Games That Make You Smarter

AnnMaria De Mars

Me thinking blah blah blah — Often people say they really support the work that we do, and although I like to be complimented as much as the next person, I am secretly thinking this: It’s sort of like hashtag activism. While tweeting, “Help our schools #education” probably makes a few teachers feel better, it is […]

The Best Ways to Encourage a Start-up Entrepreneur

April 25, 2016 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Okay, it’s over, you missed hearing me live … I feel your disappointment, so I have linked to the full interview on youtube here. A week ago, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Sara Mohsin about our work at 7 Generation Games. The interview will be on the […]

I’m radio famous!

April 22, 2016 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria by AnnMaria De Mars

teachers — Forgotten Trail will be available next week, Aztech in another month, and we’re already working on updates and expansion. It’s true as a wise man once told me, Great games are like great artwork. They are never finished. They are just abandoned. Our latest project is adding levels of difficulty […]

Giving Students Control in Math Class

April 12, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Game Progress by AnnMaria De Mars

bags of money — Entrepreneurs often hear that investors are only interested after a company has “traction”. Recently, our CEO made a wasted trip to meet someone who allegedly is interested in funding women-owned start-ups. At the meeting, she was told, “You’re too early for us. We don’t usually invest until a company is […]

Catch-22 for Start-up Funding: Inequality 101

April 7, 2016 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Draft 2 — I went to the Computer Users in Education conference in Palm Springs last month, not knowing what to expect. It turned out to be way cooler than what you’d expect and I definitely intend to go back for more reasons than I can tell you in just one post. One […]

CUE Meets the Giant

April 4, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Game Progress by AnnMaria De Mars

I have been teaching for 30 years – middle school, undergraduates, graduate students. I’ve given out my share of failing grades during that time, probably more than most people because in mathematics, statistics and programming courses, there is not much room for giving the student the benefit of the doubt. […]

What I Want to Say to Students Who Fail

April 3, 2016 in AnnMaria by AnnMaria De Mars

We get a lot of really good ideas from our users, but there are some that are a few tacos short of a combination plate. Here, in no particular order, are the five craziest suggestions I have received. ============== Player: Why are the Indians shooting the deer? I’m vegetarian. I really […]

Top Five Crazy Game Suggestions

March 30, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

barnyard scene — My mom used to say that any job was easy if you didn’t have to do it yourself. Mom was right, too. Just look at the number of people who have never stood in front of a class in their life but think teaching is easy. “If this whole doing […]

Any Job is Easy if You Don’t Have to Do ...

March 30, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

Always remember, ladies and gentlemen, while Burroughs had all of its engineers at work inventing a better adding machine, Steve Wozniak was in his garage inventing the Apple computer. Dr. Hastings, a professor in my MBA program back in 1980 said that and I have never forgotten. Within the span […]

Apple didn’t invent a better adding machine

March 25, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

Eva, Maria and me — If you have not read Sojourner Truth’s inspiring speech, Aint I a Woman , you are missing out. You can click on this link right now to read it, and don’t skip scrolling down to hear Alice Walker read the speech. You’ll be glad you did. Now, sitting here in […]

Not Sure About Women in Tech Events

March 22, 2016 in AnnMaria / Women in Tech by AnnMaria De Mars

1

CUE in Palm Springs – Meet us, tweet us

March 17, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM by AnnMaria De Mars

Jenn and Julia, two children I produced by having sex — No, this isn’t that kind of post. I do want to talk about virtual reality, though. I was reading on twitter comments from people who said, “There are only two kinds of people: those who think virtual reality will change the world and those who haven’t tried it yet.” […]

Virtual Reality and Sex

March 17, 2016 in AnnMaria / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars