Games That Make You Smarter

Education: Innovation and STEM

Maria Paz meeting with teachers — I’m impressed. As a statistician, I realize that schools who agree to pilot new educational software are exceptional, but based on these exceptional schools I’ve visited, Chile has a bright future. I’m not one of those Americans who go to another country and immediately start bashing it because it’s different. […]

Schools lead Chile into a bright future

November 21, 2018 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Cranky old teacher with a stick — If you want to hear me rant, just ask me about why students aren’t learning math. We have technology! We have STEM programs! We have STEAM programs! Why the hell are our kids still so far behind? What we don’t have is a lot of actual math teaching When I […]

Math has numbers. Duh.

November 15, 2018 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Math by AnnMaria De Mars

road through the trees in a rural area — For the past four years, I’ve been studying how technology does – or more often, doesn’t – work its way into rural schools. I’ve driven down dirt roads all over two countries, sat out snowstorms and followed directions to school buildings that read “Go past the dip in the road, […]

Do we want rural kids to succeed or not?

November 6, 2018 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / rural education by AnnMaria De Mars

Julia in Boston Common — “English Opens Doors” – I love that title “English opens doors” (or, in Spanish, “inglés abre puertas”) is a program in Chile that promotes learning English. I love their name because they really “get it”. Education is the key to a bigger, wider life. Normally, I write about teaching math . […]

Better English Opens Doors to a Better Future

October 31, 2018 in AnnMaria / Bilingual Education / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

kid on computer — I’m analyzing data from a study we did on effectiveness of our games in teaching math and the scores for the control groups are extremely depressing. They’re perfect control groups because they qualified for our study based on being a low income and our software was available to them for […]

How do I get you to care that your kids ...

October 30, 2018 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Math by AnnMaria De Mars

I’m going to change this story slightly because I don’t want to call out a specific person when I have seen the same thing over and over from “STEM” or “STEAM” or “STREAM” programs. Generally, the more letters they have, the bigger problem it is. I agree with everything Ms. […]

We’re Totally Missing the Boat on Math Education

October 19, 2018 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Math by AnnMaria De Mars

Life is hard enough without having to install software. That’s why we’re making more and more of our games playable at the click of a button. No, seriously, it’s that easy. Check it out below. MAKING CAMP: OJIBWE (Grades 3-4) Click here to play MAKING CAMP OJIBWE now! (It’s free!) […]

Just Click and Play, It’s That Easy

October 9, 2018 in 7GenGames / Bilingual Education / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Educational Resources / Math by Maria Burns Ortiz

North Dakota lake as seen from top of a hill — I’ve been back from Chile for a week, presented at one conference on Native American special education, in New Mexico, was home two days and then got on a flight to Grand Forks, North Dakota. On my flight from Los Angeles I opened an email saying our paper had been […]

Education is the choice that gives youth choices

October 3, 2018 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM by AnnMaria De Mars

Rabbit, next to tree — Making educational software is full of surprises, some good, some bad and some just, well, surprising. The Making Camp series has turned out to be our most popular games, hands down, something I certainly did not expect. Making Camp Bilingual is our most popular bilingual game. Making Camp Ojibwe is […]

Our Most Popular Educational Game Isn’t What I expected

September 26, 2018 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Educational Resources by AnnMaria De Mars

Let’s have a little heart to heart, shall we? We like you, you like us. Life is pretty good, overall. However, there’s one teeny issue. We have 11,000 kids playing our games and we know that is a tiny fraction of the kids who can benefit. Our friends, followers and […]

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September 20, 2018 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Resources / Game Progress by AnnMaria De Mars

Video from demo day presentation — Life has really taken an unexpected turn lately. If you follow this blog you know that I have been in Chile since February, making bilingual games that teach math and history. It’s been a great experience, but we also have a U.S. company in which I’m a co-founder, so as […]

An entire country bet on you

September 17, 2018 in Education: Innovation and STEM / Start-up Diaries / Women in Tech by AnnMaria De Mars

words activities from Making Camp Premium — What do grammar fixes in our games and not swearing at your students have in common? Now, you, Ms. or Mr. 5th Grade Teacher, have probably never even considered telling Emma or Devon or D’emery that you are going to skin them alive and send the hides home to their […]

Because Details Matter: 100 little tweaks and not swearing at ...

August 16, 2018 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars