| | Early-bird Registration Ends Soon! Constructing Modern Knowledge 2014 promises to be the world's premiere professional learning event for interested in learning-by-doing. Register today and save! Spend four glorious days in Manchester, NH immersed in personally meaningful project development with a mountain of new technology, craft materials, books, toys, and a world-class faculty eager to support your learning. Visit the legendary MIT Media Lab for a reception hosted by Dr. Mitchel Resnick, creator of Scratch and Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten Research Group before a big night out in Boston. Spend time with the world's preeminent treehouse designer and star of TV's Treehouse Masters, Pete Nelson, and expert on play, learning, and creativity, Dr. Edith Ackermann, a protégé of Piaget, Papert, and Van Glasserfeld. Our expert faculty includes: Dr. Cynthia Solomon, co-creator of the Logo programming language; Eric Rosenbaum, co-inventor of the MaKey MaKey; Brian Silverman, designer of countless programming environments for learning; and Joey Hudy, called "one of the 10 smartest kids on the planet," by Make Magazine. CMK participant experiences with Arduino, 3D printing, robotics, wearable computing, programming, design, filmmaking, music composition, invention, engineering, tinkering, and more add to a modern educator's toolbox. "We need something like Constructing Modern Knowledge in every town and village..." - MacArthur Genius & legendary school reformer Deborah Meier. | | We Booked Him Before the White House Did! As the level of technical sophistication of some CMK projects increases each year, we needed to add some serious expertise to our faculty. That's why I have added master maker, Joey Hudy, to the exceptional CMK 2014 faculty. Two weeks ago, The White House, invited Joey to be the guest of the First Lady of the United States of America Michelle Obama in her box for the annual State of The Union Address. In addition to the SOTU, Joey did a number of interviews with television stations, including CNN. Make Magazine called Joey, "one of the ten smartest kids on the planet." Since we confirmed Joey for CMK 2014, he was hired by Intel as the youngest corporate intern ever employed by the company. (Joey is 16 years-old) Congrats to Joey! We can't wait to learn with you this July 8-11th! | | FREE KINDLE VERSION OF INVENT TO LEARN In honor of the birthdays of Thomas Edison, Jules Verne & Charles Darwin (all with birthdays within a week of each other), the Kindle (e-book) version of Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom is FREE! ONE DAY ONLY! Read the book leading technology journalist Larry Magid called "the bible of the Maker Movement in schools". On Tuesday, February 11th (Edison's birthday) the Kindle version of Invent to Learn will be free. (Start and end times are approximately midnight Pacific time.) Please tell your friends and colleagues to go to http://inventtolearn.com/free to receive their free eBook. | | | Upcoming Keynotes and Professional Development Gary and Sylvia will be in a city near you! | | Congratulations Marvin! Our friend, Dr. Marvin Minsky, one of the world's greatest living scientists is the recent the $540,000 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the information and communication technologies category. The award, second in prize money to the Nobel Prize, was for Dr. Minsky's pioneering work in artificial intelligence. Each year at Constructing Modern Knowledge, Dr. Minsky has generously led "a fireside chat" for interested participants. This is another example of how CMK creates learning opportunities for educators unavailable elsewhere. We sure hope 2014 will mark Marvin's 7th fireside chat at CMK. | | Media You Can Use Video and articles by authors of Invent To Learn Gary Stager Sylvia Martinez Sylvia Martinez & Gary Stager [article] The Maker Movement Believes In 'Kid Power' (EdWeek) [video] Making the Case for Making in Schools (Maker Faire feature) | | | | | Gary Stager to Keynote NCCE Conference Gary will deliver his new keynote address, "Making, Love, and Learning" at the 2014 NCCE Conference in Seattle, WA on March 14th. Click here for more information. Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez have been leading sold-out Invent To Learn Workshops around the world and are off to Mumbai later in February to lead a workshop at ASB Unplugged. Excited educators learned how invention, design, and making can transform learning, plus had a great time! Squishy Circuits, Robotics, LEGO, Wearable Computing, Arduino, Turtle Art, Cardboard Construction and more were all on the menu! Gary will follow his presentations at the conference with another weeklong residency at The American School of Bombay. Over the next few months, Gary Stager will also keynote conferences in Marin County, California; Red Deer, Alberta; and Singapore. He will also be speaking at the ASCD and NSBA national conferences. Contact us to arrange speaking, PD, or workshops for parents or teachers. | | Innovative PD Funding Tip! Three high schools partnered to bring Gary Stager in for a day of professional development, and hands-on design workshops. | | | "Inspirational"... "helpful"... "lively"... "provocative"... "stirring" ...."practical" ... "dynamic"... | | | Plan Ahead! | | Fantastic Ideas Our friend, Dr. Leah Buechley - inventor of the Lilypad micro controller and e-textiles pioneer - has co-authored a beautiful new book filled with practical and fun soft circuitry projects perfect for the classroom. | | | | | | Over four days in Hong Kong this past December, Gary Stager taught more than 500 kids and their teachers to begin programming, including in this class at The Canadian International School of Hong Kong where Gary taught the entire 6th grade for several hours. In each case, Gary led a completely different activity in each classroom in order to create multiple models to inspire teachers. | | Bought the Book? Get the Kindle version for only $2.99! | | | Hot New Book! The San Francisco Exploratorium has just published a spectacular new book, chock full of project ideas, and with a conductive ink cover, called, The Art of Tinkering. The book is a must-have for creative parents and educators. | | | Hot New Book! The San Francisco Exploratorium has just published a spectacular new book, chock full of project ideas, and with a conductive ink cover, called, The Art of Tinkering. The book is a must-have for creative parents and educators. | | | Gary Stager will be in Asia in mid-April and return to Australia & New Zealand in late May - mid-June. Email gary@stager.org if you're interested in speaking, PD, or consulting. | | | | | | | |