Submissions for the 2016 National STEM Video Game Challenge closed Monday, August 15 and we’re extremely impressed by the nearly 5,000 students across the United States who registered. As we head into the screening and judging process, we’re excited to share what’s next for the STEM Challenge—and to reflect on what we’ve accomplished in just […]
Monthly Archives: August 2016
Teaming Up to Support Young Women in STEM
August 17, 2016
Last month, the National STEM Video Game Challenge co-hosted a game design workshop with Black Girls CODE, a non-profit that leads coding and technology workshops for young women of color across the country. More than 50 girls attended the workshop to learn the basics of game design, teaming up to create both physical and digital games over the […]
Using Games as Primary Sources and Primary Sources as Games
August 17, 2016
Imagine you were playing a game of Trivial Pursuit and this was your question: What institution has the largest collection of primary sources in the world, a board game on human morality, and now a video game expert? Answer: The Library of Congress Trivial Pursuit was just one of the games featured in our August 1, 2016 National STEM Video Game […]
Language Development and Family Engagement in the Digital Age
August 15, 2016
On August 2-3, 2016, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and New America co-hosted a network building and leadership development institute for community leaders, policymakers, and researchers in the fields of family engagement and early literacy. Read on for highlights from the event. Day One Lisa Guernsey of New America, Michael Levine of the Joan Ganz […]
Lessons Learned by a STEM Challenge Winner
August 12, 2016
Coding as Self-Expression
August 11, 2016
“Ugh! I hate coding!” cried out one of my seventh-grade students. “I don’t see why I have to move Elsa three spaces to meet Anna. It’s soooo boring!” “But with Twine you are coding,” I explained. “I guess,” she responded, unenthusiastically. The above conversation was an actual exchange I had with a student in my […]
Unlocking Your Child’s Potential Through Games
August 9, 2016
I have been working with the brilliant minds in the video game and design industry since my introduction to the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at Carnegie Mellon University in 2006. While I am a scientist and tech savvy, I had no idea what the world of augmented reality, gaming, and videos could mean in the […]
A Scientific Approach to Raising Successful Children
August 8, 2016
In their new book, Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek ask what it would “take to help all children be happy, healthy, thinking, caring, and sociable children who enjoy learning and who move toward becoming collaborative, creative, competent, and responsible citizens of tomorrow?” The answer […]