Blog

Monthly Archives: June 2014

Digital Games and the Future of Math Class: A Conversation With Keith Devlin

by Jordan Shapiro
June 27, 2014

Part 8 of MindShift’s Guide to Games and Learning. Keith Devlin is a well-known mathematician and the author of many popular math books. He is co-founder and Executive Director of Stanford University’s Human-Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute and is well known as the “NPR Math Guy.” He’s also …

Tags: mindshift guide to games and learning

Six Questions for the EdTech Field to Think About When Designing for the 0 to 8 Set

by Shelley Pasnik
June 26, 2014

When studying media for early learning, researchers must keep equity at the forefront, says Shelley Pasnik. Pasnik, director of the Center for Children and Technology, was one of a group of media creators, scholars, and educators who met in Pittsburgh in early June for the 2014 Fred Forward Conference. Experts …

Pediatricians Use Video Tools to Help Children Get Ready to Read

by Sarah Jackson
June 23, 2014

The pediatrician’s office is becoming a new player in helping children learn foundational skills for communication, language development, and eventually reading. But a project in New York is taking this concept a step further, by bringing digital technology—specifically, video cameras and video players—into the doctor’s office. The Video Interaction Project …

Tags: intervention, literacy, pediatricians, toddlers

Introducing Seeding Reading: Investing in Children’s Literacy in a Digital Age

by Lisa Guernsey
June 23, 2014

Today’s children are surrounded by digital media of all kinds. How will they ever learn to read? That question is at the heart of Seeding Reading: Investing in Children’s Literacy in a Digital Age, a new series of articles and analysis brought to you by New America’s Education Policy Program …

Tags: literacy, media, reading

Anna Ly, Makeda May-Greens, and Erica Branch-Ridley hang out with Levar Burton at Fred Forward.

Communicating, Collaborating and Creating Change at Fred Forward

by Anna Ly
June 23, 2014

This spring, I was given an extremely exciting opportunity when the Fred Rogers Center named me an Early Career Fellow. The mission of the Fred Rogers Center is to advance the fields of early learning and children’s media by acting as a catalyst for communication, collaboration, and creative change. This …

Tags: digital media, fred rogers center, young children

Benefits of Gaming: What Research Shows

by Jordan Shapiro
June 20, 2014

Part 7 of MindShift’s Guide to Games and Learning. Games and learning advocates often come up against the video game stigma. Despite the fact that we’ve now seen decades of game play, and that a generation of gamers has grown up without a civilization collapsing, the bad reputation persists — …

Tags: learning, mindshift guide to games and learning, research, video games

Making Games: The Ultimate Project-Based Learning

by Jordan Shapiro
June 13, 2014

Part 6 of MindShift’s Guide to Games and Learning. As game-based learning increases in popularity, it’s easy to get pigeon-holed into one particular way of thinking about it or one way of employing it. This is true regardless of how teachers feel about gaming in the classroom, whether they’re for …

Tags: mindshift guide to games and learning

Introductory Remarks for Anytime, Anywhere Summer Learning

June 10, 2014

Remarks delivered by Michael Levine at the Anytime, Anywhere Summer Learning Forum co-hosted by New America and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop in partnership with the National Summer Learning Association and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading on June 10, 2014. Thanks Lisa, and thanks very much to …

Tags: after school, community, extended learning, libraries, summer slump

devices used to play games in the classroom

Digital Games in the Classroom: A National Survey

by Lori Takeuchi, PhD
June 9, 2014

It seems that hardly a week goes by without a news story touting that digital games like Minecraft are gaining a stronger foothold in American classrooms. Publishers and game developers are eager to make headway in the educational technology marketplace, and school districts throughout the country are rolling out one-to-one …

Can Games Make High-Stakes Tests Obsolete?

by Jordan Shapiro
June 6, 2014

Part 5 of MindShift’s Guide to Games and Learning. Nobody likes high-stakes testing. The problems are well documented. But maybe games can help to change the way we approach assessment. At least since John Dewey, educational theorists and scholars have been clear about the inherent shortcomings of thinking about education …

Tags: assessment, education, games, mindshift guide to games and learning