May
The Youth New Media Literacy Jam was five teams, 21 people (+awesome support folks), over three months, creating experimental new media experiences for youth ages 10-13. The projects reflect the eclectic mix of participants – from programmers to artists, psychologists to performers, filmmakers to camp counsellors – and explore interesting approaches to youth education and media production.
Based on the classic (where students create containers to keep an egg from breaking when dropped from increasing heights), Project Eggdrop is a web platform for group work and peer-based learning.
The teacher poses a question to start the discussion; students then “cloudstorm” solutions, resources, and thoughts; all the while voting on submissions with the top ones moving on to further iteration. Throughout kids are creating media, discussing, debating, and learning. Best part is Project Eggdrop is designed to be flexible enough for serious curriculum-based questions like “Who should be the next Prime Minister and why?” to “What toppings should we order for Pizza Day?”
http://projecteggdrop.com/
We Built This City is a scenario-based city construction board game for teaching city planning and environmentalism. Players collectively create the pieces, the board, and the rules using 3D printing, Lego blocks, or available home/classroom materials. They can also share their game variations and remix to create new ones. We Built This City can adapt to changing technologies or be played with none at all.
http://webuiltthiscity.ca/
Not all classrooms have access to technology and not all teachers know how to use it. The NODE Project is a platform where teams of skilled media makers armed with technology (cameras, computers, music and recording equipment, etc.) travel to classrooms and help kids create media and share it with other classes (Nodes). With a model that works inside any culture, Nodes on different continents could connect and share – imagine the experience of your classroom having a “sister homeroom” halfway around the world in China. Pretty cool.
http://www.thenodeproject.com/
The NML Classroom is a course builder for history classes where teachers can assemble learning material and tools that immerse students into a particular era. Students create, act, share, and discuss around a particular time and place. Not only does this role-play develop a deeper understanding of the historical event but also the critical thinking skills that make them more informed citizens today.
http://www.nmlclassroom.com/
Living and contributing in today’s world requires not only the ability to understand media but also create it. Unfortunately passive consumption is still encouraged which is where Remix4Kicks comes in.
Using tools like Mozilla’s Hackasaurus Remix4Kicks let’s kids get their feet wet as website creators. They remix existing websites (changing text, images, etc.) while learning coding fundamentals and having fun.
http://remix4kicks.com/
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