When twelve-year-old Amy O’Toole spoke at TED last fall, she took the stage as one of the youngest people ever to have published a peer-reviewed science article. Amy’s inspiring article, which she wrote with her classmates as part of a playful participatory science program, is perhaps the only peer-reviewed science article to begin “Once Upon a Time”; it is both good science and a good story. As Amy’s article and TED talk show, play helps students learn science, and storytelling can help them share it.

With powerful new tools at our fingertips, we can connect our classrooms with the real world in ways that empower every student to be like Amy. Whether students are writing peer-reviewed science reports, chatting with NASA astronauts, publishing six-word memoirs on Twitter, or collaborating virtually to direct their own version of a Shakespeare play, connected classrooms enable students to learn and share with the whole world.

This fall, inspired by Amy’s talk, I worked with two elementary school educators to connect their classrooms using Toontastic, an iPad app for creating and sharing animated cartoons. Using Toontastic’s School Edition, students created science cartoons and conducted real-world peer review. We wanted to see how connecting classrooms through sharing science cartoons would reinforce students’ learning goals and increase their engagement. This is the story of what we learned from OUR experiment, along with resources for setting up your own collaboration in science, math, creative writing, or any other subject.

STEP 1: Create a Connection

Project Pen Pal was a collaboration between two amazing teachers, Leah Lacrosse and Mike Harms, and their students over two thousand miles apart. Leah teaches fifth-grade science at Woodlands Intermediate School in Huron, Ohio. Her students tackled a NASA engineering challenge: prototype robotic arms with using cardboard, rubber bands, string, and tape. Mike teaches fifth-grade science at Burkes School in San Francisco, California. His students photographed objects such as combs, zippers, and pencil cases under the microscope, and constructed collages from images at different levels of magnification. While Leah and Mike used different tools, they shared the same learning goal — to teach their students about the scientific process — which made them great candidates for collaboration.

STEP 2: Student Introductions

Working in small groups, students in each classroom exchanged cartoons asynchronously over two months. First, they introduced themselves to their peers. After exchanging get-to-know-you cartoons, the students then set out to create a second round of cartoons about their science projects. Toontastic’s Story Arc helps student break their cartoons into scenes, and we encouraged students to treat these scenes as different sections of a scientific report. Mike’s students sent reports about their magnified objects to Leah’s students, while Leah’s students sent detailed instructions for building robotic hands and shared some instructive misfires that occurred along the way. Here are two of our favorite cartoons:

STEP 3: Conduct Peer Review

After each group watched their pen pals’ cartoons, we asked them to critique each other’s work. Since the robot and microscope activities were different, we scaffolded students’ feedback by asking them to consider science ideas like hypothesis, process, and results. It worked out beautifully. Mike’s students asked their pen pals about the process of building robotic hands and suggested ways for them to clarify their cartoons. Leah’s students asked their pen pals to think more deeply about their magnified objects. Why, for instance, did a butterfly wing look like a piece of snakeskin?

We had planned for groups to revise their cartoons based on this  feedback, but two new and exciting developments caused us to change course. First, Leah’s students loved the idea of creating microscope collages so much that they decided to undertake their own microscope project – with moon rocks! Second, Mike’s students made great progress on their collages and had much more to share. We challenged students to create entirely new cartoons.

STEP 4: Final Presentations

In the final part of the collaboration, Leah’s students produced cartoons about their moon rock investigations, while Mike’s students showed off their personal collages (and some of their friends’).

As students finished, they gathered for a real-time Google Hangout. Meeting synchronously for the first time, students traded ideas and app suggestions, reflected on what it felt like to learn two subjects at once, and wished each other a well-deserved school vacation.

At the end of the two-month project, students participated in a Google Hangout with their pen pals.

Results

With Project Pen Pal we wanted to see how connecting two science classrooms through sharing science cartoons would reinforce students’ learning goals and increase students’ engagement with their curriculum. Armed with Toontastic’s Story Arc – a guide to putting together different kinds of scenes into a cartoon – students had a ready-made structure for organizing their questions, hypotheses, observations, and results, and even their peer critiques. “I cannot think of a better tool to get kids to write about science,” Leah said. “It takes a little bit longer, but the time that you spend pays off later.” Mike added that throughout the project, “I saw my students grow as communicators, leaders, and shared decision makers.” In addition to growing in this way, Leah’s students were so intrigued by their partners’ work that they asked their teacher to add a microscope unit to their curriculum.

There were the inevitable challenges of coordinating busy schedules and getting up to speed on unfamiliar curriculum. Yet because Leah and Mike shared the goal of teaching their students about the scientific method, the differences in their curricula became an asset. Their students had the opportunity to learn about two subjects at once, and to ponder what connected them, like the ideas of structure and function.

Most exciting, we realized this collaboration could work for any subject, not only science.  With Toontastic, students could create book reports, display art projects, or record fieldwork. Creative students will find new uses we haven’t even imagined yet.

Conclusion: “Play with a Focus”

Students not only learned about the scientific process, but also saw how sharing playful science cartoons can create new learning relationships (and be lots of fun!).

“We’re always trying to justify how I use the iPads, because to outsiders, it looks like you’re just playing,” Leah said. “And this is play with a focus. It’s a phenomenal tool.”

Amy O’Toole had better watch out – and so should your students, because…

Resources to Connect YOUR Classroom

Are you ready to try collaboration in YOUR classroom? Explore these resources:

• Download a step-by-step Classroom Guide
• Find collaborators
• Download a Connected Educator starter kit
• Browse Edutopia’s Connected Educator tips
• Browse these Connected Educator Month resources
• Learn about digital storytelling
• Download Toontastic: School Edition for your classroom

Have fun!

Joel Knopf is a Bay Area-based writer and graduate of Harvard Law School and Yale University. His interest in how new digital tools help people share stories, make music, and learn inspired his work with Launchpad Toys on Project Pen Pal. Find out more by contacting him on Twitter or visiting his website www.meltsinyourmind.com.

If you’re in Austin for SXSWEdu, join the Cooney Center at one of the panels that we are presenting. On Monday, March 3, Education Fellow Jessica Millstone will be part of “Listen Up! Speak Up! Game Up! A Game Data Discussion” at 1:30 pm. This panel brings together education, game development and research experts come for a discussion of the ways games ignite the hunger for learning. You’ll hear the perspectives of parents, teachers, and students as well as ideas for leveraging their diverse knowledge and views. Delve into the disconnect between research and practice, with national data from the Gates Foundation, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, and Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up Survey results.

On Tuesday, March 4, Michael Levine will present a playground talk, “#GBL: New Evidence and New Demand or Mostly Hype?” at 9:00am. The talk will analyze research and industry initiatives intended to drive engaging instruction and authentic assessment through games-based learning. It will feature findings from a national survey of teachers who use games, video vignettes of model programs, and policy recommendations for new investments to reach national education reform goals.

Then join us later at 1:30 pm for “Lost in Translation: Applying the Latest Research” on game-based learning. Drawing on the unique perspectives from investment, game creation and education experts, this panel will extract in real time the important takeaways from a new piece of research. We will kick off with a video interview of the report’s author, discuss the specific study, provide tips for translating future research and open discussion to the audience.

Follow @games_learn and @cooneycenter on Twitter for updates during the conference!

This year, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center will be a part of not just one, but two sessions at the Digital Media and Learning Conference, an annual event supported by the MacArthur Foundation and organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. The conference, which takes place March 6-8th, 2014 in Boston, brings together scholars and practitioners who aim to foster interdisciplinary and participatory dialog while linking theory, empirical study, policy, and practice. This year is focused on the theme “Connecting Practices.” Appropriately, the two sessions that we will be participating in are:

Creating Youth Builders – Promoting a New Game Design Ecosystem to Engage Hard-to-Reach Youth in Learning
March 7, 4-5pm

In recent years, game-based learning has emerged as a promising area of innovation in making STEM content, critical skills, and systems thinking more engaging for America’s youth (e.g., Klopfer et al, 2009). Furthermore, the research suggests that creating video games can be a highly engaging way for youth to learn STEM skills (e.g., Roberston & Howells, 2008). Despite these findings, the process of engaging non-dominant youth is difficult. Organized by Industry Fellow Anna Ly, this session will assemble some of the promising and scalable practices that have already engaged thousands of youth globally and in the U.S. in game design. Participants include:

• Kimberly Bryant, the Founder of Black Girls CODE, a nonprofit organization that strives to provide young and pre-teen girls of color opportunities to learn skills in technology and programming
• Jennifer Groff, a graduate researcher at the MIT Media Lab and the VP of Learning for the Learning Games Network, a non-profit which focuses on the leading edge of educational game design
• Ricarose Roque, a PhD student with the Scratch Team at the MIT Media Lab. Her research explores how to design technology-based learning environments that support intergenerational, creative learning, particularly for underrepresented youth in computing
• Leshell Hatley, the Founder and Executive Director of Uplift, Inc., which guides K-12 students, especially students of color, through innovative educational experiences in STEAM+CS, teaching them to solve everyday problems
• Brianna Igbinosun, a high school student who won the Best Scratch High School Game in the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge

Anna will engage the panelists with the audience members in a conversation about how we can refine and learn from existing models to work towards creating game design software and environments that engage and propel underserved youth on new pathways for learning.

Developing STEM Literacy Through Gameplay and Game Design
Mar 8, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

In this session, participants will learn how game literacy and STEM literacy are supporting one another in museums, universities, and after school programs, and through commercial products. Presenters will discuss the broader issue of teaching STEM content and practices through game-based learning. They will also showcase examples of games made by youth and for youth to help attendees understand the value of engaging youth in game design itself, and how game design can scaffold scientific reasoning and design skills. Panelists include Anna Ly, who will be demoing Elemental, a video game for children ages 7-11 that improves “number sense,” or a person’s innate ability for number estimation. Joining her are:

• Barry Joseph, Associate Director for Digital Learning, American Museum of Natural History
• Kevin Miklasz, Director of Digital Learning, Iridescent
• Gary Goldberger, President, FableVision
• Scot Osterweil, Creative Director, Learning Games Network & MIT Education Arcade
• Rik Panganiban, Senior Manager of Digital Learning, California Academy of Sciences
• Edge Quintanilla, Digital Learning Specialist, The Field Museum

To find out more, head over to the DML site here: http://dml2014.dmlhub.net/schedule/. Register today to attend these sessions along with many other fantastic panels!

Michael Levine recently appeared on WQED’s IQSmartParent with host Angela Santomero to discuss kids, apps, and the digital divide.

As a parent of a 4-year-old, I know that mobile apps are a) incredibly popular with preschoolers and b) that getting my daughter to brush her teeth twice a day is HARD.  In my professional role as VP of Digital at The Ad Council, I recently had the opportunity to work on developing Toothsavers, a mobile app for our Children’s Oral Health campaign.

Screenshot from Toothsavers by the AdCouncil

The challenge for this campaign was to motivate parents to take action to reduce their children’s risk of oral disease by making sure their kids are brushing their teeth for two minutes, two times a day. We did this through television and radio PSAs, out of home advertising, banners, social media and a website with a series of entertaining videos for kids (and parents) to watch while they brush. When my team was asked to come up with digital ideas on how to extend the campaign even further, I thought, “There should be an app for that.” And while there are a few tooth brushing apps out there for parents, I thought there was room for one that was free, educational and fun. Most importantly, one that was informed by a message we already knew was effective from our research and initial campaign results.

This was the first app my team managed the production of from concept through to launch – and as a result, we learned a lot along the way. For anyone in this space considering an app as a way to raise awareness or create new habits, I wanted to share my own key learnings.

