I am so excited! I was recently notified that one of my projects has made it to the final round of the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Medial & Learning Competition.

There were several times during the initial construction of KIDVIEW that I wished I could simply drive to the nearest ‘electronics’ store to get the piece I needed instead of ordering online, paying shipping costs, and waiting for that one much needed part. My frustration led to disappointment and I suggested that the US needed to make DIY (do-it-yourself) electronics and fabrication material a bit more accessible…

Last week I watched President Obama as he announced new initiatives and partnerships to focus on STEM education nationally. I was quite excited as this is my life’s work! I am interested to see the country’s response and I hope major companies don’t simply view this as a method of cashing in, but instead really attempt to work towards better STEM education.

I just have one thing to say:

I’d love to see/read a research report on the ‘achievement gap’ in the context of the type of foods eaten by students at both ends of the spectrum.

So, in case you didn’t know, I am doing research on how children search the web. http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/KidsSearch. We – Beth, my research partner, and I have been traveling all around Maryland asking 7, 9, 11 year olds about their computer use and search behavior. We have learned a great deal about how they search…along with [...]