Category Archives: Educators

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…

A new study, called A-GAMES (Analyzing Games for Assessment in Math, ELA/Social Studies, and Science) has been funded by the Gates Foundation to study how video games support teachers’ classroom formative assessment practice. If you are a K-12 teacher, you can help shape and inform the research by completing a survey.   There is growing support for the use of digital video games as part of K-12 teachers’ classroom routines. As with all educational technologies, the most frequently asked question…

In late September, more than 60 constituents from various sectors including research, policy, government, technology and investment gathered in Washington, D.C. for the “What Tech Works for Students? Using Data to Determine What Technology is Driving Outcomes” symposium hosted by the Department of Education, Battelle Memorial Institute, and Tucker Capital. Groups like the Gates Foundation, The White House, Common Sense Media, as well as the Joan Ganz Cooney Center were part of the lineup — all of these organizations have…

This fall, students across the country walked back through school doors. Each child undoubtedly had his or her own unique summer, possibly filled with camps, vacations, or just time to relax with friends and family. However, it is very likely that one shared element of each child’s summer vacation was ample time to spend with media and technology, whether it was the television, smartphones, tablets, or computers. While one might assume the end of the summer means students spend less…

Far too often, children, and particularly low-income children, show up for school already behind, lacking the cognitive and social-emotional tools in their toolbox that make them ready to learn. In this highly competitive world, where education increasingly means greater security, falling behind so early in life can lead to disastrous consequences.

In the last few years, I’ve worked with a lot of teachers using mobile devices in the classroom. The first week is always exciting – “There are SO many apps to choose from!” Yet, two weeks later, teachers’ attitudes have shifted from optimistic to overwhelmed. “There are SO many apps to choose from—how will I figure out which ones are actually good? And how on Earth am I going to figure out how to use them all effectively?!” The educational…

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is proud to partner with the Education Software Association (ESA) Foundation on a number of initiatives, including our very own National STEM Video Game Challenge. We are especially excited about the ESA Foundation for the Education Challenge Grant, which launched this winter.  The program recognizes and rewards educators who “incorporate creativity and technology in their lessons” and reflect the ways that games can make to a positive contribution to children’s learning. The ESA Foundation’s Education Challenge…

Welcome back! In our first post, we told you about Connected Foundations, a digital literacy program funded by the US Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and managed by the NYC Department of Education and the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. In this post, we’ll describe the “badged and blended” formula we use in courses for NYC high school students. What does “badged and blended” mean? Instructional content in our online platform, BadgeStack, is grouped into…

As part of our ongoing efforts to understand the ways that teachers approach digital games in the classroom, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center is preparing a second national survey that we will be launching this year. We are even more excited about crowd sourcing some of the topics that will be included in this year’s survey. If you are classroom teacher interested in learning what other teachers think about games and learning, please contribute your own topic ideas via this…

One of the most exciting things about receiving a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the opportunites the foundation provides to connect and collaborate with other organizations.  Last week, Michael Levine and I had the chance to attend the Gates Foundation’s annual convening of organizations working on Teacher Effectiveness.  The groups who attended and presented at this meeting, including The Center for Teaching Quality, VIVA Teachers, Educators 4 Excellence, Purpose, Student Achievement Partners, The Hope Street Group…