Reach and Teach Kids in Fun, Fresh Ways: Ten Under $10

Dec. 20, 2009 In my last post I went for ‘free media finds that are priceless year-round,’ today I’ll nudge it up a notch to prove you can gift meaning and mindfulness without spending a fortune (not even a Hamilton!) I attended the Peace and Social Justice crafts fair and barely made it past the Reach and Teach table and Free the Children’s Me to We booth finding tidbits to … [Read more...]

Kids’ Online Ethics Part 3: Community Solidarity; Marketing Cheats

At the recent Ypulse Nat'l Mashup, I chatted with teen virtual goods wünderkind Asuka Martin also interviewed here by Benett Carter about Teen Second Life. I'm fascinated by her composure in handling the mining of her intellectual property/content creation, (someone swiping her stuff) as well as the impact on her authentic brand of custom-created virtual textures and 'skins,' … [Read more...]

Kids’ Gaming Ethics and Immersive Virtual Worlds (Part 2)

Are "cheat codes" a symbol of impatient multi-taskers incapable of working through frustration that need to leap frog over the hard part of life? Or a conduit to open new challenges at higher levels of engagement at a self-motivating pace? With fuzzy ethics, blurred boundaries and zig-zags aplenty in immersive gaming environs, I'd say "cheats" is a loaded term in and of … [Read more...]

Are “Game Cheats” a Misnomer? Kids, Ethics & Virtual Worlds

Yesterday I had yet another mondo three-hour lunch with Michael Carter, PhD, mastermind of informal learning and Chief Playwright at cool new upstart virtual world Zookazoo. (feature forthcoming on their eco/animal endangerment efforts in their inspiring tween world soon!) As I was recapping the Ypulse Mashup session on kids’ virtual worlds, we zinged off on a variety … [Read more...]