Axe Cop – Capturing childhood stories for a lifetime

Axe cop isn’t a game, but it’s exactly the kind of parent (or brother in this case)/child relationship we are trying to promote with A Gamer’s Education.  Ethan Nicolle draws the comic ‘Axe Cop’ based off his little brothers (Malachai Nicolle) stories.  It captures the mind of a 5 year old and puts it on paper.  I am guessing it has created an amazing relationship between the two of them as well.  From Axe Cop’s ABOUT page…

“The AXE COP saga began on a Christmas visit to see my family. My Father, a man with very healthy loins, has managed to produce a variety of children, ranging from me, a 29 year old comic book artist, to my 5 year old brother Malachai, a 5 year old boy genius, with four other siblings in between. During the visit Malchai was running around with his toy fireman axe and he said he was playing “Axe Cop.” He asked me to play with him, and I asked what my weapon was… so he brought me a toy flute (actually a recorder). I told him I would rather be Axe Cop then Flute Cop, and he seemed just fine with being Flute Cop. The story that followed became more and more brilliant, until I couldn’t contain myself and I had to draw the whole thing into a one page comic.”  Read more…

A great video of their creative writing process.

Baku-con 2010 New York City February 20-21st

My son and I will be making the trek to NYC for Baku-Con 2010!  Bakugan has been all the rage in our house since Christmas and has been a positive experience expanding both my sons vocabulary/reading skills and his mathematics.  I will, hopefully, have a full write up when we get back including how we got into the game, what’s so fun about it, our strategy for the tournament and our experience at Baku-con.  I may get some ‘a gamers education’ t-shirts printed.  So if you see a father and son wearing one, come say hello!  Baku-con.com for more info!

Blog-Talk Radio: Game-Induced Enhancements in Adult “Fluid Intelligence”

Upcoming Show: 1/20/2010 2:00 PM

Dr. Ray Perez, program officer with the Office of Naval Research, will discuss how video games can impact adult “fluid intelligence,” the fundamental ability to reason and solve problems

in novel contexts. When people think of the U.S. Navy, they may visualize ships, planes, and other military hardware — not necessarily neuroscience or cognitive research. Scientists studying brain function point to a growing body of research suggesting that the brain continues to learn and improve cognitive function with age. Dr. Perez, who is contributing to a growing body of research on how the brain functions, will discuss the Navy’s interest in “brain plasticity” and “fluid intelligence” and how today’s neuroscientific research may literally change the way we think 10 years from now.

Listen here.

Why playing in the virtual world has an awful lot to teach children

A YouGov poll has suggested that computer games can damage children’s ability to communicate, but Tom Chatfield argues that gaming imparts a range of new, vitally important skills.

What does playing computer games do to us? A YouGov poll has stirred up familiar worries about the effects of new media on children’s communication skills, saying that one in six children under the age of seven in England has difficulty talking – a problem that will have many worried parents looking at games consoles and wondering how far their children’s onscreen delights are implicated in this decline.  Read more.

iD Tech Camps

NORTH AMERICA’S #1 SUMMER COMPUTER CAMP FOR KIDS & TEENS

Summer Fun! Our family company offers award-winning technology programs at top universities in the U.S. and Canada.  Gain skills that last long after summer camp ends.  This summer, do something big!

WEEKLONG SUMMER TECH CAMPS, AGES 7-17
60 prestigious universities:  Stanford, MIT, Princeton…
Courses:  3D video game design, web design, Flash®, programming, robotics, video editing and more

2-WEEK INTENSIVE TEEN ACADEMIES, AGES 13-18
Select universities.  Options:  iD Gaming Academy,
iD Visual Arts Academy, iD Programming Academy

Read more.

Charlottesville Robotics – Charlottesville Virginia

Charlottesville Albemarle Robotics (CARobotics) was formed to fill the technology void and promote science and technology in Central Virginia. We are a 501(c)(3) organization of high school students located in and around Charlottesville, Virginia and are based around the philosophy of FIRST. Founded in 2000, Cavalier Robotics (Team 619) is one of over two thousand teams from more than three countries that participate in the annual FIRST / NASA Robotics Competition.

CARobotics and its FIRST team, Cavalier Robotics, are proud to be in partnership with the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science. Please come visit us in our new location at the U.Va. School of Engineering Special Projects Building on Observatory Hill.  Read More.

Peacemaker challenges you to make peace

PeaceMaker challenges you to succeed as a leader where others have failed. Experience the joy of bringing peace to the Middle East or the agony of plunging the region into disaster. PeaceMaker will test your skills, assumptions and prior knowledge. Play it and you will never read the news the same way again. Read more.

School Sees Better Days in the Future

The promise of technology and change, so far, has fallen short at Philadelphia’s School of the Future.

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

As it was conceived, the School of the Future was to be a study in contrast to the typical big-city high school.When the $62 million facility opened in 2006 with a relatively small student population, a computer-based curriculum delivered with the latest technology tools, and a unique partnership with corporate giant Microsoft, it set out to upend a secondary school model that had changed little since the industrial era and had spelled failure for too many students here and in cities around the country.  Read more.

Gaming our way to musical genius

Video games are changing our relationship with music for the better

Winda Benedetti Citizen Gamer

My singing voice is so bad, I don’t even sing in the shower. And although I took years of piano lessons as a child, and though my parents and teachers insisted that I was at least somewhat musically inclined at the time, I can’t seem to remember how to plink out anything more challenging than “Heart and Soul” these days.

Despite my general lack of musical aptitude, I love music. I love listening to it. I love dancing to it. I love watching other people performing it. And as I watch others up there on stage, I occasionally fantasize about the rock star life I could have lived … if only I’d learned to sing … or maybe stuck with those piano lessons. Read more.

Fluvanna County Virginia, i-Pod Proposal Discussed at School Board Meeting

Chris O’Neal and Marguerite Matics gave a presentation on a proposed iPod pilot project. According to O’Neal, the aim of this project is to engage students at a higher-level using the latest technology.

The project would place a set of iPods in one classroom at each of Fluvanna’s schools. Thirty iPods are in each classroom set; the total cost would be about $44,000. Each member of the school board and Dr. Smith was provided an iPod to accompany the hands-on presentation. All agreed that it was engaging but concerns were raised about if this was a good use of money. Read More.