thinking: relating- celebrating :-)

Here is what all the 10 year olds will be doing next. Thomas makes some other good points during his presentation – like most of the kids know way more about the technology than their teachers which is a real challenge for educators.

‘Thomas Suarez is a 6th grade student at a middle school in the South Bay of Los Angeles. When Apple released the Software Development Kit (SDK), he began to create and sell his own applications. “My parents, my friends and even the people at the Apple store all supported me,” he says, “and Steve Jobs inspired me”.

Thomas points out that it’s hard to learn how to make an app.

“For soccer you could go to a soccer team … but what if you want to make an app?” He’s started a club for fellow students at school, where he shares his knowledge of programming. Thomas articulates his vision that students are a valuable new technology resource to teachers, and should be empowered to offer assistance in developing the technology curriculum and also assist in delivering the lessons.

Thomas has been fascinated by computers and technology since before kindergarten. Recently, he’s been focused on the development of applications for the iPhone, and has established his own company, CarrotCorp’

from TEDxManhattanBeach

For more examples see SMH last week

The other example I liked was - iSpoke Flash Cards

‘Another student from NSW, Conner Brendish, 18, helped create the $4.49 iSpoke Flash Cards, an interactive flash cards app which gives users the ability to create their own flash cards, store them in albums and record or overdub their own voice.

It was designed as an educational tool for children with special needs. Anthony Toben, a parent frustrated with the technology available to assist and treat autism for his son Joshua, got Brendish to make it. From the proceeds, 50 cents of each sale is donated to Autism Spectrum Australia.’

Stephen Knightly is going to be presenting at TEDxAuckland on gaming for good.

One of the games that he will probably mention is called MyFriendQuest.

MyFriendQuest is an animated PC application created by the BrightMind LABS team to teach children to recognize and respond appropriately to emotions.

Initially designed for the specific needs of children with high functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome, MyFriendQuest also achieves great results with children with ADD, ADHD, dyspraxia, learning difficulties, social anxiety and severe shyness. 

MyFriendQuest is designed to engage children on a gaming level while making sense of a part of everyday life that many struggle with.

Stephen is a Director of video games consultancy InGame and technology and innovation marketing consultancy Pursuit PR, but has turned his longtime passion for creating video games into an income and a positive contribution. Recent posts by Stephen include Case Study: Autism game for kids and TED talks about gaming.

One that caught my attention was this talk on a the gaming layer idea by

Seth Priebatsch: Entrepreneur (21)

Prresented recently At TEDxBoston JUly 2010  12:02 minutes Posted: Aug 2010

By now, we’re used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web — building a “social layer” on top of the real world. At TEDxBoston, Seth Priebatsch looks at the next layer in progress: the “game layer,” a pervasive net of behavior-steering game dynamics that will reshape education and commerce.

He is currently (more about Seth Priebatsch)

“working on SCVNGR, “a massive experiment in building a mobile game together.” Backed by Google Ventures, SCVNGR is part game, part game platform.  Players play SCVNGR by going places, doing challenges and having fun — outside of the office, beyond the screen, in the real world. Organizations use SCVNGR by building on the game layer by adding their own challenges to the places they care about.”

About Seth Priebatsch

“Proud Princeton dropout” Seth Priebatsch runs SCVNGR, a mobile start-up trying to build the game layer on top of the world. Full bio and more links

At last years TEDxAkl event one of the best presentations was by Scott Gilmour of “ihaveadream”

I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Scott before and so when the programme opened at Wesley I took my daughter along for a look. She goes to a decile 10 school not that far away from Wesley but a world away in terms of opportunity and outcomes.

That is – unless some of us help out to change the odds. I have a dream aims to inspire the whole school and related community by helping a whole class.

“Each local “I Have a Dream”® project adopts one entire year level from the founding Primary School. They work with this group of children (“the Dreamers”) and their families year-round from their primary school years through university. Each project has its own unique Project Sponsor(s), its own full time Project Co-ordinator, and its own group of dedicated and committed volunteers.”

“In 2003, the first “I Have a Dream”® project outside of the USA started up at Wesley Primary School in Mt Roskill, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand.”

Scott presented at #tedxakl ’09 last year – here is the video of that presentation.

I’m helping out on TEDxAkl “ideas worth spreading” 2010 this year. You can get your TEDxAkl tickets over here. No essay required this year.