to offer a mobile gaming and learning experience to help brush up on your vocabulary. The app offers 50 levels of language content, each level featuring 25 words and phrases. The language-learning startup released an Italian language version, available for free for \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mindsnacks-italian-language/id433199718?mt=8\">iPhone and iPad\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pbs-kids-video-for-ipad/id435138734?mt=8\">\u003cstrong>PBS KIDS VIDEO\u003c/strong>.\u003c/a>\u003c/span> The app gives access to more than 1,000 streaming videos from various PBS Kids’ series, including The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, Dinosaur Train, and Sesame Street. The app also includes information about local PBS stations’ TV schedules and the ability to mark series as “favorites.”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.triplingo.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">TRIPLINGO\u003c/span>.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> For learning the most relevant foreign-language idioms and phrases, in each of these languages: Mexican Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portugese, and Pirate (arr, yes, \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/triplingo-pirate-edition/id437093340?mt=8\">Pirate\u003c/a>).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12759\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/5-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"5\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12759\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Toontastic app\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://launchpadtoys.com/toontastic/\">TOONTASTIC\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>. Kids can \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/01/digital-storytelling-comes-to-life-on-the-ipad/\">create digital stories\u003c/a> with a variety of different characters, settings, musical backgrounds, and their own recorded voice-overs. Its most recently released version features three new space-based settings (and more space-related characters), new drawing tools, faster uploads to \u003ca href=\"http://toontube.toonlifeonline.com/\">ToonTube\u003c/a>, and the ability to save your custom-drawn characters and backgrounds so you can use them in any scene or cartoon.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pat-the-bunny/id430902036?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">PAT THE BUNNY\u003c/span>.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> The perennial favorite children's book is also an iPhone and iPad app. The book is well-known for its sensory experiences, and those have been updated and transformed to work with a touchscreen device (and if you have a front-facing camera, the “mirror” page uses the camera instead). The app can be set to read aloud, with words highlighted as the text is read. Or adults can record their own voices to accompany the book.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodiewords/id409516388?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>GOODIEWORDS\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> Geared toward toddlers who are in their “What is it?” stage, this app explains words that parents might otherwise find difficult to define, like fingerprint, shadow, time, and dream. The app is colorful and engaging, with games and storybook narration.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scrabble/id284815117?mt=8\">SCRABBLE. \u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>If you’ve got a \u003ca href=\"http://www.facebook.com/\">Facebook\u003c/a> account, you can sign up for the Scrabble app and play with friends through Facebook, either on your browser or on your Facebook mobile phone app. Each time someone takes a turn, the other is notified.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.lexulous.com/\">LEXULOUS.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> plays very much like Scrabble, but with a bigger board. You can play the game on Facebook, but its own site also hosts games, and it’s got an iPhone app.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/words-with-friends-hd/id364140796?mt=8\">WORDS WITH FRIENDS\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. Like Scrabble, \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/words-with-friends-hd/id364140796?mt=8\">Word With Friends \u003c/a>works on an iTunes app, but you don’t need to be in the same wifi network to play with your friends.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-civil-war-today/id428812156?mt=8\">CIVIL WAR TODAY\u003c/a>\u003c/span>.\u003c/strong> Created by History and A&E, the iPad app offers daily updates, chronicling the events that occurred 150 years ago. The app includes newspaper headlines as well as personal letters and diaries. There are videos and maps (including period maps) and a daily count of casualities on both the North and the South.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cul>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.moving-tales.com/titles.html\">UNWANTED GUEST\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>.Many of the new and innovative examples of children’s e-books aren’t sold as books per se. They’re available as websites, such as \u003ca href=\"http://www.inanimatealice.com/\">Inanimate Alice\u003c/a>, or they’re sold as apps, such as \u003ca href=\"http://www.moving-tales.com/\">Moving Tales’\u003c/a> most recent e-book Unwanted Guest, available for the \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/cr/app/unwanted-guest-iphone-edition/id416226661?mt=8#\">iPhone and iPad\u003c/a>. Unwanted Guest takes a traditional folktale and updates it with charming 3D animations that accompany each page of the story. You can have the app auto-turn the pages, or flip yourself, or use the iPad’s accelerometer to animate the text. The app offers a narration, but you also have the option to turn off the text and/or to add your own voice-over.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/school-26-hd/id431284898?mt=8\">SCHOOL 26\u003c/a>\u003c/span>.\u003c/strong> The female-run video game studio \u003ca href=\"http://www.siliconsisters.ca/\">Silicon Sisters\u003c/a>' first game is aimed at girls. The game is set in school and the goal is to make as many social connections as possible, navigating the sticky, awkward and sometimes awful moral dilemmas of school. These challenges range from struggles to peer pressure, romance, betrayal, alienation, acceptance – all real and relevant situations that girls face every day. The gameplay involves the player selecting the appropriate emotional responses to certain scenarios and answering quizzes that provide insights into players’ personalities. The emphasis here is on empathy and networking.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/Top_100\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>BOOKS SHOULD BE FREE\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> Download free audiobooks and choose from your own childhood favorites like Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or Gulliver’s Travels.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://storynory.com/\">STORYNORY\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. In this storytelling podcast, the lead storyteller is Natasha, who herself sounds like a fairytale princess with her lilting British accent narrates stories like \u003ca href=\"http://storynory.com/2010/11/15/the-old-man-and-the-figs/\">The Old Man and the Figs\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://storynory.com/2010/10/30/katies-black-friday/\">Katie’s Black Friday\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12756\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/alice-in-wonderland-300x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"alice in wonderland\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12756\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alice in Wonderland app.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alice-for-the-ipad/id354537426?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>ALICE IN WONDERLAND.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/a> Bringing the story to life, this app lets you tilt your iPad to make Alice grow or shrink, throw tarts at the Queen of Hearts and help the caterpillar smoke his hookah pipe.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toy-story-read-along/id364376920?mt=8\">\u003cstrong>TOY STORY.\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> \u003c/span>\u003c/span>The movies are great, but the app is arguably more interesting. Using the same story line, there are games, movie clips, coloring pages, and sing-along songs. Kids can hear the story read aloud, or they can record their own narration, and explore at their own pace.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.miamiopia.com/\">MIAMIOPIA\u003c/a>.\u003c/span> Kids can customize the look of their own alien avatar (it has a striking resemblance to the Na’Vi tribe in the movie “Avatar”), then choose any type of game they want to play — as easy as counting apples that fall from the tree to finishing a musical scale using the keyboard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/students/\">SMITHSONIAN\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. A treasure trove of games and information presented in an engaging medium. Kids can explore the solar system by creating their own universe, become acquainted with the 142 million objects the organization has collected over the years, and take trivia quizzes, among many other fun games.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.funbrain.com/\">FUNBRAIN\u003c/a>.\u003c/span> Lots of interactive pieces on this site, like Mad Libs, math quizzes with insects, and easier games for the wee ones to learn how to use a mouse and keyboard.\u003c/li>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u003cstrong>SCIENCE & MATH\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://scratch.mit.edu/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">SCRATCH\u003c/span>. \u003c/a>\u003c/strong>Developed by the \u003ca href=\"http://www.media.mit.edu/\">MIT Media Lab\u003c/a>, Scratch is a visual programming language for children age 6 and up. Since its release in 2007, over 800,000 users have joined the Scratch website and have shared over 1.7 million projects — from games to animations. That sharing aspect is an important part of the Scratch community, so the projects that are uploaded to the site are licensed under the Creative Commons attribute and share alike license so that others can download and remix them. Scratch is available free of charge and runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux computers.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.alice.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ALICE\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> A free and open source 3D programming environment, Alice is designed to teach students object-oriented and event-driven programming. With Alice, students drag and drop graphic tiles in order to animate an object and create a program. A variant of Alice, \u003ca href=\"http://www.alice.org/kelleher/storytelling/\">Storytelling Alice\u003c/a> was developed by Caitlin Kelleher as part of her doctoral work in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. By emphasizing animations and social interactions, this approach was found to greatly increase the level of student interest in programming.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://hackety-hack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>HACKETY HACK\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> An open-source application that teaches the basics of programming in the popular \u003ca href=\"http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/\">Ruby\u003c/a> language, Hackety Hack offers an interactive tutorial that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. While both Scratch and Alice use a graphical programming language with “blocks,” Hackety Hack teaches the basics of Ruby syntax. The tutorial and the text editor are well-integrated, so there isn’t any flipping back-and-forth to move between the How-To guide and the actual coding. Hackety Hack gives students a solid foundation in the language so they can quickly and easily start building their own apps in Ruby.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12760\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/5843063843_8d1fe512e3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"5843063843_8d1fe512e3\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12760\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An iNaturalist spotted plant species.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.arduino.cc/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ARDUINO\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong> Another an open-source electronics prototyping platform, but this one with both hardware and software components. Arduino’s hardware is programmed with a language similar to C++, and although it may not be the easiest of entry points for learning programming, there’s something about building things that actually move that can be pretty compelling. Projects that use Arduino to introduce children to programming include a \u003ca href=\"http://seaside.citilab.eu/scratch/arduino\">modification of Scratch\u003c/a> to support simple programming on the Arduino hardware.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx\">LEGO MINDSTORMS\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. Technically it's not a website or app. But \u003ca href=\"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx\">Lego Mindstorm\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx\">s\u003c/a> does enable robotics-building. Lego Mindstorms’ kits — which can be purchased in educational and consumer versions — include sensors and motors, and the programming is command-box rather than code programming. The kits come with languages supplied by Lego, but can be modified to work with third party languages. Like several of the tools on this list, Lego Mindstorms has its roots at the MIT Media Lab.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://leafsnap.com/\">LEAFSNAP\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. \u003c/strong>Kids can explore local flora with this app, which is essentially an electronic field guide for both \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/leafsnap/id430649829?mt=8\">iPhone and iPad\u003c/a> that uses visual recognition software to identify tree species based on photographs of their leaves.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.projectnoah.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">PROJECT NOAH\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> Explore the wildlife around you with this app and help scientists with their data collection. You can post a new spotting, upload photos, tag plants and animals with location data, join missions, and earn patches. The app also contains a field guide to help you identify the wildlife you find. It’s beautifully designed, and available for free for both iPhone and Android.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://inaturalist.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">iNATURALIST\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> A social network for nature-lovers, it's an online community where you can record and share your observations on the natural world. The \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inaturalist/id421397028?mt=8#\">iPhone app\u003c/a> allows you to log the plants and animals you come across. If you need help identifying things, the rest of the iNaturalist community can help.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12763\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/mzl.vctxsuec.320x480-75-300x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"mzl.vctxsuec.320x480-75\" width=\"300\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12763\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SkySafari app.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.thewildlab.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">THE WILDLAB\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>. There are two apps currently available for the iPhone — Crab App and WildLab Bird — and you can sign up as a spotter via its website. The WildLab Bird app, as the name suggests, involves identifying and geo-tagging bird species. The Crab App helps collect information about horseshoe crabs, their numbers and their egg-laying.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://projectsquirrel.org/index.shtml\">PROJECT SQUIRREL\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. Not a mobile app, but a website, this citizen science project recognizes that almost everyone — no matter where they live — has squirrels in their neighborhood. That, along with the differences between the gray squirrel and the fox squirrel — in appearance, in habitat — make Project Squirrel a great introductory citizen science project. The website lets you record your squirrel observations and upload photos. You can even mail in your data via a printable form.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://iphone.ibird.com/product_finder.html\">iBIRD.\u003c/a>\u003c/span> Bird watching has come a long way from the time Charles Darwin began sketching species. Savvy birders use tech tools to help them identify and log their discoveries. You’ll find four or five birding apps, but the most comprehensive seems to be the iBird series. The free sampler (15 most popular birds) gives you a nice introduction to the subject that may reel you in to the wonderful world of birding, so that you might then graduate to the iBird Backyard, iBird West, as well as iBird North, South, Midwest, Canada. And of course, the mother of all apps the iBird Pro.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skysafari/id319159213?mt=8\">SKYSAFARI\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. Beginners should use the “lite” version, but for those deep into the cosmos, the full version of this app identifies as many as 300,000 stars and includes countless images from NASA and the ability to identify planets from where you stand. Also includes a nifty “night-vision” theme.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-walk-5-stars-astronomy/id295430577?mt=8\">STARWALK\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. Lift up your phone to the dark night and you’ll be able to see what stars and planets shine above you with the Star Spotter function. Click on Time Machine and you’ll get a preview of what the sky will look like three years from now. Track the rising of the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. View from the Earth shows 3D perspectives from anywhere on the planet.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/planets/id305793334?mt=8\">PLANETS\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. This app exhibits a 3D guide to the solar system, and 3D views of planets and the moon, as well as constellation names and rising and setting times for moon. You’ll also have access to a fact sheet for each planet.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moon-globe/id333180321?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>MOON GLOBE.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> \u003c/a>A close-up look at every nook and cranny of the moon, including 3D graphics and touch navigation. In globe mode, you can peek over the surface of the moon and see Earth hovering in the distance. You can also see where the moon and sun sit in relation to each other and you.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://vanished.mit.edu/\">VANISHED\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. The Smithsonian Institution and MIT offers this eight-week online/offline environmental disaster mystery game for middle-school children, meant to inspire engagement and problem solving through science. Developed by the MIT’s \u003ca href=\"http://educationarcade.org/\">Education Arcade\u003c/a> and by the Smithsonian Institution, the program encourages participants to investigate an environmental disaster by using real scientific methods, by visiting museums and collecting samples from their neighborhoods, and by participating in online challenges.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12766\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/mzl.dcbffgtt.320x480-75-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"mzl.dcbffgtt.320x480-75\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12766\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Park Math app.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/park-math-by-duck-duck-moose/id391407836?mt=8\">PARK MATH.\u003c/a> \u003c/strong>\u003c/span>It’s actually hard to select just one of Duck Duck Moose’s award-winning apps to feature here. The company recently won three Parents’ Choice Awards, including a Silver Award for \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/park-math-by-duck-duck-moose/id391407836?mt=8#\">Park Math\u003c/a>. The app contains a number of math games for preschoolers that help teach concepts like addition and subtraction and help boost counting and sorting skills.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://motionmathgames.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>MOTION MATH.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/a> The app aims to helps students develop this number sense and estimate fractions — quickly. Players control a bouncing star, and the goal is to make that star land on the right part of the number line, matching a particular fraction. To do this, the app uses the gyroscope that’s built into the Apple mobile devices, so you have to tilt your device.\u003c/li>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u003cstrong>ART, MUSIC & PHOTOGRAPHY\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.felttip.com/tunapitch/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">LEARNING MUSIC\u003c/span>.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> There are apps that help you \u003ca href=\"http://www.felttip.com/tunapitch/\">tune your instrument\u003c/a> and apps that help you \u003ca href=\"http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/ipad-iphone-apps/guitar-fingering.html\">learn fingering\u003c/a>. There are websites galore that offer \u003ca href=\"http://howtoplaypianoeasily.com/\">step-by-step guides\u003c/a> — online method books — and videos of how to play \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dSp79TDWoc\">guitar\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vphWgqbF-AM\">piano\u003c/a>, and so on.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://artistworks.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ARTISTWORKS\u003c/span>. \u003c/a>\u003c/strong>This website allows you not to just watch and learn playing instruments online via video, but allows you to record and upload a recording of your music and get personalized feedback from music instructors.