Games That Make You Smarter

Education: Innovation and STEM

Augmented reality app for teaching multiplication — TL; DR Our app gave the correct answer 99% of the time. So we spent days creating a new app to teach multiplication in English and Lakota that is 100% accurate. Dennis wrote a script to check the answer produced when you hold the phone over one of the cards […]

When 99% isn’t good enough for our students

September 9, 2019 in Code Talk / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games tagged augmented reality by AnnMaria De Mars

Tic-tac-toe game for teaching multiplication — If you teach math, you are well aware of how essential it is that students learn basics such as multiplication and division. Of course math shouldn’t be all about rote memorization but if you believe it is a waste of time for students to memorize 9 x 7 = 63 […]

Teaching multiplication: Lesson Plan

August 19, 2019 in 10 Minute Lesson / 7GenGames / Cultural content / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Educational Resources / Fourth Grade / multiplication / Third Grade tagged Multiplication Games / teaching multiplication by AnnMaria De Mars

Learn time rate distance problems with grandma — Time-rate-distance problems are word problems that involve the distance an object will travel at a certain average rate for a given period of time. This type of problem drives many students crazy. That’s why we find it so helpful to have multiple examples. Okay, maybe this is a 15-minute lesson, […]

Time-rate-distance problems : 10-minute lesson

July 29, 2019 in 10 Minute Lesson / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Educational Resources / Mathematics / Seventh Grade / Sixth Grade tagged distance problems / time rate distance problems by Daniel Mondaca

Cluttered shed that inspired middle school game design ideas — We’re wrapping up the game design class at Spirit Lake this week. Two weeks was the most time I could spare away from the office but we have accomplished a lot. Applications used in game design by middle school students Because all of the students had just completed grades 4 […]

Game Design by Middle School Students

June 18, 2019 in Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / rural education tagged Warwick by AnnMaria De Mars

Creepy house selected in photo curation by Warwick students — ked students to select their favorite photo they took yesterday, crop it as they saw fit and share with me on One Drive and/ or email to me. The point of this lesson was to learn about file-sharing, photo editing and emailing attachments.

Warwick Game Design Class Photo Curation

June 12, 2019 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

dirt road in Warwick, North Dakota — It’s been a great start to the summer session teaching game design at Warwick Middle School. Students started off playing two math games, an adventure game and a collector game. We discussed the idea of game genre and what is needed to make a video game – assets, code, story […]

Teaching Game Design at Spirit Lake

June 11, 2019 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / rural education / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Trail in the grass from fractions problem — We're testing educational software in the most remote areas of the country. It's beautiful but it's also important work, remembering schools most companies forget about.

Testing educational software where the antelope play

June 8, 2019 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Girl in class with teacher — We want to improve education for both students and teachers. We are aware of how difficult it can be to get 30 students to stay in their seats, much less to pay attention. Life is not a subject Seriously, did you use math from 9-10 then read this blog during […]

4 ways we give teachers the support they need

April 15, 2019 in Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Resources by Daniel Mondaca

Staff with no unicorns shirt — A week ago, I wrote about how, despite heroic efforts on the part of many teachers and administrators and some success stories, the problems I see in education today are the same as when I began teaching in Banning and Riverside, CA almost 35 years ago. If nothing changes, nothing […]

How to change education: Rant part 2

April 8, 2019 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM by AnnMaria De Mars

girl in pit — For the past several weeks we have been criss-crossing the country talking to teachers and administrators. Thank you immensely for all who took the time to meet with us, attend our workshops and visit our booths at conferences, from Long Beach, California to Spirit Lake, North Dakota. If you still […]

Nothing changes in education when nothing changes

March 30, 2019 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM by AnnMaria De Mars

Five Principles of Extraordinary Math Teaching Dan Finkel is the Founder and Director of Operations of Math for Love, a Seattle-based organization devoted to transforming how math is taught and learned. Dan is also one of the creators of Prime Climb, a beautiful and colorful, mathematical board game. He contributes […]

MATH TEDx Talk Spotlight: Dan Finkel

March 21, 2019 in Education: Innovation and STEM / Teachers by Julia De Mars

Most teachers and administrators find themselves with twice as many things to be done as hours in the day – yet you make it work. So what’s the key to finding edtech that works – both in the meets your needs sense as well as the doesn’t drive your IT […]

A Checklist To Make Your EdTech Decisions Easier

March 14, 2019 in Education: Innovation and STEM by Maria Burns Ortiz