Games That Make You Smarter

AnnMaria

This category is for posts written by Dr. AnnMaria De Mars.

me sitting on a bench in the mountains — So, Tuesday was a holiday in Chile (Labor Day) which meant most people took Monday off, too, for a four-day weekend . Interesting that in both North and South America Labor Day comes at the end of summer, even though the seasons are reversed- but I digress – even more […]

Start-up Diaries: Welcome to Concepción

May 4, 2018 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Going through our archives, we came across this great post by Dr. AnnMaria De Mars from February 10, 2016 “Do You Want a Tetris Life or Super Mario Brothers?” that we wanted to share in case you missed it the first time around. I was surprised by the number of […]

Throwback Thursday: Do You Want a Tetris Life or Super ...

May 3, 2018 in AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday tagged AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday by Diana Sanchez

mountain trail — I now work in places that used to be my screensaver. Years ago, I had a nice office and a good salary, working for one big company after another. Before that, I had a nice, secure job as an Associate Professor at a university. What all those jobs had in […]

I’m writing this post on top of a mountain

May 2, 2018 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Church in Plaza de Las Armas — I’d honestly never given much thought to immigrants. I mean, sure, I realized that it must be hard to move away from your family, friends and everything familiar. I assumed doing business in your second language was hard. But I never realized how hard it really was until being thrown […]

Ex-patriate Experience: It’s twice as hard in your second language

April 30, 2018 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Going through our archives, we came across this great post by Dr. AnnMaria De Mars from January 1, 2016 “How to make the world better without winning the lottery” that we wanted to share in case you missed it the first time around. So …Powerball is up to $1.3 billion […]

Throwback Thursday: How to make the world better without winning ...

April 26, 2018 in AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday tagged AnnMaria De Mars / Throwback Thursday by Diana Sanchez

Did you know that in Latin America, our games are marketed under the brand Strong Mind Studios ? There is a long story behind that, but one reason is that we do so much more than just games. Here are a few ‘extras’ that come with every game: * Pretest to […]

So much more than just a pretty game …

April 24, 2018 in AnnMaria / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

drag and drop answer — In my last post, I talked about how good educational games aren’t that easy to make because education isn’t that simple. Today, I want to revisit the same math concept, that division is multiplication in reverse, but from a programming standpoint. First, the setup. The first part sets the number […]

A simple little math problem isn’t so simple

April 23, 2018 in AnnMaria / Code Talk / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

Last week, an investor told me, “You talk too much about why your games work to teach kids and how you know there is an impact. I don’t care. I just want to make money.” This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this and every time the person has been […]

I care about how our games are made & you ...

April 22, 2018 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

Crowd at demo day — It’s been a very productive week, and it’s only Thursday. Yesterday, we had our Ed Tech Demo Day at Co-Work Latam in Monjitas in Santiago and as you can see, it was standing room only. Seven of the eight educational technology companies from Start-up Chile had tables where you could […]

Coming up for air: Start-up Diaries, Santiago

April 20, 2018 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Going through our archives, we came across this great post by Dr. AnnMaria De Mars from February 14, 2016 “My life, explained in two Harry Potter quotes” that we wanted to share in case you missed it the first time around. As long as I can remember, people have gotten […]

Throwback Thursday: My life, explained in two Harry Potter quotes

April 19, 2018 in AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday tagged AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday by Diana Sanchez

pisco cola — One sign you are in the right line of work is when you are just as excited for Monday to come around as you are for Friday. Well, I might be a little more excited most Fridays because on the weekend I can work on the games without too many […]

Super-excited for Monday: Another Start-up Diary, Santiago

April 16, 2018 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

For the 5th time in 2 months, I found myself on a 6,000 mile flight between Santiago and somewhere in the United States. I got a nice view of Panama City from the airport – nice enough to convince me that I’m going to have to find time to vacation […]

There and back again: More Start-up Diaries, Santiago Edition

April 14, 2018 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars