Category Archives: In the News

What do sippy cups have to do with STEM learning? Definitely more than you might think, says Elisabeth McClure, recent Cooney Center fellow and lead author of STEM Starts Early, a 2017 report produced by New America and the Cooney Center. Every day, early learners lay groundwork for more advanced science, technology, engineering, and math skills by engaging in impromptu experiments through trial-and-error interactions with the objects around them. Enter the sippy cup: a notoriously gravity-prone accessory that’s front and center in the daily life (and…

This post was originally published on The Hechinger Report and appears here with permission. Over the past several years, at the same time that the words “screen time” became shorthand for children zoning out, several researchers and educational experts have been taking an entirely different track. They have been studying how and at what age children come to learn words, follow stories, and grasp educational concepts that appear in ebooks, videos, and apps. New experiments on The Adventures of SuperWhy!, Peg+Catand…

Today’s announcement by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the joint statement of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on “media use and young minds” is a timely response to a hot debate in parenting and early childhood circles: When and how often should young children use screens? For years, the health and child development establishment has advised against exposing toddlers, and babies in particular, to screen media.  But daily life has…

At the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, we are constantly documenting the rapid changes in the digital media landscape, and we are now getting ready to embrace changes in our own neighborhood. This summer, Mel Ming, one of the Founders of the Cooney Center (along with former CEO Gary Knell) announced that he would retire after 15 years at the Workshop, first as COO, and since 2011, as the President and CEO. Mel serves as the Chairman of the Board of…

Like most teenagers, Nicolas Badila, 15, spent Memorial Day playing video games. But, unlike his friends, he was playing games at the White House. Nic, one of the winners of the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge, had been invited to showcase his winning game at the White House Science Fair on May 27. The White House Science Fair began three years ago as part of Obama’s Educate to Innovate campaign. Why, Obama asked the audience, do presidents traditionally meet…

From a water filtration system powered by a stationary bike to a writing system that aids those afflicted by neurological hand tremors, the White House was brimming with the creations of young innovators at the third annual White House Science Fair. One hundred students from 40 different states attended the event, proudly accompanied by their teachers, parents, and mentors. It’s hard to overestimate the excitement of being invited to the White House by President Obama. I’m not sure who was…

 This post was originally submitted to Edutopia and is reprinted with their permission. Mixed reactions to children’s e-books and the digitization of story time The news media and blogosphere were abuzz last month with the news that Apple is “reinventing the textbook” through the introduction of digital textbooks available for the iPad. With the announcement has come a myriad of opinions and speculations regarding the possible repercussions of Apple’s textbook reinvention for schools and for children’s learning.Many celebrate the availability of…

This post originally appeared in TASC’s “The ExpandED Exchange” blog. Read more to find out what our New York Action Team members have been up to! Wouldn’t you love to be a kid in one of these two new pilot after-school programs at Quest to Learn, a tech-powered public middle school in New York City? The program in green design grew out of seventh graders’ desire to invent more sustainable ways to live on this planet. The school’s multi-media news…

I actually knew Steve Jobs. I am not telling you this to try to impress you, but to impress upon you that he was a human being with strengths and weaknesses just like you and me. He contacted me at Sesame Workshop when Pixar was just beginning. The original Toy Story was just in storyboard phase. He wanted to do a 3-D movie with the Sesame Street Muppets next. My team and I went out and met with the Pixar…

Yes, this is another piece about the SpongeBob study. I wanted to provide my thoughts on it both from a scientific research perspective, but also as someone who has to help make production decisions even when there is not enough time and resources to do a thorough scientific study. Often we have to hypothesize about why particular content supports or detracts from children’s learning.   For the 2% of you (completely unscientific poll) who might be reading this but who…