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12769\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/photo2-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"photo2\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12769\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hipstamatic app (John S. lens)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shakeitphoto/id302926603?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>SHAKE IT.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/a> Brightens colors, spotlights the center of the image, and adds a chunky white border around it. You can apply the app to existing images or take photos directly from the app itself.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nevercenter.com/camerabag/iphone/\">CAMERABAG\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>This is a trove of photo tools. My favorite is the Helga filter (right), which creates a vignette around the image and brightens the center. But it’s got many other filters, too: silvery black-and-white, muted Polaroid, Vanity Fair-style warm and saturated are just a few others.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://artandmobile.com/tiltshift/\">TILTSHIFTGEN\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>The free version of this is good enough for me, though there are more multifaceted versions too. I can pull the focus of the photo to one specific spot by touching the screen, and blur the rest, as I did below.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://hipstamaticapp.com/\">HIPSTAMATIC\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> I cringe at the name, but the effects are amazing. Depending on which lens you choose, the photos take on a hyper-surreal quality.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12767\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-12767\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/06/boredom-busters-50-fantastic-play-and-learn-apps-sites-and-toys/mzl-rywfawgo-480x480-75/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-12767\" title=\"mzl.rywfawgo.480x480-75\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/mzl.rywfawgo.480x480-75-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ansel & Clair's Adventure app features animations, quests, puzzles and games in scenic African locations.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>School or no school, there's a world of learning opportunities for kids. When they're not exploring outdoors, keep kids engaged in learning throughout the summer months with these enjoyable and educational apps and websites. For kids, playing these games is a cool pastime; for parents, it's another way to get kids to exercise their thinking muscles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u003cstrong>VIRTUAL WORLDS\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.minecraft.net/\">MINECRAFT\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> This online game \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/legos-for-the-digital-age-students-build-imaginary-worlds/\">lets you build\u003c/a> entire worlds out of blocks. Minecraft’s visual simplicity belies what is a completely open-ended and therefore terrifically complex world. And the best of that world: it’s up to the player to design. Minecraft is what’s known as a “sandbox” game, giving players almost complete freedom to build within it.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://caesar3.heavengames.com/strategy/\"> \u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>CAESAR III\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> In this simulation, you begin as a lowly citizen trying to eke out an existence in a virgin landscape. The student begins by learning about the basic needs for survival and graduates to increasingly demanding scenarios. By the end, students will have gained a very sophisticated understanding of the influence played by the environment on the development of a civilization.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ansel-clairs-adventures-in/id433593765?mt=8\">\u003cstrong>ANSEL & CLAIR’S ADVENTURES IN AFRICA\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>.\u003c/span> Ansel and Clair are aliens who must recover their lost spaceship parts, and as they travel the continent (the Serengheti, the Nile River Valley, and the Sahara Desert) they not only work on that mission but learn about the geography and history of the area as well. The app takes full advantage of iPad technology — audio, video, the touchscreen, “tilt the iPad” games, and so on.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.thinkingworlds.com/\">\u003cstrong>THINKING WORLDS\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. Kids enter a virtual world that resides on their personal computer. Their avatar can be somewhat modified, and engage in a wide variety of explorations. In the unit dealing with volcanoes and earthquakes, they not only learn about the details, they visit places such as Herculaneum, subterraneous faults, and the ruins of Kobe in Japan.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/\">QUEST ATLANTIS\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>.\u003c/strong> Kids are engaged in a narrative as compelling as The Chronicles of Narnia, except not as passive spectators, but as active participants in the story. Their age and school appropriate avatars are able to explore and learn in an environment that is secure, monitored, and dynamically expansive. You can live with the First Nations people of Mesa Verde, negotiated plans to save the Black Rhino with the various stakeholders in Tanzania, taken rockets to space stations to learn about the technology they will need to deploy and use in order to deflect Near Earth Objects.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.wolfquest.org/\">\u003cstrong>WOLFQUEST\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. With this online game, you become a solitary wolf, struggling to find your place in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. You learn about the challenges of life in the wild, and the need for “others.” In time, you can mate, and form a pack of your own.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.cybernetworlds.com/\">\u003cstrong>CYBERNETWORLDS\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. In this family-run virtual universe called Viamus, kids can build and create any type of environment, like ancient civilizations that ring the Mediterranean.\u003c/li>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u003cstrong>STORIES AND WORD GAMES\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.mindsnacks.com/\">MINDSNACKS\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/strong> The idea with MindSnacks is to offer a mobile gaming and learning experience to help brush up on your vocabulary. The app offers 50 levels of language content, each level featuring 25 words and phrases. The language-learning startup released an Italian language version, available for free for \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mindsnacks-italian-language/id433199718?mt=8\">iPhone and iPad\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pbs-kids-video-for-ipad/id435138734?mt=8\">\u003cstrong>PBS KIDS VIDEO\u003c/strong>.\u003c/a>\u003c/span> The app gives access to more than 1,000 streaming videos from various PBS Kids’ series, including The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, Dinosaur Train, and Sesame Street. The app also includes information about local PBS stations’ TV schedules and the ability to mark series as “favorites.”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.triplingo.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">TRIPLINGO\u003c/span>.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> For learning the most relevant foreign-language idioms and phrases, in each of these languages: Mexican Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portugese, and Pirate (arr, yes, \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/triplingo-pirate-edition/id437093340?mt=8\">Pirate\u003c/a>).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12759\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/5-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"5\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12759\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Toontastic app\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://launchpadtoys.com/toontastic/\">TOONTASTIC\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>. Kids can \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/01/digital-storytelling-comes-to-life-on-the-ipad/\">create digital stories\u003c/a> with a variety of different characters, settings, musical backgrounds, and their own recorded voice-overs. Its most recently released version features three new space-based settings (and more space-related characters), new drawing tools, faster uploads to \u003ca href=\"http://toontube.toonlifeonline.com/\">ToonTube\u003c/a>, and the ability to save your custom-drawn characters and backgrounds so you can use them in any scene or cartoon.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pat-the-bunny/id430902036?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">PAT THE BUNNY\u003c/span>.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> The perennial favorite children's book is also an iPhone and iPad app. The book is well-known for its sensory experiences, and those have been updated and transformed to work with a touchscreen device (and if you have a front-facing camera, the “mirror” page uses the camera instead). The app can be set to read aloud, with words highlighted as the text is read. Or adults can record their own voices to accompany the book.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodiewords/id409516388?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>GOODIEWORDS\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> Geared toward toddlers who are in their “What is it?” stage, this app explains words that parents might otherwise find difficult to define, like fingerprint, shadow, time, and dream. The app is colorful and engaging, with games and storybook narration.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scrabble/id284815117?mt=8\">SCRABBLE. \u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>If you’ve got a \u003ca href=\"http://www.facebook.com/\">Facebook\u003c/a> account, you can sign up for the Scrabble app and play with friends through Facebook, either on your browser or on your Facebook mobile phone app. Each time someone takes a turn, the other is notified.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.lexulous.com/\">LEXULOUS.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> plays very much like Scrabble, but with a bigger board. You can play the game on Facebook, but its own site also hosts games, and it’s got an iPhone app.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/words-with-friends-hd/id364140796?mt=8\">WORDS WITH FRIENDS\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. Like Scrabble, \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/words-with-friends-hd/id364140796?mt=8\">Word With Friends \u003c/a>works on an iTunes app, but you don’t need to be in the same wifi network to play with your friends.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-civil-war-today/id428812156?mt=8\">CIVIL WAR TODAY\u003c/a>\u003c/span>.\u003c/strong> Created by History and A&E, the iPad app offers daily updates, chronicling the events that occurred 150 years ago. The app includes newspaper headlines as well as personal letters and diaries. There are videos and maps (including period maps) and a daily count of casualities on both the North and the South.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cul>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.moving-tales.com/titles.html\">UNWANTED GUEST\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>.Many of the new and innovative examples of children’s e-books aren’t sold as books per se. They’re available as websites, such as \u003ca href=\"http://www.inanimatealice.com/\">Inanimate Alice\u003c/a>, or they’re sold as apps, such as \u003ca href=\"http://www.moving-tales.com/\">Moving Tales’\u003c/a> most recent e-book Unwanted Guest, available for the \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/cr/app/unwanted-guest-iphone-edition/id416226661?mt=8#\">iPhone and iPad\u003c/a>. Unwanted Guest takes a traditional folktale and updates it with charming 3D animations that accompany each page of the story. You can have the app auto-turn the pages, or flip yourself, or use the iPad’s accelerometer to animate the text. The app offers a narration, but you also have the option to turn off the text and/or to add your own voice-over.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/school-26-hd/id431284898?mt=8\">SCHOOL 26\u003c/a>\u003c/span>.\u003c/strong> The female-run video game studio \u003ca href=\"http://www.siliconsisters.ca/\">Silicon Sisters\u003c/a>' first game is aimed at girls. The game is set in school and the goal is to make as many social connections as possible, navigating the sticky, awkward and sometimes awful moral dilemmas of school. These challenges range from struggles to peer pressure, romance, betrayal, alienation, acceptance – all real and relevant situations that girls face every day. The gameplay involves the player selecting the appropriate emotional responses to certain scenarios and answering quizzes that provide insights into players’ personalities. The emphasis here is on empathy and networking.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/Top_100\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>BOOKS SHOULD BE FREE\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> Download free audiobooks and choose from your own childhood favorites like Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or Gulliver’s Travels.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://storynory.com/\">STORYNORY\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. In this storytelling podcast, the lead storyteller is Natasha, who herself sounds like a fairytale princess with her lilting British accent narrates stories like \u003ca href=\"http://storynory.com/2010/11/15/the-old-man-and-the-figs/\">The Old Man and the Figs\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://storynory.com/2010/10/30/katies-black-friday/\">Katie’s Black Friday\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12756\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/alice-in-wonderland-300x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"alice in wonderland\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12756\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alice in Wonderland app.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alice-for-the-ipad/id354537426?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>ALICE IN WONDERLAND.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/a> Bringing the story to life, this app lets you tilt your iPad to make Alice grow or shrink, throw tarts at the Queen of Hearts and help the caterpillar smoke his hookah pipe.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toy-story-read-along/id364376920?mt=8\">\u003cstrong>TOY STORY.\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> \u003c/span>\u003c/span>The movies are great, but the app is arguably more interesting. Using the same story line, there are games, movie clips, coloring pages, and sing-along songs. Kids can hear the story read aloud, or they can record their own narration, and explore at their own pace.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.miamiopia.com/\">MIAMIOPIA\u003c/a>.\u003c/span> Kids can customize the look of their own alien avatar (it has a striking resemblance to the Na’Vi tribe in the movie “Avatar”), then choose any type of game they want to play — as easy as counting apples that fall from the tree to finishing a musical scale using the keyboard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/students/\">SMITHSONIAN\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. A treasure trove of games and information presented in an engaging medium. Kids can explore the solar system by creating their own universe, become acquainted with the 142 million objects the organization has collected over the years, and take trivia quizzes, among many other fun games.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.funbrain.com/\">FUNBRAIN\u003c/a>.\u003c/span> Lots of interactive pieces on this site, like Mad Libs, math quizzes with insects, and easier games for the wee ones to learn how to use a mouse and keyboard.\u003c/li>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u003cstrong>SCIENCE & MATH\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://scratch.mit.edu/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">SCRATCH\u003c/span>. \u003c/a>\u003c/strong>Developed by the \u003ca href=\"http://www.media.mit.edu/\">MIT Media Lab\u003c/a>, Scratch is a visual programming language for children age 6 and up. Since its release in 2007, over 800,000 users have joined the Scratch website and have shared over 1.7 million projects — from games to animations. That sharing aspect is an important part of the Scratch community, so the projects that are uploaded to the site are licensed under the Creative Commons attribute and share alike license so that others can download and remix them. Scratch is available free of charge and runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux computers.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.alice.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ALICE\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> A free and open source 3D programming environment, Alice is designed to teach students object-oriented and event-driven programming. With Alice, students drag and drop graphic tiles in order to animate an object and create a program. A variant of Alice, \u003ca href=\"http://www.alice.org/kelleher/storytelling/\">Storytelling Alice\u003c/a> was developed by Caitlin Kelleher as part of her doctoral work in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. By emphasizing animations and social interactions, this approach was found to greatly increase the level of student interest in programming.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://hackety-hack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>HACKETY HACK\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> An open-source application that teaches the basics of programming in the popular \u003ca href=\"http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/\">Ruby\u003c/a> language, Hackety Hack offers an interactive tutorial that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. While both Scratch and Alice use a graphical programming language with “blocks,” Hackety Hack teaches the basics of Ruby syntax. The tutorial and the text editor are well-integrated, so there isn’t any flipping back-and-forth to move between the How-To guide and the actual coding. Hackety Hack gives students a solid foundation in the language so they can quickly and easily start building their own apps in Ruby.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12760\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/5843063843_8d1fe512e3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"5843063843_8d1fe512e3\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12760\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An iNaturalist spotted plant species.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.arduino.cc/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ARDUINO\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong> Another an open-source electronics prototyping platform, but this one with both hardware and software components. Arduino’s hardware is programmed with a language similar to C++, and although it may not be the easiest of entry points for learning programming, there’s something about building things that actually move that can be pretty compelling. Projects that use Arduino to introduce children to programming include a \u003ca href=\"http://seaside.citilab.eu/scratch/arduino\">modification of Scratch\u003c/a> to support simple programming on the Arduino hardware.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx\">LEGO MINDSTORMS\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. Technically it's not a website or app. But \u003ca href=\"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx\">Lego Mindstorm\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx\">s\u003c/a> does enable robotics-building. Lego Mindstorms’ kits — which can be purchased in educational and consumer versions — include sensors and motors, and the programming is command-box rather than code programming. The kits come with languages supplied by Lego, but can be modified to work with third party languages. Like several of the tools on this list, Lego Mindstorms has its roots at the MIT Media Lab.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://leafsnap.com/\">LEAFSNAP\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. \u003c/strong>Kids can explore local flora with this app, which is essentially an electronic field guide for both \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/leafsnap/id430649829?mt=8\">iPhone and iPad\u003c/a> that uses visual recognition software to identify tree species based on photographs of their leaves.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.projectnoah.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">PROJECT NOAH\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> Explore the wildlife around you with this app and help scientists with their data collection. You can post a new spotting, upload photos, tag plants and animals with location data, join missions, and earn patches. The app also contains a field guide to help you identify the wildlife you find. It’s beautifully designed, and available for free for both iPhone and Android.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://inaturalist.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">iNATURALIST\u003c/span>.\u003c/a> A social network for nature-lovers, it's an online community where you can record and share your observations on the natural world. The \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inaturalist/id421397028?mt=8#\">iPhone app\u003c/a> allows you to log the plants and animals you come across. If you need help identifying things, the rest of the iNaturalist community can help.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12763\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/mzl.vctxsuec.320x480-75-300x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"mzl.vctxsuec.320x480-75\" width=\"300\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12763\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SkySafari app.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.thewildlab.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">THE WILDLAB\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>. There are two apps currently available for the iPhone — Crab App and WildLab Bird — and you can sign up as a spotter via its website. The WildLab Bird app, as the name suggests, involves identifying and geo-tagging bird species. The Crab App helps collect information about horseshoe crabs, their numbers and their egg-laying.