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"Coding is believed to be the 21st century literacy par excellence. Codes make up the totality of our digital world. They are a universal language that every computer speak. Teaching kids coding will not only enable them to better understand the digital world surrounding them but, more importantly, will equip them with skills integral to their overall learning. Coding is all about creativity, imagination, problem solving and strategic thinking. There is a wide variety of ways to make learning programming and coding a fun an enjoyable task for kids. One of them is through the use of engaging and interactive games. Below is a collection of some of the most popular iPad apps for helping kids learn coding through games. Check them out and share with us if you have other suggestions."

"Our favorite resources for integrating making projects in your classroom or home."

"The tiny and ridiculously inexpensive Raspberry Pi Zero has already proven to be a huge hit, selling out everywhere (including on the front cover of 10,000 magazines). But if you're one of the lucky 20,000 or so who managed to get hold of one of the £4 computers, you might be asking a deceptively simple question -- what next? The Zero is a surprisingly powerful machine, with 512MB of RAM and a CPU faster than the original Pi, but what do you need to get started and what projects can you tackle from day one? The following intro guide will help you go beyond simply staring at the miniature, refined brilliance of the Zero hardware, and actually start using it to make things, play games and experiment."

"PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is a popular, readily-available plastic polymer material used in plumbing and other piping applications. It is relatively cheap, very easy to work with, chemically resistant, durable, and long-lasting. Besides plumbing, it can also be used as a Tinkertoy-like building system for creating all sorts of lightweight and durable framed structures. Here we have gathered several of our Skill Builder pieces to bring you up to speed on how to use this material and some of the best PVC projects we've featured over the years."

"Apple has built its legacy by taking new technologies and innovating on them for ease of use, as seen with the iPod, iTunes, iOS, and so forth. Now their latest patent describes a full-color 3D printer that could possibly do the same for additive manufacturing."

"Our projects are tried and tested in grades K-12 in the Creativity Lab at Lighthouse Community Charter School, a public K-12 school in Oakland, CA."

"Getting Started with Minecraft Improving Minecraft Performance on Old and New Computers Meet the Biomes of Minecraft Exploring Minecraft's Structures Meet the Mobs of Minecraft Exploring Minecraft Game Modes Surviving Your First Night In Survival Mode Your First Mine, Armor, and Further Exploration Advanced Mining and the Magic of Enchanting I'm a Farmer, You're a Farmer, We are Farmers All Engineering with Redstone Creating Custom Minecraft Maps Downloading and Installing Custom Maps Setting Up Local Multiplayer and Custom Player Skins Exploring Minecraft Multiplayer Servers"

"Cardboard for prototyping presents 3 big advantages: it's cheap it's sturdy it's recyclable It's one of the most practical skills you can learn for designing products. Almost free, easy to find, easy to manipulate, cardboard prototyping is also super fun."

"In December our hackerspace, Crash Space in Culver City, hosted an Instructables Build Night featuring Chibitronics Circuit Stickers. With Channukah around the corner, I thought an LED menorah would be a perfect project to see what I could make with the stick-on circuits. When celebrating Channukah, the candles of the menorah are lit each night, one for the first night, two for the second, and so on until the eighth night, when they are all lit. The middle candle is lit first each night, and is used to light the other eight candles. My goal for the LED menorah was for it function like the candles, with the center always lit, and an additional LED "candle" lit each night. I also wanted to set it up so that lighting the LED's each night didn't require additional construction. As you will see, the goals were met and turning on each additional LED was done using a pull tab, which allowed all the taping and construction to be done ahead of time."

"It all started with one students asking, "Can I please get the Lego out?" As I had promised the students that they could choose their own activity if they had finished off their work, I got the tub out and the student in question set himself up on the floor. As the session unfolded, student after student came to the meeting place. What started as a case of putting this piece with that soon turned into some sort of battle with the rules of engagement created as they went. What was most interesting was that many of students involved had been bickering of late, unable to play well together either in class or out in the yard, arguing about this rule or that decision. However, for the hour in which they built, not one student complained. Instead students successfully negotiated each step along the way. The only issue I had was that students didn't want to stop."

