Games That Make You Smarter

AnnMaria De Mars

box with 1/4 full of frogs — I know that our games help students indirectly in that teachers use the game as an incentive for students to study: “All right, boys and girls, how many of you are on level 4 of Spirit Lake? Well, when you get to level 4, you’re going to need to divide. […]

Why (and how) our games improve math scores

February 14, 2017 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Educational Resources by AnnMaria De Mars

buffalo on field background — The title of this post actually came from a conversation I overheard years ago. A young professional athlete was answering a question an even younger woman asked her about balancing her personal and professional life, I cannot give you the answers that I do not have. I was thinking about […]

I cannot give you the answers I do not have

February 8, 2017 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

hunter sprite — Well, it’s been a minute, hasn’t it? Since my last post, we’ve done the first of a few planned updates for Spirit Lake, and finished the prototype of a new game that we hope will come out next year, pending funding. Also, I was working from Belize for a week […]

Making games with impact: Part 8 defining character movement

February 4, 2017 in AnnMaria / Code Talk by AnnMaria De Mars

AnnMaria flexing — We are very excited. Do we look very excited? Well, we are. I’ll tell you why. It’s been YEARS that I have been wanting to update Spirit Lake, our very first game. We did an update on Fish Lake this year, which is now released on Steam and available for […]

Woo-hoo! Spirit Lake Update and Update Again!

February 2, 2017 in AnnMaria / Educational Games / Game Progress by AnnMaria De Mars

page from adult coloring book — In the book, “The smartest kids in the world”, there is a part where a high school student from Finland on an exchange program in the U.S. says, Not another poster! The student was frustrated that so much of high school consisted of coloring. Now, I’m not categorically opposed to […]

Because I hate coloring : Free games for teachers

February 1, 2017 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Educational Resources by AnnMaria De Mars

Clickable buttons to answer question from depression scale — If you are relatively new to programming for mobile you might have been silly enough to believe those books and websites that tell you their favorite app or library “seamlessly runs on all platforms”. They are almost certainly lying. Here is one example – jQuery mobile is pretty useful, and […]

jQuery Mobile and how to go to another page in ...

January 31, 2017 in AnnMaria / Code Talk by AnnMaria De Mars

Plants in Belize — Three main lessons I learned from going to Belize: 1. If you want to go some place, just GO! Quit waiting for a day when you will come into the office and say, “My work here is done.” Just go. 2. You can get what you need done almost anywhere, […]

What I Learned in Belize: Part 1

January 30, 2017 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM by AnnMaria De Mars

working on a plane — There is a reason I am sitting here with 3 devices. In a word – Internet. In two words – slow Internet. Maria asked how it is that I am getting so much more done this trip and swearing so much less than when we went to Rio a year […]

Being Productive in Belize

January 24, 2017 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Zombies from terms video — You know there are four basic mathematical operations, right? Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Your children probably know that as well. Do they know the meaning of sum, divisor, quotient, the difference between a product and a dividend? You might be surprised by the answer to that. Many teachers have told […]

The world’s largest Venus fly-trap: Problem-solving resources for 4 basic ...

January 19, 2017 in 7GenGames / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Resources by AnnMaria De Mars

buffalo — Let’s cut to the chase : No product is perfect. Sometimes people are ignorant or jerks or ignorant jerks. Our games are awesome. You should buy them. We are still always working on making them better (yes, you get free updates for life). To give you an example of how […]

You Should Buy Our Imperfect Games & Quit Telling Us ...

January 19, 2017 in AnnMaria / Educational Games / Game Progress by AnnMaria De Mars

Jessie — Brief background We are working on a game with the Circle of Life substance abuse program on the Fort Berthold Reservation that will be used to help people change problem situations in their lives. The general theory behind it is Motivational Interviewing. Since the application will be used by people […]

Analyzing your emotions with your iPhone (& jQuery)

January 14, 2017 in AnnMaria / Code Talk / Game Progress / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Kid on computer — Every Wednesday, we’ll be providing you three resources to teach a concept that teachers and parents have found requires a little more practice. Today’s resources are on introducing fractions. One of the times I knew I married the right man is when our then very young daughter asked my husband, “Daddy, what […]

Free, fun and starting fractions: Three resources to help you ...

January 11, 2017 in 7GenGames by AnnMaria De Mars