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://projectsquirrel.org/index.shtml\">PROJECT SQUIRREL\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. Not a mobile app, but a website, this citizen science project recognizes that almost everyone — no matter where they live — has squirrels in their neighborhood. That, along with the differences between the gray squirrel and the fox squirrel — in appearance, in habitat — make Project Squirrel a great introductory citizen science project. The website lets you record your squirrel observations and upload photos. You can even mail in your data via a printable form.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://iphone.ibird.com/product_finder.html\">iBIRD.\u003c/a>\u003c/span> Bird watching has come a long way from the time Charles Darwin began sketching species. Savvy birders use tech tools to help them identify and log their discoveries. You’ll find four or five birding apps, but the most comprehensive seems to be the iBird series. The free sampler (15 most popular birds) gives you a nice introduction to the subject that may reel you in to the wonderful world of birding, so that you might then graduate to the iBird Backyard, iBird West, as well as iBird North, South, Midwest, Canada. And of course, the mother of all apps the iBird Pro.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skysafari/id319159213?mt=8\">SKYSAFARI\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. Beginners should use the “lite” version, but for those deep into the cosmos, the full version of this app identifies as many as 300,000 stars and includes countless images from NASA and the ability to identify planets from where you stand. Also includes a nifty “night-vision” theme.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-walk-5-stars-astronomy/id295430577?mt=8\">STARWALK\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. Lift up your phone to the dark night and you’ll be able to see what stars and planets shine above you with the Star Spotter function. Click on Time Machine and you’ll get a preview of what the sky will look like three years from now. Track the rising of the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. View from the Earth shows 3D perspectives from anywhere on the planet.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/planets/id305793334?mt=8\">PLANETS\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>. This app exhibits a 3D guide to the solar system, and 3D views of planets and the moon, as well as constellation names and rising and setting times for moon. You’ll also have access to a fact sheet for each planet.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moon-globe/id333180321?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>MOON GLOBE.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> \u003c/a>A close-up look at every nook and cranny of the moon, including 3D graphics and touch navigation. In globe mode, you can peek over the surface of the moon and see Earth hovering in the distance. You can also see where the moon and sun sit in relation to each other and you.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003ca href=\"http://vanished.mit.edu/\">VANISHED\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. The Smithsonian Institution and MIT offers this eight-week online/offline environmental disaster mystery game for middle-school children, meant to inspire engagement and problem solving through science. Developed by the MIT’s \u003ca href=\"http://educationarcade.org/\">Education Arcade\u003c/a> and by the Smithsonian Institution, the program encourages participants to investigate an environmental disaster by using real scientific methods, by visiting museums and collecting samples from their neighborhoods, and by participating in online challenges.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12766\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/mzl.dcbffgtt.320x480-75-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"mzl.dcbffgtt.320x480-75\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12766\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Park Math app.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/park-math-by-duck-duck-moose/id391407836?mt=8\">PARK MATH.\u003c/a> \u003c/strong>\u003c/span>It’s actually hard to select just one of Duck Duck Moose’s award-winning apps to feature here. The company recently won three Parents’ Choice Awards, including a Silver Award for \u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/park-math-by-duck-duck-moose/id391407836?mt=8#\">Park Math\u003c/a>. The app contains a number of math games for preschoolers that help teach concepts like addition and subtraction and help boost counting and sorting skills.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://motionmathgames.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>MOTION MATH.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/a> The app aims to helps students develop this number sense and estimate fractions — quickly. Players control a bouncing star, and the goal is to make that star land on the right part of the number line, matching a particular fraction. To do this, the app uses the gyroscope that’s built into the Apple mobile devices, so you have to tilt your device.\u003c/li>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003ch4>\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u003cstrong>ART, MUSIC & PHOTOGRAPHY\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/h4>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.felttip.com/tunapitch/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">LEARNING MUSIC\u003c/span>.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> There are apps that help you \u003ca href=\"http://www.felttip.com/tunapitch/\">tune your instrument\u003c/a> and apps that help you \u003ca href=\"http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/ipad-iphone-apps/guitar-fingering.html\">learn fingering\u003c/a>. There are websites galore that offer \u003ca href=\"http://howtoplaypianoeasily.com/\">step-by-step guides\u003c/a> — online method books — and videos of how to play \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dSp79TDWoc\">guitar\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vphWgqbF-AM\">piano\u003c/a>, and so on.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://artistworks.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ARTISTWORKS\u003c/span>. \u003c/a>\u003c/strong>This website allows you not to just watch and learn playing instruments online via video, but allows you to record and upload a recording of your music and get personalized feedback from music instructors.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12769\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/photo2-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"photo2\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12769\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hipstamatic app (John S. lens)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shakeitphoto/id302926603?mt=8\">\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>SHAKE IT.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/a> Brightens colors, spotlights the center of the image, and adds a chunky white border around it. You can apply the app to existing images or take photos directly from the app itself.\u003c/p>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nevercenter.com/camerabag/iphone/\">CAMERABAG\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>This is a trove of photo tools. My favorite is the Helga filter (right), which creates a vignette around the image and brightens the center. But it’s got many other filters, too: silvery black-and-white, muted Polaroid, Vanity Fair-style warm and saturated are just a few others.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://artandmobile.com/tiltshift/\">TILTSHIFTGEN\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>The free version of this is good enough for me, though there are more multifaceted versions too. I can pull the focus of the photo to one specific spot by touching the screen, and blur the rest, as I did below.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://hipstamaticapp.com/\">HIPSTAMATIC\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span> I cringe at the name, but the effects are amazing. Depending on which lens you choose, the photos take on a hyper-surreal quality.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Here Comes the Gaming Revolution: Notes from GLS7",
"title": "Here Comes the Gaming Revolution: Notes from GLS7",
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"content": "\u003cp>Big thinkers and innovators in education have gathered at the Games & Learning Society Conference in Madison, Wisconsin this week. I wish I could've gone to this conference, but here's just a taste of what's happening on day one. We'll continue updating throughout the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003cbr>\n\u003cscript src=\"http://storify.com/mindshiftkqed/gls7-live-tweets-and-more.js\">\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\u003cnoscript>[\u003ca href=\"http://storify.com/mindshiftkqed/gls7-live-tweets-and-more\" target=\"blank\">View the story \"GLS7: Live Tweets and More\" on Storify]\u003c/a>\u003c/noscript>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"disqusIdentifier": "12619 http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=12619",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Big thinkers and innovators in education have gathered at the Games & Learning Society Conference in Madison, Wisconsin this week. I wish I could've gone to this conference, but here's just a taste of what's happening on day one. We'll continue updating throughout the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003cbr>\n\u003cscript src=\"http://storify.com/mindshiftkqed/gls7-live-tweets-and-more.js\">\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\u003cnoscript>[\u003ca href=\"http://storify.com/mindshiftkqed/gls7-live-tweets-and-more\" target=\"blank\">View the story \"GLS7: Live Tweets and More\" on Storify]\u003c/a>\u003c/noscript>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003ch5>\n\u003c/h5>\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-12599\" title=\"RodrigoFavera\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/RodrigoFavera-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/aran-levasseur-1/\">Aran Levasseur\u003c/a>\n\u003c/p>\u003cp>The famous videogame designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, known for creating some of the most iconic and successful videogames in history, such as Donkey Kong, Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda, once said, \"Videogames are bad for you? That's what they said about rock n' roll.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In retrospect, we know rock 'n roll's influence has gone beyond creating a new kind of music, shaping many other aspects of culture: lifestyles, fashion, attitudes and language. And there is compelling evidence that rock 'n roll may have even helped the civil rights movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a similar fashion, videogames have been stigmatized by an older generation (that has largely never played them) as corrupting the moral and cognitive fiber of a generation. At best they can help develop some hand-eye coordination. At worst videogames can turn you into a sociopath.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Because games are complex, you are continually reformulating and retesting your hypothesis -- the hallmark of critical thinking.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But from what I've seen in my classroom, videogames aren't bad for you at all. In fact, videogames are powerful tools for learning.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Learning about Middle East Conflict\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Take, for example, the game \u003ca href=\"http://www.peacemakergame.com/\">PeaceMaker\u003c/a>, which I've integrated into my 7th grade history classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PeaceMaker is a simulation of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Players play as either the Palestinian president or the Israeli prime minister -- under calm, tense or violent circumstances. Players have to make numerous decisions in the midst and wake of challenging circumstances and events, such as suicide bombings and missile strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the players make decisions they are immediately assessed and converted into polls that show how the Palestinians, Israelis, Arab countries, Europeans, Americans and the United Nations think of their leadership. The goal is to make decisions that walk the middle path and reach peaceful consensus in the form of a two state solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the process of the gameplay, players learn to think like politicians and negotiators. The game requires taking a variety of constituencies into consideration when making decisions; otherwise their decisions would be too myopic. To create a peaceful solution requires reconciling polar worldviews, which means having a working knowledge of each extreme and a sense of which series of decisions can chart a middle way that unites both sides of the conflict.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>The Learning Principles of Gaming\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>What makes PeaceMaker, and videogames in general, powerful tools for learning is that a variety of effective learning principles are embedded within the game design. While there is a spectrum of learning principles embedded within good game design, I've distilled the list down to five cornerstones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. Just-in-time learning.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nVideogames give you just enough information that you can usefully apply. You are not given information you'll need for level 8 at level 1, which can often be the case with schools that download files of information that are never applied. Videogames provide doable challenges that are constantly pushing the edge of a player's competence. This is similar to Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky's \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_proximal_development\">Zone of Proximal Development\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Critical thinking.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nWhen you play videogames you're entering a virtual world with only the vaguest idea of what you are supposed to do. As a result, you need to explore the physics of the game and generate a hypothesis of how to navigate it. And then test it. Because games are complex, you are continually reformulating and retesting your hypothesis -- the hallmark of critical thinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Increased memory retention.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nCognitive science has recently discovered that memory is a residue of thought. So what you think about is what you remember. As videogames make you think, they also hold the potential to increase memory retention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4. Emotional interest.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nVideogames are emotionally engaging. Brain research has revealed that emotional interest helps humans learn. Basically, we don't pay attention to boring things. The \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala\">amygdala\u003c/a> is the emotional center of the brain and also the gateway to learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5. We learn best through images.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nVision is our most dominant sense, taking up half of our brain's resources. The more visual input, the more likely it is to be recognized and recalled. Videogames meet this learning principle in spades as interactive visual simulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>The New Gold Standard of Learning\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Videogames are emerging as a new gold standard of learning because they effectively integrate many vital learning principles into their design.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eric Hoffer, the San Francisco longshoreman and philosopher, said that \"in times of change learners inherit the Earth while the learned find themselves equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are living in such times of rapid changes, and those who are most adaptive not only survive, but thrive. I believe videogames represent one of many new powerful forms of media that are tailored to our times, and can also be leveraged as a tool for learning that cultivates critical thinking and emotional engagement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Computers and videogames represent the latest possibility of turning swords into plowshares: The first computers were used for code-breaking and calculating ballistic trajectories during World War II. And now, with the right kind of scaffolding, hopefully we can use computers and computer games to connect, collaborate and create a more peaceful world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Aran Levasseur has an eclectic background that ranges from outdoor education to life coaching, and from habitat restoration to video production. For the last five years he's taught middle school history and science. From the beginning he's been integrating technology into his classes to enhance his teaching and student learning. He recently gave \u003ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/22398353\">a talk at TEDxSFED on videogames and learning\u003c/a>. Currently he's the Academic Technology Coordinator at San Francisco University High School.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/05/childrens-magazines-cater-to-true-early-adopters-with-mobile-apps137.html\"> PBS MediaShift\u003c/a>, covering the intersection of \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-12215\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/06/childrens-magazines-draw-early-adopters-with-apps/pbs-mediashift-logo-final-2/\">\u003cimg class=\"alignleft\" title=\"pbs mediashift logo final\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/pbs-mediashift-logo-final-140x140.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\">\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cem>media and technology. Follow \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/pbsmediashift\">@PBSMediaShift\u003c/a> for Twitter updates, or join us on \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/mediashift\">Facebook\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch5>\n\u003c/h5>\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-12599\" title=\"RodrigoFavera\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/RodrigoFavera-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/aran-levasseur-1/\">Aran Levasseur\u003c/a>\n\u003c/p>\u003cp>The famous videogame designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, known for creating some of the most iconic and successful videogames in history, such as Donkey Kong, Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda, once said, \"Videogames are bad for you? That's what they said about rock n' roll.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In retrospect, we know rock 'n roll's influence has gone beyond creating a new kind of music, shaping many other aspects of culture: lifestyles, fashion, attitudes and language. And there is compelling evidence that rock 'n roll may have even helped the civil rights movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a similar fashion, videogames have been stigmatized by an older generation (that has largely never played them) as corrupting the moral and cognitive fiber of a generation. At best they can help develop some hand-eye coordination. At worst videogames can turn you into a sociopath.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Because games are complex, you are continually reformulating and retesting your hypothesis -- the hallmark of critical thinking.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But from what I've seen in my classroom, videogames aren't bad for you at all. In fact, videogames are powerful tools for learning.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>Learning about Middle East Conflict\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Take, for example, the game \u003ca href=\"http://www.peacemakergame.com/\">PeaceMaker\u003c/a>, which I've integrated into my 7th grade history classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PeaceMaker is a simulation of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Players play as either the Palestinian president or the Israeli prime minister -- under calm, tense or violent circumstances. Players have to make numerous decisions in the midst and wake of challenging circumstances and events, such as suicide bombings and missile strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the players make decisions they are immediately assessed and converted into polls that show how the Palestinians, Israelis, Arab countries, Europeans, Americans and the United Nations think of their leadership. The goal is to make decisions that walk the middle path and reach peaceful consensus in the form of a two state solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the process of the gameplay, players learn to think like politicians and negotiators. The game requires taking a variety of constituencies into consideration when making decisions; otherwise their decisions would be too myopic. To create a peaceful solution requires reconciling polar worldviews, which means having a working knowledge of each extreme and a sense of which series of decisions can chart a middle way that unites both sides of the conflict.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>The Learning Principles of Gaming\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>What makes PeaceMaker, and videogames in general, powerful tools for learning is that a variety of effective learning principles are embedded within the game design. While there is a spectrum of learning principles embedded within good game design, I've distilled the list down to five cornerstones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. Just-in-time learning.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nVideogames give you just enough information that you can usefully apply. You are not given information you'll need for level 8 at level 1, which can often be the case with schools that download files of information that are never applied. Videogames provide doable challenges that are constantly pushing the edge of a player's competence. This is similar to Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky's \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_proximal_development\">Zone of Proximal Development\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Critical thinking.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nWhen you play videogames you're entering a virtual world with only the vaguest idea of what you are supposed to do. As a result, you need to explore the physics of the game and generate a hypothesis of how to navigate it. And then test it. Because games are complex, you are continually reformulating and retesting your hypothesis -- the hallmark of critical thinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Increased memory retention.