Rethinking Personalized Learning: The End of Average
I was recently at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum just outside of Washington, DC with my sons. We were looking at the amazing variety of planes and spacecraft including the Columbia Space Shuttle. As we were looking inside some of the older...
The Story Behind Vocab Lab
"Vocab Lab" is a word analysis game on Speak Agent that began with the problem of learning "tier two" words. Many experts classify vocabulary into three tiers. While these vocabulary tiers may not apply to English language learners (ELLs) in quite...
Reading texts are best aligned with content, not skill levels
An excellent article published by The Atlantic (view it here) captured key findings from NAEP reading panelists, wholast weekexamined why reading scores have remained flat for two decades.
NSF Study: Speak Agent Accelerates Learning Science Vocabulary and Concepts
Research Design
A National Science Foundation-funded study found significant gains in science concept knowledge usingSpeak Agent'sgame-based learning program after just a few hours of classroom use. Four second-grade classes and two third-grade...
The Story Behind Tall Tales
I walked into the MediaBarn User Experience Lab thinking that I knew exactly how the first, second, and third-grade students would use our new learning game prototype. "Tall Tales" is a Mad Libs™-style cloze activity where kids fill in the blanks by...
The Story Behind Scrambled Sentences
Outside South Lake Elementary School in mid-February, snow was still piled high atop grassy medians and street corners. Inside, kids raced, hopped, spun, and meandered around the warm cafeteria. It was pizza time! This was my first visit to Dream...
NSF Awards Speak Agent Phase II SBIR
Last night the National Science Foundation notified us of a two-year Phase II SBIR grant award that will fund further research and development of our digital platform for academic language learning, especially for English Language Learners (ELLs)....
