Games That Make You Smarter

AnnMaria

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

Going through our archives, we came across this great post by Dr. AnnMaria De Mars from December 15, 2013 “Learn How!” that we wanted to share in case you missed it the first time around. Since it’s the weekend – and if you read this blog very often you know I […]

Throwback Thursday: Learn How!

November 17, 2016 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday tagged 7 Generation Games / Throwback Thursday by Diana Sanchez

ballot receipt from LA — Last night, Maria asked me how the polls could have been so incorrect as to predict a Hillary Clinton victory. Since she was not the only person who asked this, and not everyone reads the comments in my blog – shock – I thought I’d follow up with a post […]

Why the polls were Right – and wrong

November 11, 2016 in AnnMaria by AnnMaria De Mars

fish — Several years ago, I had the privilege of attending a lecture by Albert Bandura (he happens to be the most-cited psychologist alive). He discussed one of his current research projects on what determines happiness. The key factor that stuck out to me was “An absence of self-ruminative thoughts.” This evening, […]

Late Nights and the Secret to Happiness

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

boy and girl on computers playing our games — This evening, my granddaughter didn’t feel like watching her sister’s soccer practice, so she came over and proceeded to spend the next two hours playing with clay. We happen to have 50 different colors and a couple of play sets. While she was making her creations, she frequently stopped to […]

Why Do You Care So Much?

November 2, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

Going through our archives, we came across this great post by Dr. AnnMaria De Mars from August 20, 2013 “Women in Tech: Why am I here?” that we wanted to share in case you missed it the first time around. Dave Winer set off a firestorm with his blog post asking […]

Throwback Thursday – Women in Tech: Why am I ...

October 27, 2016 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday tagged 7 Generation Games / AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday by Diana Sanchez

It’s almost midnight and I put the last two changes into Fish Lake so Dennis can do a new build and Devon can test it in the morning. The page for learning more about fractions on a number line looked like this: Now it looks like this: Our old […]

Making Better Games: Part 1,679

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

bull — “I’m not Tom Cruise.” When a middle school math teacher said this, my initial response was, “No, duh.” He was irate, though, because this extremely qualified, knowledgable teacher had been told by his principal that he would not have any students failing in his class if he “made class more […]

Do what you love and never work a day in ...

October 21, 2016 in AnnMaria / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

Going through our archives, we came across this great post by Dr. AnnMaria De Mars from July 22, 2013 “It’s Mr. Right, Not Mr. Perfect” that we wanted to share in case you missed it the first time around. Because it’s not tomorrow until I go to bed and get up […]

Throwback Thursday: It’s Mr. Right, Not Mr. Perfect

October 20, 2016 in AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday tagged AnnMaria / Throwback Thursday by Diana Sanchez

planet earth — Nothing over the past few years has changed my mind about “educational games”. Most of these are either bad games or bad education. I don’t – completely – blame the makers of those games, though. That’s like blaming television executives for all of the stupid programs on TV. If 13 million […]

The crazy economics of educational technology expectations

October 20, 2016 in AnnMaria / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

wand — My brilliant niece, Samantha, has a term for it: yes-butter. Read to the end for why yes-butter is the death of so much new technology. I’m sure you’ve had yes-butter spread thickly on you as well. You know what I’m talking about – the people who, when they have a […]

Kid bad at math? Here’s your magic wand

October 17, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

frog and lily pad — I really do like teachers. You know I do. I used to be a teacher, my brother is a teacher and my daughter is a teacher – all at the middle school level. Currently, in our spare time of which we have none, my brother, sister and I all teach […]

Teachers need to quit hating on business

October 17, 2016 in AnnMaria by AnnMaria De Mars

Cranky old teacher with a stick — Have you seen the sign carried by a 90-year-old woman at a civil rights event that says, “I can’t believe I still have to protest this shit?” I was feeling like that today when I had forwarded to me by people who, correctly, thought I would find interesting […]

Dancing on the way to the pencil sharpener

October 1, 2016 in AnnMaria by AnnMaria De Mars