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nCognitive science has recently discovered that memory is a residue of thought. So what you think about is what you remember. As videogames make you think, they also hold the potential to increase memory retention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4. Emotional interest.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nVideogames are emotionally engaging. Brain research has revealed that emotional interest helps humans learn. Basically, we don't pay attention to boring things. The \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala\">amygdala\u003c/a> is the emotional center of the brain and also the gateway to learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5. We learn best through images.\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nVision is our most dominant sense, taking up half of our brain's resources. The more visual input, the more likely it is to be recognized and recalled. Videogames meet this learning principle in spades as interactive visual simulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch4>The New Gold Standard of Learning\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>Videogames are emerging as a new gold standard of learning because they effectively integrate many vital learning principles into their design.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eric Hoffer, the San Francisco longshoreman and philosopher, said that \"in times of change learners inherit the Earth while the learned find themselves equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are living in such times of rapid changes, and those who are most adaptive not only survive, but thrive. I believe videogames represent one of many new powerful forms of media that are tailored to our times, and can also be leveraged as a tool for learning that cultivates critical thinking and emotional engagement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Computers and videogames represent the latest possibility of turning swords into plowshares: The first computers were used for code-breaking and calculating ballistic trajectories during World War II. And now, with the right kind of scaffolding, hopefully we can use computers and computer games to connect, collaborate and create a more peaceful world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Aran Levasseur has an eclectic background that ranges from outdoor education to life coaching, and from habitat restoration to video production. For the last five years he's taught middle school history and science. From the beginning he's been integrating technology into his classes to enhance his teaching and student learning. He recently gave \u003ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/22398353\">a talk at TEDxSFED on videogames and learning\u003c/a>. Currently he's the Academic Technology Coordinator at San Francisco University High School.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/05/childrens-magazines-cater-to-true-early-adopters-with-mobile-apps137.html\"> PBS MediaShift\u003c/a>, covering the intersection of \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-12215\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/06/childrens-magazines-draw-early-adopters-with-apps/pbs-mediashift-logo-final-2/\">\u003cimg class=\"alignleft\" title=\"pbs mediashift logo final\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/06/pbs-mediashift-logo-final-140x140.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\">\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cem>media and technology. Follow \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/pbsmediashift\">@PBSMediaShift\u003c/a> for Twitter updates, or join us on \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/mediashift\">Facebook\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Can Gamification Boost Independent Learning?",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10881\" class=\"wp-caption left\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-10881\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/04/can-gamification-boost-independent-learning/chesspieces/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10881\" title=\"chesspieces\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/chesspieces-300x174.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"174\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"> \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gamification is one of the new buzzwords in social media circles. It's the idea that by making non-gaming applications more game-like -- by adding points, badges, levels, titles and other game mechanics -- these apps become more fun and engaging.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #0000ff;\">The premise behind \"gamifying\" educational applications and websites is to instigate engagement and collaboration.\u003c/span>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>We see gamification at work in apps like \u003ca href=\"https://foursquare.com/\">Foursquare\u003c/a>, where \"checking in\" and giving your location via the app earns you points and potentially the \"mayorship\" of venues. Even though the term may be new to some, gamification has been used for years for offline services too, such as earning points and unlocking special deals via frequent flyer programs.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question now is whether (or how) gamification can be used in education. Are there ways in which it can be used to similar ends, to help students feel more involved and engaged in their learning?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, education is already replete with this sort of thing. You gain points (via assignments) to level up (in grades) and eventually win with a badge (your diploma). But that's not really game-play. The premise behind \"gamifying\" educational applications and websites is to instigate engagement and collaboration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To that end, the social learning network \u003ca href=\"http://openstudy.com\">OpenStudy\u003c/a> has unveiled some new rewards for active participants on the site -- namely, medals and achievements -- a first step in adding game mechanics to its site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OpenStudy provides a place where learners can find others working in similar content areas in order to support each other and answer each others' questions. The site is a recipient of one of the Gates Foundation's recent \u003ca href=\"http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/gates_foundation_distributes_10m_to_build_tech_too.php\">Next Generation Learning Challenges\u003c/a> for its work building out a global study network around opencourseware materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those who are studying \u003ca href=\"http://ocw.mit.edu\">OpenCourseware\u003c/a> are often, but not always, independent learners. While the OCW materials contain lecture notes, assignments, quizzes, PowerPoints, and sometimes videos, what they're missing two big components: an instructor and a class. OpenStudy helps ameliorate the isolation for students by giving them a forum where they share questions and answers in real-time -- where they can study together. In a popular class like MIT's \"Introduction to Computer Science,\" there are so many learners signed up for Open Study that there are usually around 30 online at the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new gamification elements aim to meet a couple of OpenStudy's goals: to make education more accessible by distributing the responsibility of teaching among an online group of peers, and to make education more enjoyable by making it game-like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even without the new rewards system for helping, plenty of users on OpenStudy already offer each other help. Some of the most loyal users of the site happen to also be some of the most active with offering their assistance. The gamification elements will recognize these helpful users, and encourage the behavior to spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new features include the following:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Medals\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>: Students can give medals to helpful peers. Medals are tracked at the study group level, so users will be able to see how helpful they are across different subjects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Achievements\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>: These will reward students for asking questions, socializing, engaging in particularly elaborate dialogue, and more. These will be rewarded both within study groups (for interacting with a particular subject) and across the site as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Fans\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>: This will be OpenStudy's version of testimonials, so users can become \"fans\" of people who've helped them. As you amass fans, you can unlock new titles and move from being a \"pupil\" to a \"hero.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After just one day in action, the site already has users who are \"Super Heroes\" with over 300 fans. OpenStudy is already a fairly active community -- but the badges and titles may help it become even more robust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators, have you used gamification tactics in class? Do points and badges make learning more engaging for students?\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10881\" class=\"wp-caption left\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-10881\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/04/can-gamification-boost-independent-learning/chesspieces/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10881\" title=\"chesspieces\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/chesspieces-300x174.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"174\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"> \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gamification is one of the new buzzwords in social media circles. It's the idea that by making non-gaming applications more game-like -- by adding points, badges, levels, titles and other game mechanics -- these apps become more fun and engaging.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #0000ff;\">The premise behind \"gamifying\" educational applications and websites is to instigate engagement and collaboration.\u003c/span>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>We see gamification at work in apps like \u003ca href=\"https://foursquare.com/\">Foursquare\u003c/a>, where \"checking in\" and giving your location via the app earns you points and potentially the \"mayorship\" of venues. Even though the term may be new to some, gamification has been used for years for offline services too, such as earning points and unlocking special deals via frequent flyer programs.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question now is whether (or how) gamification can be used in education. Are there ways in which it can be used to similar ends, to help students feel more involved and engaged in their learning?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, education is already replete with this sort of thing. You gain points (via assignments) to level up (in grades) and eventually win with a badge (your diploma). But that's not really game-play. The premise behind \"gamifying\" educational applications and websites is to instigate engagement and collaboration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To that end, the social learning network \u003ca href=\"http://openstudy.com\">OpenStudy\u003c/a> has unveiled some new rewards for active participants on the site -- namely, medals and achievements -- a first step in adding game mechanics to its site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OpenStudy provides a place where learners can find others working in similar content areas in order to support each other and answer each others' questions. The site is a recipient of one of the Gates Foundation's recent \u003ca href=\"http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/gates_foundation_distributes_10m_to_build_tech_too.php\">Next Generation Learning Challenges\u003c/a> for its work building out a global study network around opencourseware materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those who are studying \u003ca href=\"http://ocw.mit.edu\">OpenCourseware\u003c/a> are often, but not always, independent learners. While the OCW materials contain lecture notes, assignments, quizzes, PowerPoints, and sometimes videos, what they're missing two big components: an instructor and a class. OpenStudy helps ameliorate the isolation for students by giving them a forum where they share questions and answers in real-time -- where they can study together. In a popular class like MIT's \"Introduction to Computer Science,\" there are so many learners signed up for Open Study that there are usually around 30 online at the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new gamification elements aim to meet a couple of OpenStudy's goals: to make education more accessible by distributing the responsibility of teaching among an online group of peers, and to make education more enjoyable by making it game-like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even without the new rewards system for helping, plenty of users on OpenStudy already offer each other help. Some of the most loyal users of the site happen to also be some of the most active with offering their assistance. The gamification elements will recognize these helpful users, and encourage the behavior to spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new features include the following:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Medals\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>: Students can give medals to helpful peers. Medals are tracked at the study group level, so users will be able to see how helpful they are across different subjects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Achievements\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>: These will reward students for asking questions, socializing, engaging in particularly elaborate dialogue, and more. These will be rewarded both within study groups (for interacting with a particular subject) and across the site as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Fans\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>: This will be OpenStudy's version of testimonials, so users can become \"fans\" of people who've helped them. As you amass fans, you can unlock new titles and move from being a \"pupil\" to a \"hero.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After just one day in action, the site already has users who are \"Super Heroes\" with over 300 fans. OpenStudy is already a fairly active community -- but the badges and titles may help it become even more robust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators, have you used gamification tactics in class? Do points and badges make learning more engaging for students?\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-10491\" title=\"Screen shot 2011-04-13 at 10.28.30 AM\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-13-at-10.28.30-AM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-13-at-10.28.30-AM.png 512w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-13-at-10.28.30-AM-400x238.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-13-at-10.28.30-AM-320x190.png 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Too often, educational games are neither fun nor educational, and there are plenty of educational games that fail on both those counts. Without an exhaustive study of games and game designers, it's hard to pinpoint why. Do those making educational games have little experience in game design? Or do those making educational games have little experience in instructional technology? Or has the bar just been set incredibly low?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps it's that educational game designers have been targeting school districts or teachers as their audience, and as long as they're more exciting than classroom worksheets, kids really haven't complained.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Those who grew up playing video games are now becoming the game designers and developers.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But the audience is changing for educational games, in part because of the explosion of mobile and Web technologies. Parents are buying more educational games, and kids now have a larger say in what they want. And as a result, games are becoming more engaging, more whimsical -- more fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What's more, those who grew up playing video games are now becoming the game designers and developers -- and their bar for fun factor is high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take, for example, the creators of \u003ca href=\"http://motionmathgames.com/\">Motion Math\u003c/a>, available on the iPhone and iPad. The founders, Jacob Klein and Gabriel Adauto, graduate students in the Learning, Design, and Technology program at Stanford, are both 32 years old. They're bringing their background in education and cognitive science to the design of the game.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certainly having a deeper understanding of cognition helps. But Klein and Adauto are also gamers -- \"hardcore,\" says Klein. And it's clear they've built games based on \"things we'd like.\" It's scaled down, so that the game is playable by elementary school-age children. But it's not dumbed down -- in content or in gameplay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Klein says the inspiration in part came from the iconic Mario Brothers: simple yet fun. I'd add that it's a game for any age -- a third grader struggling with fractions could enjoy the game, as much as a seventh grader, or an adult. Klein also points to the design and the flow of sports-related video games. These \"flow experiences,\" says Klein, mean that the entire game keeps you continually engaged. And in the case of Motion Math, that engagement is with on-task learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the moment, the games mostly focus on fractions, a notoriously difficult concept for children to grasp. Fractions are often taught with the pie metaphor -- how many slices are half, for example. But that graphical representation actually does little to help students understand how fractions work and how they're related to percentages and to the number line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The game aims to helps students develop this number sense and estimate fractions -- and estimate quickly. It's a game, after all! This is how it works: Players control a bouncing star, and the goal is to make that star land on the right part of the number line, matching a particular fraction. To do this, the app uses the gyroscope that's built into the Apple mobile devices, so you have to tilt your device.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Motion Math has won \u003ca href=\"http://motionmathgames.com/reviews/\">rave reviews\u003c/a> from those who are watching the industry closely.\u003ca href=\"http://childrenstech.com/blog/archives/2791\"> The Children's Technology Review\u003c/a>, for instance, gave the app 4.5 stars for being able to \"bridge the concrete and the abstract.\" The creators plan to expand to other platforms, including Android soon. Klein says they'll also add new subject areas beyond fractions and even beyond math.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-10491\" title=\"Screen shot 2011-04-13 at 10.28.30 AM\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-13-at-10.28.30-AM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-13-at-10.28.30-AM.png 512w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-13-at-10.28.30-AM-400x238.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-13-at-10.28.30-AM-320x190.png 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Too often, educational games are neither fun nor educational, and there are plenty of educational games that fail on both those counts. Without an exhaustive study of games and game designers, it's hard to pinpoint why. Do those making educational games have little experience in game design? Or do those making educational games have little experience in instructional technology? Or has the bar just been set incredibly low?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps it's that educational game designers have been targeting school districts or teachers as their audience, and as long as they're more exciting than classroom worksheets, kids really haven't complained.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Those who grew up playing video games are now becoming the game designers and developers.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But the audience is changing for educational games, in part because of the explosion of mobile and Web technologies. Parents are buying more educational games, and kids now have a larger say in what they want. And as a result, games are becoming more engaging, more whimsical -- more fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What's more, those who grew up playing video games are now becoming the game designers and developers -- and their bar for fun factor is high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take, for example, the creators of \u003ca href=\"http://motionmathgames.com/\">Motion Math\u003c/a>, available on the iPhone and iPad. The founders, Jacob Klein and Gabriel Adauto, graduate students in the Learning, Design, and Technology program at Stanford, are both 32 years old. They're bringing their background in education and cognitive science to the design of the game.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certainly having a deeper understanding of cognition helps. But Klein and Adauto are also gamers -- \"hardcore,\" says Klein. And it's clear they've built games based on \"things we'd like.\" It's scaled down, so that the game is playable by elementary school-age children. But it's not dumbed down -- in content or in gameplay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Klein says the inspiration in part came from the iconic Mario Brothers: simple yet fun. I'd add that it's a game for any age -- a third grader struggling with fractions could enjoy the game, as much as a seventh grader, or an adult. Klein also points to the design and the flow of sports-related video games. These \"flow experiences,\" says Klein, mean that the entire game keeps you continually engaged. And in the case of Motion Math, that engagement is with on-task learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the moment, the games mostly focus on fractions, a notoriously difficult concept for children to grasp. Fractions are often taught with the pie metaphor -- how many slices are half, for example. But that graphical representation actually does little to help students understand how fractions work and how they're related to percentages and to the number line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The game aims to helps students develop this number sense and estimate fractions -- and estimate quickly. It's a game, after all! This is how it works: Players control a bouncing star, and the goal is to make that star land on the right part of the number line, matching a particular fraction. To do this, the app uses the gyroscope that's built into the Apple mobile devices, so you have to tilt your device.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Motion Math has won \u003ca href=\"http://motionmathgames.com/reviews/\">rave reviews\u003c/a> from those who are watching the industry closely.\u003ca href=\"http://childrenstech.com/blog/archives/2791\"> The Children's Technology Review\u003c/a>, for instance, gave the app 4.5 stars for being able to \"bridge the concrete and the abstract.\" The creators plan to expand to other platforms, including Android soon. Klein says they'll also add new subject areas beyond fractions and even beyond math.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Playing Tag or Digital Games? Why Not Both?",
"title": "Playing Tag or Digital Games? Why Not Both?",
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"content": "\u003ch4>\n\u003c/h4>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewlaparra/4145235150/sizes/m/in/photostream/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-10436\" title=\"tag\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/tag.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/tag.jpg 500w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/tag-400x225.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/tag-320x180.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003ch4>Where the Educational Game Industry Went Wrong\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The spotlight has been shining on media and gaming in the education innovation scene in recent years. And while many tout the virtues of what games and media can teach kids, we know it's just as important to give kids enough time to play outside.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In this essay, Andy Russell, co-founder of\u003ca href=\"http://launchpadtoys.com/\"> Launchpad Toys\u003c/a>, which created \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/toontastic/\">Toontastic\u003c/a> (I reviewed the digital storytelling app recently) talks about how the two worlds don't have to be mutually exclusive. Ideally, inside and outside play build on each other.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>By Andy Russell\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>This past weekend I had the pleasure of helping to organize \u003ca href=\"http://tedxsfed.org/\">TEDxSFED\u003c/a> and participating in a number of post-conference roundtables about “Re-Imagining Education.” One session on Educational Gaming posed the question: “How would you create a game to teach Natural Selection?” The group tossed out several ideas and seemed quite happy until one insightful teacher dropped the \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNMjx1o_Uyo\">Josh Baskin question of the day\u003c/a>: “But why do I need a computer for that? Why not just go outside and play tag?” Eyes averted, crickets chirped… it was beautiful.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Like many adults, kids are less interested in facts and figures and more intrigued by opportunities to investigate, create, and share their voice with the world.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>For years, educational software developers have digitized and embedded worksheets and problem sets into interactive games. The practice has known many names -- Edutainment, Serious Gaming, and most recently “Gamification” – but all share the common premise (misconception) that learning by itself isn’t fun, that kids need a spoonful of sugar (game mechanics, rewards, etc.) to make the medicine (curriculum) go down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As several of the roundtable participants struggled to answer this million-dollar question, I found myself thinking about the many kindergartners I’ve had the chance to play with over the years – and the endless barrage of questions that I’ve had to field on topics ranging from weather to ticklishness to the flavor of boogers. Looking back, I don’t think I’ve ever met a 4- or 5-year-old who isn’t naturally curious, who isn’t excited to learn. So why is it that so many 10-year-olds cringe at the sight or sound of the word “education”?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I found myself comparing the questions that kindergarteners ask to the questions/answers often seen in traditional educational media. I noticed a theme: most educational games deal a lot in the “Who?, What?, When?, and Where?” while the questions I hear from young kids are more of the “How?” and “Why?” variety. Not once has a child ever asked me to fill in a blank or select from multiple choices. Like many adults, they’re less interested in facts and figures and more intrigued by opportunities to investigate, create, and share their voice with the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">The problem is that we’re trying to replace teachers and parents with software rather than giving them complementary tools to help them become facilitators and coaches instead of test administrators.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>What’s the difference between a computer simulation and a backyard game of tag? Quite honestly, not much – which is exactly why we, as educational media designers, have failed three decades of curious kids (with some notable exceptions). Interactive quizzes and digital flash cards may make content more exciting than their analog counterparts, but that’s a short-sighted approach that fails to get at the root problem, an extrinsic motivation when kids are already intrinsically motivated to learn. The fundamental problem is not that learning isn’t fun, it’s that we’re answering questions that kids aren’t asking (Who?, What?, When?, Where?) instead of giving them tools to experiment, build on, and share their own ideas. The problem is that we’re trying to replace teachers and parents with software rather than giving them complementary tools to help them become facilitators and coaches instead of test administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A backyard game of tag is an excellent way to demonstrate natural selection. Sure, one might replicate that with a computer game, but why? As educational media designers, our role shouldn’t be to demonstrate these phenomena in action (there are plenty of tools for that), but instead to leverage the incredible power of modern technology to help kids answer the bigger questions: HOW and WHY are these phenomena happening? Our role should be to guide them up \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_taxonomy\">Bloom’s Taxonomy\u003c/a> to not just memorize and regurgitate, but to synthesize, analyze, and create. To do this, we need to dive deeper – to help kids learn not just by “doing,” but by designing (please see: \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/08/john-maeda-design-technology-data-companies-10-keynote.html\">John Maeda\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/03/the-creativity-crisis-why-american-schools-need-design/73038/\">Laura Seargent Richardson\u003c/a>). We need to stop thinking of educational media as fancy content delivery mechanisms (interactive videos and electronic books) and start building tools that help kids design and develop their own understandings of the world through iterative content creation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Constructionist learning tools like \u003ca href=\"http://scratch.mit.edu/\">Scratch\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/\">NetLogo\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx\">LEGO Mindstorms\u003c/a>, empower kids as self-motivated learners to program, build, animate, and \u003cem>design\u003c/em> their own creations. NetLogo, for example, would be a perfect tool for the natural selection question. With NetLogo, kids can easily program their own natural selection simulation with millions of independent characters operating in a virtual biosphere under the rules and guidelines they assign – almost like a digital petri dish, but with the ability to scale and fast-forward in real-time and iteratively test many different variables and hypotheses. These tools are the modern equivalent of the five-paragraph-essay: templates for inventing, testing, and sharing new ideas while developing higher-level critical thinking and analytical skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So my answer to the teacher is: We SHOULD go outside and play tag! Then let’s go back into the house or classroom and talk about what just happened and see if we can break those big ideas apart while building, testing, and iterating on our model. Then let’s upload our model to the Web, compare it to others’ ideas, and maybe even collaborate with other kids/students around the world. As educational media designers, let’s re-imagine edutainment as empowerment. Let’s empower children as designers by making concepts and tools accessible to learners and then, above all, let’s give kids megaphones to share their ideas with friends, family, and peers around the world.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch4>\n\u003c/h4>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewlaparra/4145235150/sizes/m/in/photostream/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-10436\" title=\"tag\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/tag.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/tag.jpg 500w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/tag-400x225.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/04/tag-320x180.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003ch4>Where the Educational Game Industry Went Wrong\u003c/h4>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The spotlight has been shining on media and gaming in the education innovation scene in recent years. And while many tout the virtues of what games and media can teach kids, we know it's just as important to give kids enough time to play outside.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In this essay, Andy Russell, co-founder of\u003ca href=\"http://launchpadtoys.com/\"> Launchpad Toys\u003c/a>, which created \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/toontastic/\">Toontastic\u003c/a> (I reviewed the digital storytelling app recently) talks about how the two worlds don't have to be mutually exclusive. Ideally, inside and outside play build on each other.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>By Andy Russell\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>This past weekend I had the pleasure of helping to organize \u003ca href=\"http://tedxsfed.org/\">TEDxSFED\u003c/a> and participating in a number of post-conference roundtables about “Re-Imagining Education.” One session on Educational Gaming posed the question: “How would you create a game to teach Natural Selection?” The group tossed out several ideas and seemed quite happy until one insightful teacher dropped the \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNMjx1o_Uyo\">Josh Baskin question of the day\u003c/a>: “But why do I need a computer for that? Why not just go outside and play tag?” Eyes averted, crickets chirped… it was beautiful.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Like many adults, kids are less interested in facts and figures and more intrigued by opportunities to investigate, create, and share their voice with the world.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>For years, educational software developers have digitized and embedded worksheets and problem sets into interactive games. The practice has known many names -- Edutainment, Serious Gaming, and most recently “Gamification” – but all share the common premise (misconception) that learning by itself isn’t fun, that kids need a spoonful of sugar (game mechanics, rewards, etc.) to make the medicine (curriculum) go down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As several of the roundtable participants struggled to answer this million-dollar question, I found myself thinking about the many kindergartners I’ve had the chance to play with over the years – and the endless barrage of questions that I’ve had to field on topics ranging from weather to ticklishness to the flavor of boogers. Looking back, I don’t think I’ve ever met a 4- or 5-year-old who isn’t naturally curious, who isn’t excited to learn. So why is it that so many 10-year-olds cringe at the sight or sound of the word “education”?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I found myself comparing the questions that kindergarteners ask to the questions/answers often seen in traditional educational media. I noticed a theme: most educational games deal a lot in the “Who?, What?, When?, and Where?” while the questions I hear from young kids are more of the “How?” and “Why?” variety. Not once has a child ever asked me to fill in a blank or select from multiple choices. Like many adults, they’re less interested in facts and figures and more intrigued by opportunities to investigate, create, and share their voice with the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">The problem is that we’re trying to replace teachers and parents with software rather than giving them complementary tools to help them become facilitators and coaches instead of test administrators.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>What’s the difference between a computer simulation and a backyard game of tag? Quite honestly, not much – which is exactly why we, as educational media designers, have failed three decades of curious kids (with some notable exceptions). Interactive quizzes and digital flash cards may make content more exciting than their analog counterparts, but that’s a short-sighted approach that fails to get at the root problem, an extrinsic motivation when kids are already intrinsically motivated to learn. The fundamental problem is not that learning isn’t fun, it’s that we’re answering questions that kids aren’t asking (Who?, What?, When?, Where?) instead of giving them tools to experiment, build on, and share their own ideas. The problem is that we’re trying to replace teachers and parents with software rather than giving them complementary tools to help them become facilitators and coaches instead of test administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A backyard game of tag is an excellent way to demonstrate natural selection. Sure, one might replicate that with a computer game, but why? As educational media designers, our role shouldn’t be to demonstrate these phenomena in action (there are plenty of tools for that), but instead to leverage the incredible power of modern technology to help kids answer the bigger questions: HOW and WHY are these phenomena happening? Our role should be to guide them up \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_taxonomy\">Bloom’s Taxonomy\u003c/a> to not just memorize and regurgitate, but to synthesize, analyze, and create. To do this, we need to dive deeper – to help kids learn not just by “doing,” but by designing (please see: \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/08/john-maeda-design-technology-data-companies-10-keynote.html\">John Maeda\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/03/the-creativity-crisis-why-american-schools-need-design/73038/\">Laura Seargent Richardson\u003c/a>). We need to stop thinking of educational media as fancy content delivery mechanisms (interactive videos and electronic books) and start building tools that help kids design and develop their own understandings of the world through iterative content creation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Constructionist learning tools like \u003ca href=\"http://scratch.mit.edu/\">Scratch\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/\">NetLogo\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx\">LEGO Mindstorms\u003c/a>, empower kids as self-motivated learners to program, build, animate, and \u003cem>design\u003c/em> their own creations. NetLogo, for example, would be a perfect tool for the natural selection question. With NetLogo, kids can easily program their own natural selection simulation with millions of independent characters operating in a virtual biosphere under the rules and guidelines they assign – almost like a digital petri dish, but with the ability to scale and fast-forward in real-time and iteratively test many different variables and hypotheses. These tools are the modern equivalent of the five-paragraph-essay: templates for inventing, testing, and sharing new ideas while developing higher-level critical thinking and analytical skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So my answer to the teacher is: We SHOULD go outside and play tag! Then let’s go back into the house or classroom and talk about what just happened and see if we can break those big ideas apart while building, testing, and iterating on our model. Then let’s upload our model to the Web, compare it to others’ ideas, and maybe even collaborate with other kids/students around the world. As educational media designers, let’s re-imagine edutainment as empowerment. Let’s empower children as designers by making concepts and tools accessible to learners and then, above all, let’s give kids megaphones to share their ideas with friends, family, and peers around the world.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-10044\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/legos-for-the-digital-age-students-build-imaginary-worlds/bdbne/\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10044\" title=\"bdbne\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/bdbne.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/bdbne.jpg 500w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/bdbne-400x201.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/bdbne-320x161.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>A confession: I am a long-time fan of video games, and as such, I'd say I have pretty high expectations when it comes to gameplay, mechanics, and animation. The latter is particularly made me pretty skeptical that I'd enjoy \u003ca href=\"http://www.minecraft.net/\">Minecraft\u003c/a>, a game that lets you build worlds out of blocks. A world built out of 3D blocks is, well, blocky, and I couldn't imagine that I'd find much pleasure -- aesthetically or otherwise.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\"Teachers who grew up playing games are only now hitting a stride in their careers. Many will naturally look to games as a way to engage their students.\"\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But I was wrong. Minecraft's visual simplicity belies what is a completely open-ended and therefore terrifically complex world. And the best of that world: it's up to the player to design. Minecraft is what's known as a \"sandbox\" game, giving players almost complete freedom to build within it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that's what makes it great for the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joel Levin, a computer teacher at \u003ca href=\"http://www.cgps.org/\">Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School\u003c/a> uses Minecraft with second-grade students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Minecraft can be played in single-person or in multiplayer mode, and players can join public servers, or in the case of Levin's class, the game can be run on a private server. By doing the latter, Levin is able to install certain \u003ca href=\"http://minecraftteacher.tumblr.com/post/4039013893/answers-to-your-questions\">add-ons and mods\u003c/a> suited for his students (giving him the power, for example, to place and delete blocks from a distance). But the students do play the multiplayer version, entering Minecraft's brick-building world together and, together, working through various projects that Levin assigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This combination of control through a private Minecraft server and the open-endedness of the game is, in Levin's words, \"exactly what is so appealing to me about Minecraft as a teaching tool. It's so open ended and extensible. I really think of it more as a canvas than a game. I'm able to construct these elaborate experiences, settings, and stories for the kids to move through. Rather than having to shoehorn a lesson around a game, I'm able to think about what I'm trying to teach and then design an entire world around that.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-10041\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/legos-for-the-digital-age-students-build-imaginary-worlds/kroih/\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10041\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/krOIh.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/krOIh.jpg 500w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/krOIh-400x201.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/krOIh-320x161.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many video games are focused on certain goals -- level up, save the princess, destroy the aliens, for example -- Minecraft has no clear-cut missions, at least not in that way. Players in Minecraft must scavenge for resources in order to build things -- mining for stone to build buildings, mining for coal to build fire. One of the only limitations in-game is time -- the sun sets each evening and when it's dark, spiders and skeletons come out and can attack the characters. (Levin \u003ca href=\"http://minecraftteacher.tumblr.com/post/4189589042/classroom-wishlist\">admits\u003c/a> the students don't like the dark and ask him to reset the clock so that it stays light.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, much like Minecraft, Levin's experiment using the game in the classroom was initially just as open-ended. He says he had no clearly defined goals, although he knew that there would be lessons -- both technical and social -- that he could impart. After running the game with his students for a while, \"I'm now trying to define real goals. I want the kids to learn to be responsible, self-reliant, innovative thinkers who are comfortable using technology to interact and create. I want them to realize that how they treat others in a game, online, or in the physical world is all really the same thing.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a computer teacher at a school with a lot of technical resources, Levin admits that it's \"pretty easy\" for him to integrate games into his curriculum. Not every classroom or every teacher is in the same position. But Levin believes that \"as time goes by, games will creep into the classroom in more and more ways. Teachers who grew up playing games are only now hitting a stride in their careers. Many will naturally look to games as a way to engage their students.