Finding the right developer is crucial

The first step once our sponsor approved the app was to find a top notch educational app developer who could work with our lower non-profit budget. Luckily, my background in youth marketing means I still have extensive contacts in this space. I was able to reach out and ask folks who they would recommend. I also went to events like the Sandbox Summit at M.I.T. and the Digital Kids conference at last year’s Toy Fair and did a lot of research online. Review sites like the Children’s Technology Review and Common Sense Media are a great place to look for developers. We were lucky enough to receive five substantive proposals from studios who were all immersed in building apps for young children. In the end, we chose Toboggan Studio in Montreal. They proposed building two games and one brushing companion in one app for both iOS and Android as well as a desktop version. Toboggan delivered on all fronts.

Give yourself plenty of time

Screenshot from Toothsavers

You can’t use the same timeframe you would to launch a website when you are creating a mobile app from scratch, especially one that includes a game. We’re used to shorter development cycles for digital projects at the Ad Council and had planned on launching our app sooner than we did. We learned that you have to build in time for extensive testing (with kids and anyone you can get to play, a lot) and constant iterating to get the game balance right. Our app originally required kids to brush morning and night consecutively for several days in order to unlock new characters. We had magic apples parents could use in case a day was skipped. In the end, it became too complicated, and we just allowed unlocking based on the number of sessions. We had to make changes to the art to make sure it would appeal to our target audience and ensure that touch screen sensitivity was optimized for both iOS and Android devices.

Promotion: The Hidden Cost

Just because you build a great educational app, doesn’t mean they will come. App promotion requires traditional PR, blogger outreach, paid or in our case donated media on mobile ad networks, Facebook and through Google Grants – and even then there is no guarantee you will break through. We had some nice initial PR hits including a wire story but are still waiting on reviews from some of the most influential reviewers in the children’s media space. There is also a growing body of knowledge specifically around app marketing that ties into measuring engagement beyond just downloads, having push alerts (we have brush reminders) and the ability to share through social media. Reviews and ratings also matter, as does app store search optimization and having a video trailer — basically a whole new world of tactics we were not familiar with until now.

We just launched Toothsavers a few weeks ago: the downloads have been steady, and we’re happy with the average time users are spending on the game and the brushing companion. We are already learning from our analytics what’s working and what’s not. Given the cost, time and promotional efforts launching an app requires, app development is not for every non-profit or social marketing campaign. That said, if we are successful, and the high engagement levels continue, we hope to help create new brushing habits for thousands of children and their parents as well as contribute to preventing oral disease later in life.

Anastasia Goodstein serves as Vice President of the Ad Council’s Digital group, where she manages online strategy for all of the Ad Council’s campaigns and the Ad Council brand. The Ad Council first created the category of public service advertising in 1942. We produce, distribute and promote public service campaigns on behalf of non-profit organizations and government agencies.

She is also the co-editor of the Ad Council blog AdLibbing.org, one of the leading resources for social marketers.

For more free and fun resources to encourage oral health for young children, check out Sesame Workshop’s Healthy Teeth, Healthy Me campaign.

gamesandlearning.org

Ever since the Joan Ganz Cooney Center opened its doors in 2007, we’ve met a lot of great developers who are producing games for kids. And one piece of advice that they are all looking for is how to get their products funded and distributed as widely as possible– whether the K-12 institutional system, or the App Store.

We’ve been listening, and we want to help. Two years ago, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we convened the Games and Learning Publishing Council (GLPC), a group of top leaders and key investors in game-based learning. We’ve been digging into key questions: What kind of apps are available in the Education category? What are some lessons learned from the “edutainment” era? How do teachers use games in the classroom?

And we have been working hard to produce a great resource for you. Check out gamesandlearning.org, the new website that aims to provide unbiased coverage of key developments in the educational gaming industry, interviewing top thinkers and producers, and translating the latest learning and market research. The site focuses on market analysis, game development, learning research, classroom opportunities, and funding opportunities for those looking to make the most of this emerging market. You’ll also find a wealth of in-depth information on  the tech and innovation investment marketplace and key education and child development issues like the Common Core State Standards, appropriate marketing practices and COPPA, and what they mean for game developers.

To celebrate our official launch, we are rolling out a series of interviews with leading developers, funders, and scholars this week, including Dan White of Filament Games, Sara DeWitt of PBSKids, and James Paul Gee. Check back often, and follow us on Twitter.