"I have to admit when I first heard about how coloring books for adults and teens are all the rage, I was a bit skeptical. Then I saw the beautiful new coloring books with loopy, fabulous, mesmerizing line drawings and I was sold! I also just really like the smell of a new box of Crayons! Like PlayDoh, they smell happy. Don't judge me. I then did some research on the Zen of Coloring and found out that teens find coloring very relaxing, meditative, and stress relieving - perfect for middle school! I also think in this world of multi-tasking, coloring keeps our hands busy and let's our mind wander free- it's also related to another hot topic mindfulness. I know that when I'm in a group setting without technology, say a staff-meeting, a conference, or a lecture, I find myself doodling and making line drawings. Always have - do you?"

"Excitement about 3D printing has steadily accelerated over the past decade - but this excitement has largely outpaced innovation and development in the field. As a researcher in 3D printing technologies, I've built 3D printers using all of the major technologies, as well as more experimental ones. What I've learned is that many of these technologies are composed of very well-understood materials, software problems and mechanical systems - things that engineers have been doing for decades. This, then, begs the question: Why isn't 3D printing better? Why are failure rates so high and why is reproducibility so difficult? It's clear that it's not due to working with exotic materials or advanced motion control. What's actually holding back innovation is how we think about those technologies: as separate pieces, rather than as elements of a system. "

"In this lesson students will explore Geometry by coding and write narratives about life on Mars. Thanks to Sharon Drummond & Mel Poissant for the inspiration."

"If you visit Lighthouse Community Charter classrooms this fall, you'll see kindergarteners using power tools, second graders doing logo programming, third graders building circuit blocks, sixth graders programming microcontrollers to respond to sensor inputs, eighth graders using hot-glue guns, and high school students building chairs, building and programming robots, and using a laser to cut out pieces of wood for prototypes. As we look across our school, we're pretty excited by two things. First, we're pleased to see making (broadly defined as using your hands, heart, and mind to create or improve things) happening as part of our students' core classroom experiences. And second, we're thrilled that our students - poor, urban students of color - have access to making, especially because our educational system so often provides them with experiences filled with seat time and back-to-basics instruction. Lighthouse operates two high-performing, K-12 public schools in Oakland: our flagship campus, Lighthouse, and our brand new campus, Lodestar (to open in East Oakland in the fall of 2016). Our mission is to prepare a diverse, K-12 student population for college and the career of their choice by equipping each student with the skills, knowledge, and tools to become a self-motivated, competent, lifelong learner."

"Make: held an education forum at the New York Hall of Science, which consisted of a series of five panels, plus a talk with Carmen Fariña, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. We can't tell you everything that the panels discussed, (though you can see it for yourself - on our YouTube stream of the event at the bottom of this post) but we picked a selection of quotable ideas that could help you educate someone close to you, whether you're a teacher, a parent, run a makerspace, or just like to tell you friends what to do. Come learn with us!"

"Toys, games and books can support children's early development of knowledge and skills related to engineering as well as science and mathematics. Reserach has shown many of the toys, games and books that support engineering learning are more often purchased for boys than for girls. Through the Engineering Gift Guide, the INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering is raising public awareness of the many toys, games and books that promote engineering learning and are fun for both boys and girls."

"Game jams have been growing in popularity. In a game jam, teams are challenged to design a game in a short period of time. In essence, game jams are a game about making a game. Students apply systems thinking, user empathy, collaboration, storyboarding, and iterative design, while also learning how to tackle broad, open-ended problems. Matthew Farber, author of Gamify Your Classroom: A Field Guide to Game-Based Learning, will discuss his use of game jams in his middle school social studies classes, as well as digital game jams in the after school club he advises. He will share resources from the Moveable Game Jams he attended in the New York area this year, including Quest to Learn, in New York City, as well as the A. Harry Moore School Game Jam Day, in Jersey City, NY, which he facilitated."