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can read Levin's blog \u003ca href=\"http://minecraftteacher.tumblr.com/\">The Minecraft Teacher\u003c/a> and follow him on \u003ca href=\"http://http://www.twitter.com/minecraftteachr\">Twitter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-10044\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/legos-for-the-digital-age-students-build-imaginary-worlds/bdbne/\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10044\" title=\"bdbne\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/bdbne.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/bdbne.jpg 500w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/bdbne-400x201.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/bdbne-320x161.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>A confession: I am a long-time fan of video games, and as such, I'd say I have pretty high expectations when it comes to gameplay, mechanics, and animation. The latter is particularly made me pretty skeptical that I'd enjoy \u003ca href=\"http://www.minecraft.net/\">Minecraft\u003c/a>, a game that lets you build worlds out of blocks. A world built out of 3D blocks is, well, blocky, and I couldn't imagine that I'd find much pleasure -- aesthetically or otherwise.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\"Teachers who grew up playing games are only now hitting a stride in their careers. Many will naturally look to games as a way to engage their students.\"\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But I was wrong. Minecraft's visual simplicity belies what is a completely open-ended and therefore terrifically complex world. And the best of that world: it's up to the player to design. Minecraft is what's known as a \"sandbox\" game, giving players almost complete freedom to build within it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that's what makes it great for the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joel Levin, a computer teacher at \u003ca href=\"http://www.cgps.org/\">Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School\u003c/a> uses Minecraft with second-grade students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Minecraft can be played in single-person or in multiplayer mode, and players can join public servers, or in the case of Levin's class, the game can be run on a private server. By doing the latter, Levin is able to install certain \u003ca href=\"http://minecraftteacher.tumblr.com/post/4039013893/answers-to-your-questions\">add-ons and mods\u003c/a> suited for his students (giving him the power, for example, to place and delete blocks from a distance). But the students do play the multiplayer version, entering Minecraft's brick-building world together and, together, working through various projects that Levin assigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This combination of control through a private Minecraft server and the open-endedness of the game is, in Levin's words, \"exactly what is so appealing to me about Minecraft as a teaching tool. It's so open ended and extensible. I really think of it more as a canvas than a game. I'm able to construct these elaborate experiences, settings, and stories for the kids to move through. Rather than having to shoehorn a lesson around a game, I'm able to think about what I'm trying to teach and then design an entire world around that.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-10041\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/legos-for-the-digital-age-students-build-imaginary-worlds/kroih/\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10041\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/krOIh.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/krOIh.jpg 500w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/krOIh-400x201.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/krOIh-320x161.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many video games are focused on certain goals -- level up, save the princess, destroy the aliens, for example -- Minecraft has no clear-cut missions, at least not in that way. Players in Minecraft must scavenge for resources in order to build things -- mining for stone to build buildings, mining for coal to build fire. One of the only limitations in-game is time -- the sun sets each evening and when it's dark, spiders and skeletons come out and can attack the characters. (Levin \u003ca href=\"http://minecraftteacher.tumblr.com/post/4189589042/classroom-wishlist\">admits\u003c/a> the students don't like the dark and ask him to reset the clock so that it stays light.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, much like Minecraft, Levin's experiment using the game in the classroom was initially just as open-ended. He says he had no clearly defined goals, although he knew that there would be lessons -- both technical and social -- that he could impart. After running the game with his students for a while, \"I'm now trying to define real goals. I want the kids to learn to be responsible, self-reliant, innovative thinkers who are comfortable using technology to interact and create. I want them to realize that how they treat others in a game, online, or in the physical world is all really the same thing.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a computer teacher at a school with a lot of technical resources, Levin admits that it's \"pretty easy\" for him to integrate games into his curriculum. Not every classroom or every teacher is in the same position. But Levin believes that \"as time goes by, games will creep into the classroom in more and more ways. Teachers who grew up playing games are only now hitting a stride in their careers. Many will naturally look to games as a way to engage their students.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can read Levin's blog \u003ca href=\"http://minecraftteacher.tumblr.com/\">The Minecraft Teacher\u003c/a> and follow him on \u003ca href=\"http://http://www.twitter.com/minecraftteachr\">Twitter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10031\" class=\"wp-caption left\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca rel=\"attachment wp-att-10031\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/five-amazing-games-that-add-a-third-dimension-to-learning/qa/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10031\" title=\"QA\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/QA-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"> \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>We received lots of comments on \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/21-things-that-will-be-obsolete-by-2020/\">21 Things That Will Be Obsolete in 2020\u003c/a>. To those who expressed doubt that any of those predictions will come to fruition, the writer Shelly Blake-Plock wrote \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/a-challenge-to-doubters-do-something-impossible/\">an elegant response\u003c/a>. But many more were intrigued by one commenter's assertion that many of those items on the list are already happening.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>So I asked the commenter, educator Gord Holden from Vancouver, B.C., to elaborate on those details.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>By Gord Holden\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Four years ago I went from being a school teacher, to a position in distributed learning. The environment was \"cutting edge\" but many courses were still in paper format, and the online ones were largely electronic text. The cost of materials and course development translated into huge classes, and marking loads.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\"Each day is filled with new achievements and a growing following of engaged 'co-workers.'\"\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Student feedback was both inadequate and not at all timely. Worst of all, my students were not engaged and had little meaningful contact with their teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a year of feeling like a total failure I told the principal that I was dissatisfied with my teaching practice and needed to find a better way to engage the students in their learning. With her blessing, I began my search.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong>1. \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>BUILD A CIVILIZATION: \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>CAESAR III\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">It began by resurrecting some game programs that had met with great success in my classroom practice. Although I am not a \"gamer\" I knew it was important to steer clear of the \"eye candy,\" and the \"drill and kill\" activities that call themselves games. I will recommend one here called\u003ca href=\"http://caesar3.heavengames.com/strategy/\"> Caesar III\u003c/a>. In this simulation, students begin as a lowly citizen trying to eke out an existence in a virgin landscape. The student begins by learning about the\u003cstrong> basic needs for survival and graduates to increasingly demanding scenarios.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">By the end, students will have gained a very sophisticated understanding of the influence played by the environment on the development of a civilization. They will also have experienced the dynamics of government including infrastructure, \u003cstrong>civil service, taxation, education, healthcare, religion, trade, security,\u003c/strong> etc. Still, while games like this may have improved both the level of student engagement and learning, there was little opportunity for collaboration between students, and relationship with the teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">2. MEET MEDIEVAL CITIZENS, EXPLORE HISTORIC CITIES: CASPIAN LEARNING\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">It seemed likely that the next step would involve virtual worlds, where students and teachers could interact. The best resource I could find was put out by \u003ca href=\"http://www.thinkingworlds.com/\">\u003cstrong>Caspian Learning, called Thinking Worlds\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>. In it, a student enters into a virtual world that resides on their personal computer. Their avatar can be somewhat modified, and engage in a wide variety of explorations. In the unit dealing with volcanoes and earthquakes, they not only learn about the details, they visit places such as \u003cstrong>Herculaneum, subterraneous faults, and the ruins of Kobe in Japan.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">There, they gather information from the people and learn about what it's like to be in an earthquake and how one should prepare for it. In other units they interact with \u003cstrong>blood cells, astronauts, computer chips, medieval citizens dealing with the Domesday Book, Dracula, Louis the XVI, Hitler,\u003c/strong> and the list goes on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Students are able to redo these quests as many times as they need to in order to gain mastery. The feedback and marking is instantaneous, so they are able to know when they've met my minimum requirement of 90%. I hardly ever get a score of 90% though, students will invariably repeat their quests until they get 100%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong>3. LIVE WITH INDIGENOUS CULTURES: QUEST ATLANTIS\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">And still, my quest for creating a community of learners was unmet. Until one day, when I'd all but given up, I saw a reference to a program called \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/\">Quest Atlantis\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong> In less than 15 minutes of researching this resource it was clear to me that I had found what I was looking for. In Quest Atlantis (QA), my students are engaged in a narrative as compelling as The Chronicles of Narnia, except not as passive spectators, but as active participants in the story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Their age and school appropriate avatars are able to explore and learn in an environment that is secure, monitored, and dynamically expansive. Through QA my students have gone to\u003cstrong> live with the First Nations people of Mesa Verde, negotiated plans to save the Black Rhino with the various stakeholders in Tanzania, taken rockets to space stations\u003c/strong> to learn about the technology they will need to deploy and use in order to deflect Near Earth Objects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">In the meantime, they \u003cstrong>learn about Internet safety and protocols, how to build virtual buildings, and most importantly how to become a better global citizen.\u003c/strong> I cannot say enough about how QA has transformed both my teaching practice, and my students. While the founders, the Faculty of Education Learning Sciences division at the University of Indiana call it transformational play, the parents call it \"Miraculous Play.\" The scope and depth of opportunities offered by QA is far too great to even attempt to do justice to it as part of an article.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong>4. SURVIVE IN THE WILD\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>: WOLFQUEST\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The learning I was bringing to my students was still very guided and curriculum based. Now, I was looking for even more, programs that would allow the students to be creative. With their Internet safety training, I could now put them on \u003ca href=\"http://www.wolfquest.org/\">\u003cstrong>Wolfquest\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>. In Wolfquest each student becomes a solitary wolf, struggling to find their place in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. They learn about the challenges of life in the wild, and the need for \"others.\" In time, they can mate, and form a pack of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">What fun to watch the alpha males try to take down a bull elk. They cannot. They need the pack. What fun to watch as the \"quiet ones\" assume leadership of the pack, and the subsequent high fives when they successfully organize and conclude a hunt. What fun to watch my teaching colleagues attempt to do the same. We cannot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong>5. REDESIGN LEARNING: CYBERNETWORLDS\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Where to now? Well, we've obtained virtual space on \u003ca href=\"http://www.cybernetworlds.com/\">\u003cstrong>Cybernetworlds\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>, a family-run virtual universe that I cannot say enough about. There, in Viamus, my students have been rebuilding the ancient civilizations that ring the Mediterranean. My students have also rebuilt our school virtually, as a place where they can come to pick up assignments, hang out, collaborate, even meet for classes. We have a number of other projects under development, but now, it is my students who are in charge. While they may have to run things by me, they are responsible to research what they are responsible to know, and find ways to use their newfound skills to build an environment where they can pass their knowledge on to others. Where is this going?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The total cost of everything I've mentioned is under $700. Is the journey complete? Not a chance. I've gone from feeling completely defeated as a teacher, with students who were angry and resistant to schooling, to having each day filled with new achievements and a growing following of engaged \"co-workers.\" I'm mourning the coming of summer, as each of my students has become invaluable as a colleague and an asset to our school. Has this miracle fallen from the sky? Well, I will admit to some serendipity, but will tell you that there has been no small amount of blood, sweat, and tears that has gone into bringing this about. I truly hope that there are some schools and/or school districts out there that would like to see similar results. It can be done if the passion, dedication, and careful planning is in place. I would love to be a part of that. How about you?\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong>1. \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>BUILD A CIVILIZATION: \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>CAESAR III\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">It began by resurrecting some game programs that had met with great success in my classroom practice. Although I am not a \"gamer\" I knew it was important to steer clear of the \"eye candy,\" and the \"drill and kill\" activities that call themselves games. I will recommend one here called\u003ca href=\"http://caesar3.heavengames.com/strategy/\"> Caesar III\u003c/a>. In this simulation, students begin as a lowly citizen trying to eke out an existence in a virgin landscape. The student begins by learning about the\u003cstrong> basic needs for survival and graduates to increasingly demanding scenarios.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">By the end, students will have gained a very sophisticated understanding of the influence played by the environment on the development of a civilization. They will also have experienced the dynamics of government including infrastructure, \u003cstrong>civil service, taxation, education, healthcare, religion, trade, security,\u003c/strong> etc. Still, while games like this may have improved both the level of student engagement and learning, there was little opportunity for collaboration between students, and relationship with the teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">2. MEET MEDIEVAL CITIZENS, EXPLORE HISTORIC CITIES: CASPIAN LEARNING\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">It seemed likely that the next step would involve virtual worlds, where students and teachers could interact. The best resource I could find was put out by \u003ca href=\"http://www.thinkingworlds.com/\">\u003cstrong>Caspian Learning, called Thinking Worlds\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>. In it, a student enters into a virtual world that resides on their personal computer. Their avatar can be somewhat modified, and engage in a wide variety of explorations. In the unit dealing with volcanoes and earthquakes, they not only learn about the details, they visit places such as \u003cstrong>Herculaneum, subterraneous faults, and the ruins of Kobe in Japan.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">There, they gather information from the people and learn about what it's like to be in an earthquake and how one should prepare for it. In other units they interact with \u003cstrong>blood cells, astronauts, computer chips, medieval citizens dealing with the Domesday Book, Dracula, Louis the XVI, Hitler,\u003c/strong> and the list goes on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Students are able to redo these quests as many times as they need to in order to gain mastery. The feedback and marking is instantaneous, so they are able to know when they've met my minimum requirement of 90%. I hardly ever get a score of 90% though, students will invariably repeat their quests until they get 100%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong>3. LIVE WITH INDIGENOUS CULTURES: QUEST ATLANTIS\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">And still, my quest for creating a community of learners was unmet. 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While the founders, the Faculty of Education Learning Sciences division at the University of Indiana call it transformational play, the parents call it \"Miraculous Play.\" The scope and depth of opportunities offered by QA is far too great to even attempt to do justice to it as part of an article.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong>4. SURVIVE IN THE WILD\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>: WOLFQUEST\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The learning I was bringing to my students was still very guided and curriculum based. Now, I was looking for even more, programs that would allow the students to be creative. With their Internet safety training, I could now put them on \u003ca href=\"http://www.wolfquest.org/\">\u003cstrong>Wolfquest\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>. In Wolfquest each student becomes a solitary wolf, struggling to find their place in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. 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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Can video games really work as a learning tool? If so, what happens to the role of the teacher in this realm? \u003ca href=\"http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=chris_dede\">Chris Dede\u003c/a> and his colleagues at Harvard Graduate School of Education\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2010/10/video-game-on-yes-and-no/\"> have been working\u003c/a> on testing these theories and have come up with fascinating results. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I spoke with Dede at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cyberlearningstem.org/\">Cyberlearning Tools for STEM Education Conference\u003c/a> recently, and asked him to elaborate on his thesis. Here's the video, and the full transcript follow below. The big takeaway: \u003cstrong>When combined with challenges and assessments, along with the guidance of a teacher, video games can lead students to rich learning experiences.\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNAZXB0DnT4&feature=channel_video_title\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>Read the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/virtual-worlds-in-the-hands-of-student-scientists/#more-9656\">full transcript here\u003c/a>.