Little Bits & Roominate- Innovate to Educate with STEM

Update July 23, 2014 Wow. From toys to tools...LittleBits launches CloudBit to make any object 'smart'!  Sept. 4, 2012  “Light it, push it, twist it, bend it, buzz it, blink it, shake it…” the promo card beckoned before I even reached the Little Bits tent at the Maker Faire.Hard to believe it's back to school time already, and this fall, we're kicking off with some STEM … [Read more...]

Vanished Edu-Game: 11 Yr Old Rylan Reports “Back from the Future”

June 20, 2011 Mission? Make learning fun. Investigators? Preteens. GameQuest? STEM studies, deeply rooted in gaming fun. I’ve been saving this post about MIT MediaLab/Education Arcade's Vanished game for today’s opening of the Games For Change festival in NYC, since their keynote speaker Al Gore has been taking questions @G4C on Twitter about best practices to engage … [Read more...]

Starting From Scratch: Making STEM Easy, Kid-Friendly & Fun

Update: July 30, 2014  Scratch Junior (scratchjr.org) was just released for the iPad today, and it's FREE. Thx @360Kid for sharing that news!  Original Post June 13, 2011: I get far too geeky and jargon-ish when it comes to enthusiasm over kids’ science, technology, engineering, and math innovations, (STEM) in hopes of engaging and retaining girls in the field, so I’ll cap the … [Read more...]

CoLABoratory of Creativity: Program for the Future 2010

March 1, 2010 Once upon a time, I spent 25+ years as a creative director at virtual agency:  Copy/Concepts. Collaboration came very naturally to me, as we all divvied up our specialty areas and functioned as one global brain with seamlessness and ease. Now as a nonprofit? Not so much. The nonprofit world is new to me, with all kinds of new fiefdoms to learn, toes to step on … [Read more...]

Beyond Tech Toys: Pico=A Playful Invention Company (Part Four)

Feb. 6, 2009 Today I had the pleasure of speaking with global fellowship recipients in Stanford's Innovation Journalism Program (here's VentureBeat's audio of Director David Nordfors explaining the concept of innovation journalism). I tried to explain Shaping Youth's version of innovation learning and thankfully, had asked Scott Arpajian, co-founder of virtual world Dizzywood … [Read more...]