Category Archives: Educators

It’s August. August? How did that happen? We are facing a new school year, which as a parent of a 6- and 8-year-old I am simultaneously saddened about (where has the time gone?) and relieved by (these kids need to get back to school!). As the end of summer approaches, it’s time to start thinking about preparing for school. Are the kids ready? Not just in terms of getting their stuff ready (school supplies, anyone?), but also emotionally and academically.…

Last month, researchers AnneMarie McClain and Lacey Hilliard presented some exciting findings from a a study they conducted around classroom media and socio-emotional learning among elementary school students at the International Communication Association Conference in Prague. We invited them to share details of the project as well as the findings that emerged from their investigation.    At the May 2018 International Communication Association Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, we presented some findings from our longitudinal study, the Arthur Interactive Media (AIM)…

This partial transcript of the App Fairy podcast has been edited for length and clarity. Visit appfairy.org for more information about Originator. Carissa Christner: Hello and welcome to the App Fairy podcast. My name is Carissa Christner and today I’m very excited to bring to you an interview with Rex Ishibashi of the Originator apps. Originator is most well known for the Endless apps, like Endless Alphabet and Endless Reader. They are great apps for teaching reading, vocabulary, and math skills. When…

If you were born after 1990, are the parent or grandparent of someone born after 1990, or a children’s media producer of any age, Ready To Learn (RTL) has probably touched your life. Launched in 1994, RTL is a U.S. Department of Education-funded initiative that provides about $25 million annually for the creation of educational media (TV, computer games, apps, and more) designed to promote school readiness. RTL funding has gone to the production of legacy media properties that existed…

Imagine a room full of families gathered together around laptops. They’re making animations and games using computer programming. Many of the children or their parents are pointing at or touching the screens as they discuss storylines and game mechanics. As is often the case with technology, the children appear to be taking the lead, guiding their parents. The young experts sometimes maneuver their parent’s hand on the mouse, showing them where to click or what to drag-and-drop on the screen.…

Necessity is the mother of invention. When Mind Meets Music was awarded an Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) grant through the United States Department of Education in 2014, one of the grant requirements was to utilize technology as a vehicle to support learning. This mandate sparked an idea, sending the organization down the previously unexplored path of app development. Though this venture into the technological realm was uncharted waters for our team, we’re no strangers to innovation. Mind…

The following excerpt from “More Than a Foundation: Young Children Are Capable STEM Learners” by Elisabeth McClure was originally published in the November 2017 issue of Young Children. It appears here courtesy of NAEYC.     Two second-graders sit on their knees with quiet intensity, stacking unit blocks on a wide tower, higher and higher. A casual observer might think they’re simply enjoying the scale of their project and looking forward to knocking it down. Their teacher might see more,…

This week, libraries, schools, and organizations across the country are highlighting the importance of media literacy. Regardless of the type of media, children and adults need to be savvy consumers. According to NAMLE, media literacy is defined as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.” Headlines about fake news and misinformation have driven home the vital need for critical thinking skills among all ages. While much of the media literacy attention focuses on…

This post originally appeared on Common Sense Education and appears here with permission.   Watch a group of preschoolers working in a garden. It’s cute, right? But it turns out they’re learning more than you’d think. According to our new NSF-funded report, STEM Starts Early, co-published by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and New America, there’s growing evidence that very young children from all backgrounds — even children from birth to age 8 — learn important science, technology, engineering, and math…

In 2013, 25 per cent of public school children in the U.S. were Hispanic-Latino, and this number is expected to grow to 29 per cent by 2025. Within this vibrant and diverse population, many students, particularly those from immigrant families, face challenges in school. Many are tasked with mastering a new language, and their parents often struggle to understand an education system that is completely new to them. But Hispanic-Latino families can bring enormous strengths to school communities. How can educators…