\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>\u003cspan style=\"color: #333399;\">ON THE MAGIC OF SCIENCE COMING TO LIFE\u003c/span>\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">One of the big challenges of classrooms is that they're very barren places. They're isolated from the world. Teachers typically have very limited resources that they can bring to bear, and yet we know that science takes place in very rich, real world settings with lots of lab equipment and with a lot of access to technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">So, how students learn to act like scientists is complicated, but cyberlearning is really helping us with this because through cyberlearning, we can bring immersive experiences like those that students have in games or Club Penguin or Second Life into classrooms so that they're physically in the classroom, but psychologically, they're inside of some sort of digital environment. And if it's well constructed, and we build and study environments like this, we find that students can assume the role of scientists, and they can see the kinds of challenges that scientists face, and \u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc0000;\">THEY CAN LEARN A LOT OF SKILLS THAT ARE THEN IMPORTANT FOR THEM LATER WHEN THEY'RE OUT OF THE CLASSROOM, AND IN THE REAL WORLD, \u003c/span>\u003c/strong> bring science to bear on understanding problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n\u003c/p>\u003ch5>\u003cspan style=\"color: #333399;\">ON THE POWER OF TEACHING WITH GAMES\u003c/span>\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">We have four projects that deal with immersive virtual worlds in classrooms. One is curriculum oriented, where we're building and studying digital ecosystems. One is assessment oriented, where we put students in a challenging situation, and we ask them to use their inquiry skills to figure out what's happening. One is mathematics instead of science, and students land in the virtual world on a strange planet, and they have to use math in order to rescue their captain, and then the fourth goes back to the digital pond, and students are learning [about] social perspective taking and some skills out of social psychology and negotiating about land use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">So what we’re studying is how broad a range of 21st century skills and sophisticated kind of processes can students learn in virtual worlds. And what is the role of the teacher in all of this. How does the teacher help them interpret and reflect on these experiences that they are having in the world. So it’s fascinating to look out how these worlds can be used in different ways. And see what the strengths and limits are with each approach. So what we find is that if students simply experience a virtual world without any guidance, it’s fun for them, they are engaged, they probably learned something, but they don't learn very much. Because the virtual world is simpler than the real world. But to be authentic, it’s still pretty complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">So we’re not trying to create some teacher in the box experience, where kids go into a virtual world and all by themselves they learn a great deal. Instead we find \u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong>COMBINING A VIRTUAL WORLD AND A SKILLED TEACHER IS VERY POWERFUL\u003c/strong>,\u003cstrong> BECAUSE THE WORLD PROVIDES THE ENGAGEMENT AND EXPERIENCE, BUT THE TEACHER PROVIDES THE INTERPRETATION AND THE ABILITY TO HELP STUDENTS PLAN.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>So the next time they go through the magic portal and back into the virtual world, they can organize themselves more effectively. We’re also finding that collaborative learning is also very powerful in virtual worlds. It’s easy for the students to play different roles, in which each gathers another set of data. And to put their elephant together they have to combine their knowledge of the trunk and the ears and the tail. And that kind of jigsaw pedagogy is difficult to do in a standard classroom, but it works really well in a virtual environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"color: #333399;\">ON SEEING THE SPARK OF ENGAGEMENT\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">When we think about how to bring cyberlearning into more conventional forms of instruction, I think that we need to think about the beginning and the end of a curricular unit. So, often students wonder, \"Why am I learning this? I don’t see any relevance to my life,\" and if you have a cyberlearning experience that's authentic right at the beginning of a curricular unit, students see. They see why it's relevant to their lives, and they also see that they don’t know what to do, that they're confused and lost. So, now they have a reason to learn the curriculum. In the middle, I might use an assessment based on cyberlearning so that the students can see, \"Yeah. I'm making some progress here, but there's also some things that I still don’t know.\" And then at the end, as a culminating experience and as an assessment, again, some kind of authentic cyberlearning can be really powerful. So,\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong> IT'S A LITTLE LIKE A DANCE, WHERE YOU'RE WEAVING CYBERLEARNING IN AND OUT OF FORMS OF INSTRUCTION THAT WE'RE MORE FAMILIAR WITH \u003c/strong>\u003c/span>building on the strengths of each.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Can video games really work as a learning tool? If so, what happens to the role of the teacher in this realm? \u003ca href=\"http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=chris_dede\">Chris Dede\u003c/a> and his colleagues at Harvard Graduate School of Education\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2010/10/video-game-on-yes-and-no/\"> have been working\u003c/a> on testing these theories and have come up with fascinating results. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I spoke with Dede at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cyberlearningstem.org/\">Cyberlearning Tools for STEM Education Conference\u003c/a> recently, and asked him to elaborate on his thesis. Here's the video, and the full transcript follow below. The big takeaway: \u003cstrong>When combined with challenges and assessments, along with the guidance of a teacher, video games can lead students to rich learning experiences.\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/nNAZXB0DnT4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/nNAZXB0DnT4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch5>Read the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/virtual-worlds-in-the-hands-of-student-scientists/#more-9656\">full transcript here\u003c/a>.\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>\u003cspan style=\"color: #333399;\">ON THE MAGIC OF SCIENCE COMING TO LIFE\u003c/span>\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">One of the big challenges of classrooms is that they're very barren places. They're isolated from the world. Teachers typically have very limited resources that they can bring to bear, and yet we know that science takes place in very rich, real world settings with lots of lab equipment and with a lot of access to technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">So, how students learn to act like scientists is complicated, but cyberlearning is really helping us with this because through cyberlearning, we can bring immersive experiences like those that students have in games or Club Penguin or Second Life into classrooms so that they're physically in the classroom, but psychologically, they're inside of some sort of digital environment. And if it's well constructed, and we build and study environments like this, we find that students can assume the role of scientists, and they can see the kinds of challenges that scientists face, and \u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc0000;\">THEY CAN LEARN A LOT OF SKILLS THAT ARE THEN IMPORTANT FOR THEM LATER WHEN THEY'RE OUT OF THE CLASSROOM, AND IN THE REAL WORLD, \u003c/span>\u003c/strong> bring science to bear on understanding problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n\u003c/p>\u003ch5>\u003cspan style=\"color: #333399;\">ON THE POWER OF TEACHING WITH GAMES\u003c/span>\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">We have four projects that deal with immersive virtual worlds in classrooms. One is curriculum oriented, where we're building and studying digital ecosystems. One is assessment oriented, where we put students in a challenging situation, and we ask them to use their inquiry skills to figure out what's happening. One is mathematics instead of science, and students land in the virtual world on a strange planet, and they have to use math in order to rescue their captain, and then the fourth goes back to the digital pond, and students are learning [about] social perspective taking and some skills out of social psychology and negotiating about land use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">So what we’re studying is how broad a range of 21st century skills and sophisticated kind of processes can students learn in virtual worlds. And what is the role of the teacher in all of this. How does the teacher help them interpret and reflect on these experiences that they are having in the world. So it’s fascinating to look out how these worlds can be used in different ways. And see what the strengths and limits are with each approach. So what we find is that if students simply experience a virtual world without any guidance, it’s fun for them, they are engaged, they probably learned something, but they don't learn very much. Because the virtual world is simpler than the real world. But to be authentic, it’s still pretty complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">So we’re not trying to create some teacher in the box experience, where kids go into a virtual world and all by themselves they learn a great deal. Instead we find \u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong>COMBINING A VIRTUAL WORLD AND A SKILLED TEACHER IS VERY POWERFUL\u003c/strong>,\u003cstrong> BECAUSE THE WORLD PROVIDES THE ENGAGEMENT AND EXPERIENCE, BUT THE TEACHER PROVIDES THE INTERPRETATION AND THE ABILITY TO HELP STUDENTS PLAN.\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>So the next time they go through the magic portal and back into the virtual world, they can organize themselves more effectively. We’re also finding that collaborative learning is also very powerful in virtual worlds. It’s easy for the students to play different roles, in which each gathers another set of data. And to put their elephant together they have to combine their knowledge of the trunk and the ears and the tail. And that kind of jigsaw pedagogy is difficult to do in a standard classroom, but it works really well in a virtual environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"color: #333399;\">ON SEEING THE SPARK OF ENGAGEMENT\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">When we think about how to bring cyberlearning into more conventional forms of instruction, I think that we need to think about the beginning and the end of a curricular unit. So, often students wonder, \"Why am I learning this? I don’t see any relevance to my life,\" and if you have a cyberlearning experience that's authentic right at the beginning of a curricular unit, students see. They see why it's relevant to their lives, and they also see that they don’t know what to do, that they're confused and lost. So, now they have a reason to learn the curriculum. In the middle, I might use an assessment based on cyberlearning so that the students can see, \"Yeah. I'm making some progress here, but there's also some things that I still don’t know.\" And then at the end, as a culminating experience and as an assessment, again, some kind of authentic cyberlearning can be really powerful. So,\u003cspan style=\"color: #cc3300;\">\u003cstrong> IT'S A LITTLE LIKE A DANCE, WHERE YOU'RE WEAVING CYBERLEARNING IN AND OUT OF FORMS OF INSTRUCTION THAT WE'RE MORE FAMILIAR WITH \u003c/strong>\u003c/span>building on the strengths of each.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amagill/26273015/sizes/m/in/photostream/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-9375\" title=\"AMagill\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/AMagill-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Context is as important as content. Time, place and purpose matter.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Pushing forward our discussion about the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/screen-time-for-kids-is-it-learning-or-a-brain-drain/\">value of games and apps\u003c/a>, David Kleeman wrote in response to the article: \"Every screen has benefits and cautions, quality content and junk.\" In this essay on the Huffington Post, Kleeman, who's the president \u003c/em>o\u003cem>f the American Center for Children and Media \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kleeman/a-screen-is-a-screen-is-a_b_792742.html\">elaborates further.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By David Kleeman\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"A Screen is a Screen is a Meme\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children's television has been a playground for memes for as long as it's existed (much longer than \"meme\" has been a word!). Most are light and from pop culture -- from Davy Crockett coonskin caps to rumors of gay Teletubbies. Others grow from more dire murmurs about media's effects on children -- sit too close and you'll ruin your vision, short segments decrease attention span, digital kids can't write standard English.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, I've noticed an emerging meme -- \"a screen is a screen is a screen.\" This or similar phrases suggest that only total time matters in children's relationship with media, not what's being viewed or used by whom, nor how and why. As used, it's a facile way to tar all media and absolve parents or activists from doing the hard work of addressing specific content or context.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, last month the American Academy of Pediatrics released its updated policy on children and media. Not surprisingly, the AAP's new guidelines reiterate its \"no screen time for under twos\" position; dismayingly, they also treat enormous technology evolution almost coincidentally and entirely negatively (the \"new technology\" section addresses only sexting, porn and pro-anorexia websites). In a \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/fashion/17TODDLERS.html\" target=\"_hplink\">article\u003c/a> on young children and mobile media, a member of the AAP's Council on Communications suggests the current landscape was just too difficult to parse in its revisions, saying \"at the moment, we seem to feel it's the same as TV.\"\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around the same time, \u003ca href=\"http://www.commonsensemedia.org/whats-better-kids-computers-tv-or-games\" target=\"_hplink\">an article\u003c/a> on the trusted content review site Common Sense Media advised parents that \"as long as you limit the total screen time and choose age-appropriate shows, games, and websites, a screen is a screen is a screen.\" Quality content depends on far more than being age specific, but more important, it's absurd to suggest that one platform could be \"better\" than others, agnostic of content.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back when children's media options were primarily storytelling delivery systems (TV, CDs, VHS/DVD, movies), equating screens might have been acceptable. Today, by contrast, kids encounter \"lean back\" media like TV and \"lean forward\" platforms like the web; touch, tap and tilt mobile media and the new \u003cem>sine qua non\u003c/em> of active, whole-body engagement, the Kinect (the \u003cem>New York Times'\u003c/em> David Pogue \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/technology/personaltech/04pogue.html\" target=\"_hplink\">says\u003c/a>, \"You can't play Kinect sitting down, and that's a plus\").\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is why it's frustrating when a blogger for Kidglue, a site that claims to help parents \"engage their kids through popular culture,\" not only says \u003ca href=\"http://www.kidglue.com/2009/09/24/silly-rabbit-video-games-are-now-shockingly-for-toddlers/\" target=\"_hplink\">all screens are equal\u003c/a> (and none necessary), but also that electronic devices only \"frustrate\" small children. She would need only to see \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO80404kKvQ\" target=\"_hplink\">this remarkable video\u003c/a> of toddlers with iPhones/iPads (compiled by \u003cem>Children's Technology Review\u003c/em> editor Warren Buckleitner) to understand that, in tiny hands, the direct response of a multi-touch screen is day and night from the hand-eye coordination required to wield a mouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Debates about whether \"a screen is a screen is a screen\" range and rage, from \u003ca href=\"http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=116301\" target=\"_hplink\">marketing\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/toddlers-tech-screens-created-equal/story?id=11910667\" target=\"_hplink\">early learning\u003c/a>. Moving beyond the hyperbole, though, here are a few thoughts that might help parents make smart use of the many media options available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's no transitive property of screens. You can watch video on an iPad, but you can't run apps on a TV, so while young people's TV viewing increasingly is time-shifted or done on devices other than the 42-inch flatscreen, many other gratifications young people seek from media can exist only on specific screens. Given the findings of the Kaiser Family Foundation's \"Generation M2\" \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/entmedia/upload/8010.pdf\" target=\"_hplink\">study\u003c/a> -- that young people multi-screen, multi-task and add new devices without displacing old ones -- they themselves appears to view different screens as having unique and parallel, not identical, functions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Context is as important as content. Time, place and purpose matter. Screens can be fixed or mobile; some excel at storytelling and others at gaming; different media are solitary or social; devices may be self-contained and may around the world. A PSP to relieve anxiety at the doctor's office is different from taking pictures with an iPhone on a walk, which is not the same as channel-surfing, which is unlike illustrating a story with \"KidPix.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Screens aren't inimical to reading, outdoor and imaginative play. Most often, messages to parents about \"screen time\" are \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-david-perlmutter-md/television-and-the-develo_b_786934.html\" target=\"_hplink\">bundled\u003c/a> with cautions about it displacing more valued activities. This was disproved in the Kaiser study; even so, careful choice of screen and content can be a facilitator -- interactive eBooks may help children catch the reading habit; innovative apps like \"Google Goggles\" or the augmented reality game \"Hidden Park\" can add adventure to outdoor play. Smart parents use these as supplements, and not replacements for books, neighborhood exploration or free play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Different screens, different levels of control. Even for today's \"digital native\" parents, keeping up with the constant introduction of new devices and flood of content can be daunting. This is another reason not all screens are equal; each offers unique ways both to find the best content and to avoid what you don't want. Parents can choose among levels of gate-keeping and curatorial oversight, from television's limited channel menu offering pre-selected content scheduled or on-demand, to the iTunes and App stores with nearly unlimited bandwidth but an editorial team deciding what to sell, to the \"wild west\" frontier of YouTube and the Internet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like parents, content creators are also struggling to make best use of the various screens. The best producers resent the \"screen is a screen is a screen\" meme because it frees those who are less scrupulous to throw \"\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shovelware\" target=\"_hplink\">shovelware\u003c/a>\" into a scary, fast-changing market. Happily, it seems that the industry is transitioning from \"360 commissioning\" (wanting one's stories and characters to be on all platforms regardless of fit, for fear of leaving eyeballs or money on the table) to \"\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmedia_storytelling\" target=\"_hplink\">transmedia\u003c/a>,\" which emphasizes each screen's unique contribution to a coherent whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide, there is a movement afoot to employ media as a growth and learning tool -- from serious games and deeply educational apps, to kids TV that enlightens \u003cem>and\u003c/em> entertains, to production tools that turn young people into creators. Growing attention to media literacy training encourages young people to read screens as deeply as they read text. The truth seems self-evident; all screens are not created equal.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amagill/26273015/sizes/m/in/photostream/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-9375\" title=\"AMagill\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/AMagill-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Context is as important as content. Time, place and purpose matter.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Pushing forward our discussion about the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/screen-time-for-kids-is-it-learning-or-a-brain-drain/\">value of games and apps\u003c/a>, David Kleeman wrote in response to the article: \"Every screen has benefits and cautions, quality content and junk.\" In this essay on the Huffington Post, Kleeman, who's the president \u003c/em>o\u003cem>f the American Center for Children and Media \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kleeman/a-screen-is-a-screen-is-a_b_792742.html\">elaborates further.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By David Kleeman\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"A Screen is a Screen is a Meme\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children's television has been a playground for memes for as long as it's existed (much longer than \"meme\" has been a word!). Most are light and from pop culture -- from Davy Crockett coonskin caps to rumors of gay Teletubbies. Others grow from more dire murmurs about media's effects on children -- sit too close and you'll ruin your vision, short segments decrease attention span, digital kids can't write standard English.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, I've noticed an emerging meme -- \"a screen is a screen is a screen.\" This or similar phrases suggest that only total time matters in children's relationship with media, not what's being viewed or used by whom, nor how and why. As used, it's a facile way to tar all media and absolve parents or activists from doing the hard work of addressing specific content or context.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, last month the American Academy of Pediatrics released its updated policy on children and media. Not surprisingly, the AAP's new guidelines reiterate its \"no screen time for under twos\" position; dismayingly, they also treat enormous technology evolution almost coincidentally and entirely negatively (the \"new technology\" section addresses only sexting, porn and pro-anorexia websites). In a \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/fashion/17TODDLERS.html\" target=\"_hplink\">article\u003c/a> on young children and mobile media, a member of the AAP's Council on Communications suggests the current landscape was just too difficult to parse in its revisions, saying \"at the moment, we seem to feel it's the same as TV.\"\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around the same time, \u003ca href=\"http://www.commonsensemedia.org/whats-better-kids-computers-tv-or-games\" target=\"_hplink\">an article\u003c/a> on the trusted content review site Common Sense Media advised parents that \"as long as you limit the total screen time and choose age-appropriate shows, games, and websites, a screen is a screen is a screen.\" Quality content depends on far more than being age specific, but more important, it's absurd to suggest that one platform could be \"better\" than others, agnostic of content.