Category Archives: Learning Together

In this second installment of the Podcasts for Families series, I was thrilled to be able to interview the enthusiastic Mindy Thomas, co-host of Wow in the World, a show featuring cool science and technology. If you haven’t listened to their show yet, this interview will give you a pretty good sense of what to expect! Although there’s not a totally contiguous storyline in this show, the big personalities of hosts Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz—along with regular characters like Reggie…

I’m so excited to end this first season of the App Fairy podcast with an interview featuring children’s app giant, Toca Boca. I have loved their creations since my very first exploration into the world of children’s apps. With quirky illustrations, open-ended play, sense of humor, and deeply thoughtful respect for children’s play, Toca Boca is probably one of the most well-known app makers for kids. For this episode, I had the opportunity to speak with both Caroline Ingeborn, the current president…

If you follow the news or have a child in school, it’s easy to believe that science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts are more prominent than ever before. And certainly, the importance of STEM learning and STEM experiences are enjoying a renaissance of media coverage. The reality is, however, that our children have always been capable of STEM learning, yet we are just now learning more about how and when to encourage this type of thinking in a way…

This partial transcript of the App Fairy podcast has been edited for length and clarity. Visit appfairy.org for more information about Nosy Crow. Carissa Christner: Hello and welcome to the App Fairy podcast. My name is Carissa Christner, and I’m a children’s librarian from Madison, Wisconsin. Each time that we have an App Fairy podcast, I interview a different app maker in a sort of meet-the-author format. Today I’m very excited to introduce you to Kate Wilson, Managing Director of Nosy Crow.…

Sonia Livingstone was recently asked to write the foreword for Children and Families in the Digital Age: Learning Together in a Media Saturated Culture edited by Elisabeth Gee, Lori M. Takeuchi, and Ellen Wartella. Here’s what she had to say. Where shall we start, and where shall we focus our gaze, when making sense of the influx of digital devices that fill our homes and workplace, absorbing the attention of both children and parents, promising so much yet often proving frustrating,…

Are you looking for some good podcasts for children? We’re thrilled to introduce Podcasts for Families, a new series by Carissa Christner, a youth services librarian in Madison, Wisconsin. You’ll meet the producers of some of the liveliest podcasts for kids and learn more about the craft of creating engaging audio stories that families can enjoy together. I have two children, ages 3 and 7, and over the past year or so we have developed a pretty serious podcast habit. Every…

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 partial transcript of the App Fairy podcast has been edited for length and clarity. Please  visit appfairy.org for more information about Sago Mini. Carissa Christner: Hello and welcome to the App Fairy podcast. My name is Carissa Christner. I’m very excited to have an interview today with Sago Mini, one of my favorite app developers. They’re a company with exceptional apps for very young users—even kids as young as two and three years old. If a family is looking for recommendations of…

How did I become a researcher on children, families, and digital media? In September 2013, I started as a Cooney Center Research Fellow, trying to find my way in the world. I was just completing my Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park and had done a dissertation on the development of science ownership in children as they engaged in social media use for science learning. One of the insights from my doctoral work was that the families in my…

We’re thrilled to announce the publication of Children and Families in the Digital Age: Learning Together in a Media Saturated Culture, edited by Elisabeth Gee,‎ Lori Takeuchi,‎ and Ellen Wartella. The book is based on research conducted by the Families and Media Project (FAM), a multi-disciplinary consortium comprised of researchers from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, Arizona State University, California State University-San Marcos, Northwestern University, Rutgers University, Stanford University, Sesame Workshop, and the University of Washington. Members…