This ScratchJr Book Gets Younger Minds Creating With Code
‘The Official ScratchJr Book’ provides a great guide for teaching our youngest minds the language of computer science.
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Category: Education
'Coding in Scratch: Games Workbook' — Programming for Young Coders
Since teaching some basic programming camps over the last two summers, I’ve had requests from parents of younger children for a similar type of camp, but it won’t be happening in 2016. That said, in order to even consider the request, I’ve been examining various apps and books to see just how I might go about introducing programming concepts to a younger audience. I’ve been looking for something to recommend to parents as a simple way to gauge the interest of a child in programming without being overly complicated or lengthy. The solution I found came from DK Publishing.
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11 Rules for When Your Geeklet Starts Dating
What dating advice can we take out of eleven geek culture quotes? Lots. The trick is limiting ourselves to just eleven.
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Going Back to School at 40 Is Surprisingly Scary
In the last quarter of 2015, I decided that 2016 would look like this: celebrate the new year, turn 40, and then go back to school two days after. At first, I was excited about this new challenge. Now, with the start of classes less than a week away, I’m surprisingly scared.
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Self-Education With ‘The Trivium’
What do you think of when I say “logic” or “grammar”? How about “rhetoric” or “syllogism”? Unless you’ve had a decent liberal arts education, you may be a little lost on the second two, and your definitions of the first two will vary. Though if you’re a classical homeschooling family, this is likely all familiar to you.
Continue ReadingEmbarking on Math Adventures With ‘Moebius Noodles’
‘Moebius Noodles’ is a book written to help parents create rich environments for their children to experience, learn, and enjoy math through play.
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Have Messy Fun With a Kaleidoscope Enrichment Science Kit
The Winter Wonderland science kit from Kaleidoscope Enrichment is a ton of messy fun!
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Fun Scientific Books for Your Holiday Reading
Want some light reading but prefer non-fiction? Here are two really engaging books that tackle deep math and science topics with an air of lightheartedness and curiosity.
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‘Cooking for Geeks’ Serves Up a Second Helping of the Popular Science-Based Cookbook
Jeff Potter presents a complete overhaul of his popular ‘Cooking for Geeks’ book. More than a third of the book is brand new and the pages strongly define science’s role in cooking. And, yes, there are recipes too.
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Kickstarter Alert: MathKit Makes Math Learning Fun
In my house, the phrase “Let’s do your Math homework” is always accompanied by a heavy sigh and eye roll from my second grader (and possibly a dramatic flinging of herself across the floor and some light sobbing).
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Swedish Teenagers to be Given a Teaspoon of Feminism
Teenagers in Sweden are to be given copies of “We Should All Be Feminists”. A small step in bringing about a more equal world.
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National Park Service Announces Free Days for 2016
Enjoy our National Parks free of charge on selected days in 2016!
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Data Mining May Make You Less Troll-Like (In-Game and Out)
By compiling millions and millions of League of Legends data points, researchers hint at “psychological traits across global populations.”
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Review: Smart Anatomy: Interactive Human Body
Smart Anatomy from Oregon Scientific is the perfect way to teach kids about human anatomy. Smart Anatomy is packed with tons of information and activities of various levels so that it can be a learning tool for children of all ages and will provide years of educational experience.
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Science Is For Girls: ‘Miles From Tomorrowland’ Spotlights Coding and Scientific Curiosity
It’s no secret that we here at GeekDad are huge proponents of STEM education, scientific curiosity, and encouraging kids (especially girls) to pursue scientific career paths. Positive portrayals of scientifically minded girls who use their brains to save the day are something we can definitely get behind.
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Playing With Numbers: ‘DragonBox’ and ‘Osmo’
I’ve covered various ways to incorporate STEM education through play before, and here are two more math-based apps that I think are outstanding.
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#GivingTuesday and Billions of Free Books
To celebrate #GivingTuesday this year, ustyme and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) are teaming up to give away over a billion classic e-books to families across the nation.
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The Reinvention of ‘Sesame Street’
Starting next year, ‘Sesame Street’–the iconic children’s show we all grew up with–will see the biggest and most sweeping changes in its 46-year history.
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Get Kids Programming With ‘Minecraft’ Hour of Code
‘Minecraft’ Hour of Code takes Code.org’s popular coding challenge and makes it even more enticing for kids.
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Teach Your Kids to Code Apps With Pocket Code
You probably know about Scratch, the graphical programming environment developed at MIT that allows kids to code interactive stories, games, and animations. Researchers at the Graz University of Technology in Austria have been working hard at creating Pocket Code, a Scratch-like environment for the Android platform.
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The Green Snot Myth
Myeloperoxidase, a mostly helpful enzyme, has been the catalyst for one of the most widespread medical myths in the modern age: The Green Snot Myth.
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10 Winter Safety Tips Everyone Should Know
Winter is a beautiful time of year. Snow-covered lawns, icicles, and crisp, cool air are a beautiful facet of the season cycle. But the beauty hides many dangers families face each winter. Is your family going to be safe this holiday season? Check the list to be sure!
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Kickstarter Alert: Smart Bricks for Smarter Parenting With playDXTR
Help fund the evolution of the “world’s smartest building block” with the playDXTR Kickstarter.
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The Doubleclicks School You on the Kilogram Standard
The Doubleclicks have a new song, inspired by the story of the kilogram standard. Naturally, it’s a break-up song.
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The ACME Detective Agency Reopens for Business as Carmen Sandiego Returns
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is bringing Carmen Sandiego back to life and optimizing everything for mobile. Available on iOS devices, ‘Carmen Sandiego Returns’ brings back a lot of familiar gameplay and tosses in some new and exciting features.
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Word Nerd: Thereby Hangs a Tail
Come and listen and we’ll tell a tale of tails. Today’s Word Nerd is yet another of those sets of words that autocorrect and spellcheck will completely ignore.
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Study Shows That Kids Don’t Have To Like Math To Be Good At It
“The present findings could mean that interventions in education that try to increase intrinsic motivation may not be the best approach in the early school years.” Care to discuss?
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Kickstarter Alert: Learn to Program With an Adorable Little Robot Called Wink
Teach your kids–or yourself–to program with these cute little robots.
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MIT Study of Tsimané People Shows How to Trick Kids Into Giving You Cookies
How does a child’s sense of fairness develop? A fascinating MIT study shows fairness depends on number sense and not necessarily age or socialization.
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Reaping the Rewards: ‘Monster ABC’ Board Book
In “Reaping the Rewards,” we take a look at a crowdfunded project in its final form. Today’s project is ‘Monster ABC,’ a fun and beautiful ABC book to teach your kids about monsters and the alphabet.
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