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back when children's media options were primarily storytelling delivery systems (TV, CDs, VHS/DVD, movies), equating screens might have been acceptable. Today, by contrast, kids encounter \"lean back\" media like TV and \"lean forward\" platforms like the web; touch, tap and tilt mobile media and the new \u003cem>sine qua non\u003c/em> of active, whole-body engagement, the Kinect (the \u003cem>New York Times'\u003c/em> David Pogue \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/technology/personaltech/04pogue.html\" target=\"_hplink\">says\u003c/a>, \"You can't play Kinect sitting down, and that's a plus\").\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is why it's frustrating when a blogger for Kidglue, a site that claims to help parents \"engage their kids through popular culture,\" not only says \u003ca href=\"http://www.kidglue.com/2009/09/24/silly-rabbit-video-games-are-now-shockingly-for-toddlers/\" target=\"_hplink\">all screens are equal\u003c/a> (and none necessary), but also that electronic devices only \"frustrate\" small children. She would need only to see \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO80404kKvQ\" target=\"_hplink\">this remarkable video\u003c/a> of toddlers with iPhones/iPads (compiled by \u003cem>Children's Technology Review\u003c/em> editor Warren Buckleitner) to understand that, in tiny hands, the direct response of a multi-touch screen is day and night from the hand-eye coordination required to wield a mouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Debates about whether \"a screen is a screen is a screen\" range and rage, from \u003ca href=\"http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=116301\" target=\"_hplink\">marketing\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/toddlers-tech-screens-created-equal/story?id=11910667\" target=\"_hplink\">early learning\u003c/a>. Moving beyond the hyperbole, though, here are a few thoughts that might help parents make smart use of the many media options available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's no transitive property of screens. You can watch video on an iPad, but you can't run apps on a TV, so while young people's TV viewing increasingly is time-shifted or done on devices other than the 42-inch flatscreen, many other gratifications young people seek from media can exist only on specific screens. Given the findings of the Kaiser Family Foundation's \"Generation M2\" \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/entmedia/upload/8010.pdf\" target=\"_hplink\">study\u003c/a> -- that young people multi-screen, multi-task and add new devices without displacing old ones -- they themselves appears to view different screens as having unique and parallel, not identical, functions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Context is as important as content. Time, place and purpose matter. Screens can be fixed or mobile; some excel at storytelling and others at gaming; different media are solitary or social; devices may be self-contained and may around the world. A PSP to relieve anxiety at the doctor's office is different from taking pictures with an iPhone on a walk, which is not the same as channel-surfing, which is unlike illustrating a story with \"KidPix.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Screens aren't inimical to reading, outdoor and imaginative play. Most often, messages to parents about \"screen time\" are \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-david-perlmutter-md/television-and-the-develo_b_786934.html\" target=\"_hplink\">bundled\u003c/a> with cautions about it displacing more valued activities. This was disproved in the Kaiser study; even so, careful choice of screen and content can be a facilitator -- interactive eBooks may help children catch the reading habit; innovative apps like \"Google Goggles\" or the augmented reality game \"Hidden Park\" can add adventure to outdoor play. Smart parents use these as supplements, and not replacements for books, neighborhood exploration or free play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Different screens, different levels of control. Even for today's \"digital native\" parents, keeping up with the constant introduction of new devices and flood of content can be daunting. This is another reason not all screens are equal; each offers unique ways both to find the best content and to avoid what you don't want. Parents can choose among levels of gate-keeping and curatorial oversight, from television's limited channel menu offering pre-selected content scheduled or on-demand, to the iTunes and App stores with nearly unlimited bandwidth but an editorial team deciding what to sell, to the \"wild west\" frontier of YouTube and the Internet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like parents, content creators are also struggling to make best use of the various screens. The best producers resent the \"screen is a screen is a screen\" meme because it frees those who are less scrupulous to throw \"\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shovelware\" target=\"_hplink\">shovelware\u003c/a>\" into a scary, fast-changing market. Happily, it seems that the industry is transitioning from \"360 commissioning\" (wanting one's stories and characters to be on all platforms regardless of fit, for fear of leaving eyeballs or money on the table) to \"\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmedia_storytelling\" target=\"_hplink\">transmedia\u003c/a>,\" which emphasizes each screen's unique contribution to a coherent whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide, there is a movement afoot to employ media as a growth and learning tool -- from serious games and deeply educational apps, to kids TV that enlightens \u003cem>and\u003c/em> entertains, to production tools that turn young people into creators. Growing attention to media literacy training encourages young people to read screens as deeply as they read text. The truth seems self-evident; all screens are not created equal.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Screen Time For Kids: Is it Learning or a Brain Drain?",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-9267\" title=\"photo\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/photo1-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to video games and apps, what's a parent to do? On one hand, we're bombarded with messages about the perils of letting kids play with computer games and gadgets. On the other, we're seduced by games and apps marketed to us as \"educational.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a tricky line to navigate. The spectrum of kids' apps ranges from \"baking\" cupcakes to crushing war demons. Most of them have some educational aspect -- at the very least kids learn what ingredients are used in cupcake baking, and the physics of launching \u003ca href=\"http://www.rovio.com/index.php?page=angry-birds\">Angry Birds\u003c/a> at just the right angle to kill the piggies. That's learning, isn't it?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">To clump them all into one category is to miss out on a huge treasure trove of learning opportunities.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Therein lie the vague boundaries. Not all games are educational, and not all are shallow forms of entertainment. Many are marketed as educational tools, but in fact, most have some elements of both. The trick is to figure out what we want kids to learn and to experience. To clump them all into one category is to miss out on a huge treasure trove of learning opportunities. Real learning apps have a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/ten-surprising-truths-about-video-games-and-learning/\">set of criteria \u003c/a>that qualifies them as educational, so rather than writing them all off as a waste of time, parents can figure out what their kids are exposed to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We don’t ever want to separate engagement from the purposes of learning,\" said \u003ca href=\"http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~edelson/\">Daniel Edelson, \u003c/a>Executive Director\u003cem> \u003c/em>and Vice President of Education and Children's Programs at the National Geographic Society at a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/where-does-informal-learning-fit-in/\">cyberlearning conference last week\u003c/a>. \"When you’re engaged with activities that have learning goals, you can connect the dots between engagement and learning. If you use engagement in its broadest possible sense when people are paying attention because of bright lights and activity, then you don’t find that connection.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter the parent. A young child is not necessarily going to figure out if she's learning or having fun. And in the best cases, that line is blurred without the child even knowing it. She's collecting information about bugs and plantlife with apps like \u003ca href=\"http://www.projectnoah.org/\">Project NOAH\u003c/a>. She's creating original stories -- complete with exposition and denouement and background music -- with digital storytelling apps like \u003ca href=\"http://www.launchpadtoys.com/toontastic/\">Toontastic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So should parents feel guilty allowing their kids to play games on mobile gadgets?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\"Most parents don’t understand the need for their participation,\" said Dr. Gwenn O'Keeffe, a pediatrician who says she specializes in children's media use. \"It’s a small population who gets it.\"\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Simply put: \"No,\" \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2010/12/the-future-of-mobile-learning-apps/\">says Dr. Michael Levine \u003c/a>of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, which recently released a study called \u003ca href=\"http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/Reports-27.html\">Learning: Is There an App For That\u003c/a>. \"Kids see their parents using mobile phones all the time. It's only natural for them to want to use them too. And from the data in our study it looks like many parents are letting their children use them responsibly – with restrictions and in moderation. We recommend a balanced media diet that consists of content that is fun, educational, and doesn’t take up too much time in a given day.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, Levine cautioned parents to stay vigilant about screen time. \"We would be quite concerned if young children, especially preschoolers, began to dramatically increase their mobile screen time,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A screen is not just a screen, though. The one-way interaction between TV and the couch potato is far different than an absorbing Scrabble play-off with a friend on a mobile phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Nobody’s saying, 'Give your kid a Gameboy, so he can be quiet and go sit in the corner,\" said Andy Russell, co-creator of Toontastic at a \u003ca href=\"http://www.dmlcentral.net/conference2011/schedule/day/2011-03-04\">digital media and learning conference\u003c/a>. \"We’re giving them tools to actually help them create content. The new devices allow us to do new things that we haven’t ever been able to do. But the world of 'edutainment' has dug us into a hole where most people think games only create a solitary experience.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, many apps invite multiple players, social interaction with peers, and a call to go outdoors, either with specific instructions or with the child's own imagination. When my daughter and her friend were deciding how to spend their Saturday afternoon last week, their indoor play turned into an outdoor movie that they scripted, and that I filmed and edited for them with my iPhone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Most parents don’t understand the need for their participation,\" said Dr. Gwenn O'Keeffe, a pediatrician who says she specializes in children's media use. \"It’s a small population who gets it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russell says game designers should also take responsibility in guiding parents on how to interact with the games and their kids. \"The failure is not the technology, but how we communicate to parents,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEYOND SCREENS\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless of how educational or engaging a screen can be, O'Keeffe says emotional connections are lost without face-to-face contact. \"If they're looking at a screen, they can’t see the emotional response,\" said O'Keeffe, who believes screens should be kept out of the hands of kids under five years old. \"It’s about empathy and they’re having trouble learning that. Do you really need to turn on the DVD in the car? Do kids really need the Gameboy in the grocery store? We all have to use the screen as babysitter sometimes. But to always use a screen that often is a problem.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But gaming advocates argue that \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/ten-surprising-truths-about-video-games-and-learning/\">social connections are built\u003c/a> into most games. That sharing tactics and strategies help cement the learning experience -- and connect players to each other in ways that haven't been done before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As researchers \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/how-technology-wires-the-learning-brain/\">dig deeper into the ramifications of games and apps\u003c/a> on young minds, parents will have to navigate the gray areas between absentminded parenting and the smart use of technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>\u003cem>Read more about \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/how-technology-wires-the-learning-brain/\">how technology wires the learning brain\u003c/a>\u003c/em> \u003cem>and\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/ten-surprising-truths-about-video-games-and-learning/\">\u003cem>suprising truths about video games. \u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-9267\" title=\"photo\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2011/03/photo1-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to video games and apps, what's a parent to do? On one hand, we're bombarded with messages about the perils of letting kids play with computer games and gadgets. On the other, we're seduced by games and apps marketed to us as \"educational.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a tricky line to navigate. The spectrum of kids' apps ranges from \"baking\" cupcakes to crushing war demons. Most of them have some educational aspect -- at the very least kids learn what ingredients are used in cupcake baking, and the physics of launching \u003ca href=\"http://www.rovio.com/index.php?page=angry-birds\">Angry Birds\u003c/a> at just the right angle to kill the piggies. That's learning, isn't it?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">To clump them all into one category is to miss out on a huge treasure trove of learning opportunities.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Therein lie the vague boundaries. Not all games are educational, and not all are shallow forms of entertainment. Many are marketed as educational tools, but in fact, most have some elements of both. The trick is to figure out what we want kids to learn and to experience. To clump them all into one category is to miss out on a huge treasure trove of learning opportunities. Real learning apps have a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/ten-surprising-truths-about-video-games-and-learning/\">set of criteria \u003c/a>that qualifies them as educational, so rather than writing them all off as a waste of time, parents can figure out what their kids are exposed to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We don’t ever want to separate engagement from the purposes of learning,\" said \u003ca href=\"http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~edelson/\">Daniel Edelson, \u003c/a>Executive Director\u003cem> \u003c/em>and Vice President of Education and Children's Programs at the National Geographic Society at a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/03/where-does-informal-learning-fit-in/\">cyberlearning conference last week\u003c/a>. \"When you’re engaged with activities that have learning goals, you can connect the dots between engagement and learning. If you use engagement in its broadest possible sense when people are paying attention because of bright lights and activity, then you don’t find that connection.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter the parent. A young child is not necessarily going to figure out if she's learning or having fun. And in the best cases, that line is blurred without the child even knowing it. She's collecting information about bugs and plantlife with apps like \u003ca href=\"http://www.projectnoah.org/\">Project NOAH\u003c/a>. She's creating original stories -- complete with exposition and denouement and background music -- with digital storytelling apps like \u003ca href=\"http://www.launchpadtoys.com/toontastic/\">Toontastic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So should parents feel guilty allowing their kids to play games on mobile gadgets?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\"Most parents don’t understand the need for their participation,\" said Dr. Gwenn O'Keeffe, a pediatrician who says she specializes in children's media use. \"It’s a small population who gets it.\"\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Simply put: \"No,\" \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2010/12/the-future-of-mobile-learning-apps/\">says Dr. Michael Levine \u003c/a>of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, which recently released a study called \u003ca href=\"http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/Reports-27.html\">Learning: Is There an App For That\u003c/a>. \"Kids see their parents using mobile phones all the time. It's only natural for them to want to use them too. And from the data in our study it looks like many parents are letting their children use them responsibly – with restrictions and in moderation. We recommend a balanced media diet that consists of content that is fun, educational, and doesn’t take up too much time in a given day.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, Levine cautioned parents to stay vigilant about screen time. \"We would be quite concerned if young children, especially preschoolers, began to dramatically increase their mobile screen time,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A screen is not just a screen, though. The one-way interaction between TV and the couch potato is far different than an absorbing Scrabble play-off with a friend on a mobile phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Nobody’s saying, 'Give your kid a Gameboy, so he can be quiet and go sit in the corner,\" said Andy Russell, co-creator of Toontastic at a \u003ca href=\"http://www.dmlcentral.net/conference2011/schedule/day/2011-03-04\">digital media and learning conference\u003c/a>. \"We’re giving them tools to actually help them create content. The new devices allow us to do new things that we haven’t ever been able to do. But the world of 'edutainment' has dug us into a hole where most people think games only create a solitary experience.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, many apps invite multiple players, social interaction with peers, and a call to go outdoors, either with specific instructions or with the child's own imagination. When my daughter and her friend were deciding how to spend their Saturday afternoon last week, their indoor play turned into an outdoor movie that they scripted, and that I filmed and edited for them with my iPhone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Most parents don’t understand the need for their participation,\" said Dr. Gwenn O'Keeffe, a pediatrician who says she specializes in children's media use. \"It’s a small population who gets it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russell says game designers should also take responsibility in guiding parents on how to interact with the games and their kids. \"The failure is not the technology, but how we communicate to parents,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEYOND SCREENS\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless of how educational or engaging a screen can be, O'Keeffe says emotional connections are lost without face-to-face contact. \"If they're looking at a screen, they can’t see the emotional response,\" said O'Keeffe, who believes screens should be kept out of the hands of kids under five years old. \"It’s about empathy and they’re having trouble learning that. Do you really need to turn on the DVD in the car? Do kids really need the Gameboy in the grocery store? We all have to use the screen as babysitter sometimes. But to always use a screen that often is a problem.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But gaming advocates argue that \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/ten-surprising-truths-about-video-games-and-learning/\">social connections are built\u003c/a> into most games. That sharing tactics and strategies help cement the learning experience -- and connect players to each other in ways that haven't been done before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As researchers \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/how-technology-wires-the-learning-brain/\">dig deeper into the ramifications of games and apps\u003c/a> on young minds, parents will have to navigate the gray areas between absentminded parenting and the smart use of technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5>\u003cem>Read more about \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/how-technology-wires-the-learning-brain/\">how technology wires the learning brain\u003c/a>\u003c/em> \u003cem>and\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/ten-surprising-truths-about-video-games-and-learning/\">\u003cem>suprising truths about video games. \u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
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"soldout": {
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"tagline": "A new future for housing",
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"info": "",
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"tech-nation": {
"id": "tech-nation",
"title": "Tech Nation Radio Podcast",
"info": "Tech Nation is a weekly public radio program, hosted by Dr. Moira Gunn. Founded in 1993, it has grown from a simple interview show to a multi-faceted production, featuring conversations with noted technology and science leaders, and a weekly science and technology-related commentary.",
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"ted-radio-hour": {
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"title": "TED Radio Hour",
"info": "The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ways to think and create.",
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