Suzi Wilczynski – Page 8

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Explore ExoPlanets With Dr. Oluseyi

Dr. Hakeem talks to students at Roosevelt High School “If you can see it, you can believe you can do it, then you will do it.” This was just one of the many pieces of advice from Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi to students at Roosevelt High School (part of DCPS) in Washington, D.C.. Many of the students had played our game, Exotrex, in class and were excited to find out that Dr. Hakeem is the voice of Dr. Burke from our game! Many of the DC Public Schools (DCPS) do a great job of promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers and Roosevelt HS is no different. We were so thrilled that both Dr. Hakeem and our DIG-IT! Games senior artist, Mikel Wellington, were able to speak to these eager students as part of Black History Month.

Dr. Hakeem talks to students at Roosevelt High School

Dr. Hakeem’s resume is long and impressive. He holds a Master’s Degree and PHD in Physics from Stanford. He is an astrophysicist, cosmologist, inventor, educator, actor, and humanitarian. Currently he hosts Outrageous Acts of Science on the Science Channel and is an Space Science Education Manager for NASA. By his list of accomplishments, it may seem that he has little in common with students from an urban school district, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Planetary Science Can Change Your Life

During two assemblies in the high school’s auditorium, Dr. Hakeem spoke about his tough upbringing moving around a lot with his single mother. He spoke to the DCPS students about dropping out of college because math was too hard and he didn’t think he could do it. When he finally decided to go back, he worked through every single calculus problem in the textbook to learn it. He emphasized setting goals and being persistent even thought other people may not believe in you. He discussed the stigmas involved in race and physical appearance and urged the students to look past what is expected of them to what they are truly passionate about.

WormHoles, Time Travel, and Black Holes Can Lead to Career Goals

The teachers then chose a few students to have lunch with Dr. Hakeem and Mikel. One student walked in with a list of questions for the astrophysicist that included discussing wormholes, time travel, and black holes all of which Dr. Hakeem responded to enthusiastically. It was very inspiring to watch the students interact personally with both Dr. Hakeem and Mikel.

This is what Mikel had to say about the experience:

“What an experience to see the future of your craft reflected at you. That was the immediate personal reaction that I had attending Roosevelt HS this past Friday to speak to many of the young scholars there. One of the key aspects that we tried to focus on was the importance of setting goals and the follow through no matter what their passions are. It’s not only important to have a dream and to believe that it is obtainable with undeniable sincerity and drive, but to also move in that direction with the mentality that failure is impossible. One of the most important aspects of any type of artistic production is not just theory, but the actual act of doing that task. I spoke with a young man who had a passion for movies and wanted to get into film. The level of excitement that he had in his eyes and how he spoke to the things he wanted seemed to unlock with encouragement. For that young film maker, encouraging him to make films now with his camera on his phone, and free editing software in his free time was an avenue I don’t believe he had yet considered. This was enough to spark a level of focus and purpose that he hadn’t yet unlocked, and to me that was everything.

One of the things I realized when speaking to this wonderful group of kids was that they weren’t aware that even at this stage in their lives, they have the power to create right now. I’m very thankful for my time there and having the opportunity to share my life experiences with these young scholars. I can’t wait to see what they contribute to the world not only in our future tomorrow, but also today.”

Students at Roosevelt after hearing from Dr. Hakeem

Breakout of Your Old Lesson Plan!

What if there was a lesson plan that uses your curriculum to teach teamwork, troubleshooting, critical thinking and problem solving? Would you use it? One of the newest activities for students to experience in the classroom is “Breakout: Edu”.

Have you experienced an “Escape Room” yet? If you haven’t heard about them, a team of people get locked into a room and must solve clues to find the way out of the room. The rooms are themed: Pirates, Indiana Jones, the 80’s, the 90’s, Harry Potter, and so on which only make the games more popular.

Educators have taken this idea and put it into practical use in the classroom. This changes the game from breaking out of a room to finding combinations to open a series of locks on a box to find a reward. This game lends itself to a wide array of skills for students such as critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. BreakoutEdu is a company that sells inexpensive kits that include the box, locks, UV flashlight, and more but it is also relatively easy to buy your own materials.

The popularity of this game proves that this game can be a standard in a class where students are having fun and collaborating while applying their knowledge! They aren’t just answering trivia questions, they are actively using the information they learned in a class to achieve a purpose. The questions can be adapted to ANY subject or content area and mini activities can add depth and fun. It is also very easy to adapt this game digitally and let students play individually or in small groups.

This form of problem-solving has many teachers and administrators excited! There is huge potential in using breakout activities as performance-based learning. By pairing cross-curricular content with puzzles, riddles, questions and clues, teachers are able to build hands-on experiences where students can apply their schema, reasoning, critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills to show their mastery of the curriculum. This fantastic opportunity for engaging learning has even been adapted as young as kindergarten!

Here at Dig-It! Games, we love to see the intersection of learning and fun and applaud anything that can do this. Have you tried a Breakout in your classroom? What did you think?

Top 10 Reasons for Breakouts by Sylvia Duckworth and Maria Galanis

STEM & CES 2017

The extremely popular Consumer Electronics Show wrapped up earlier this month in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s always exciting to bring the best and the brightest in technology to one place to show off their new technology. So while it’s amazing to look at the self-driving cars and the super-thin TVs, here in the studio we love looking at learning gadgets.

One of the biggest goals in any educational setting today is including more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) courses. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) say employment in occupations related to STEM is projected to grow to more than 9 million between 2012 and 2022. As we know at Dig-It! Games, one of the best ways to engage students in learning is with games.

The biggest hits at CES this year seemed to revolve around robots and programming. Lego came out with Boost, a more simplified version of Mindstorms, where kids as young as seven can follow the kit and build robots or castles and then make them move. Another company, Circuit Cubes, actually works with certain lego kits and challenge kids to learn about engineering electronics. Players learn about magnets, batteries, and currents while creatively playing.

Another one of the hottest toys for the last few years has been drones. The company RoboLink came up with CoDrone where kids can program their drone to do amazing things. According to their website, kids can program the drone to follow them, engage in laser fights, go through a maze, and more.

These toys go right along with Dig-It!’s idea that learning and fun go hand in hand. Kids can build, be creative, have fun and learn all at the same time. Another important aspect that I think we will see in the future is that kids who learn these skills from one toy will realize how easy it is to transfer to another toy. They are flexible with their skills and able to adapt to different toys which will be extremely helpful as they get older.

Dig-It! Games believes in the power of STEM and the importance of introducing students to these fields through engaging games. We have recently released Exotrex which is a science adventure game for middle school students that reinforces chemistry and planetary science as students aim to save humanity. Sound like a tall order? The game itself is fun, but preparing the next generation to meet our nation’s need to for STEM-based workers is the real challenge! Check out Exotrex today and join our efforts to prepare students for the future, one game at a time.

Comment below and let us know what your favorites were from CES.

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3 Cheers for STEM Night!

You’ve probably heard the acronym STEM used more and more lately in relation to education. You probably also know that it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. But what do those subject areas really mean for education? Why are they important? How do they help kids learn and grow, in and out of the classroom?

A few years ago, Education Week published an article online stating that “STEM is more than just a grouping of subject areas. It is a movement to develop the deep mathematical and scientific underpinnings students need to be competitive in the 21st-century workforce.” That’s also what President Obama said in 2010 when he set a clear goal for STEM education: motivate and inspire American students to excel in STEM subjects so that within the next decade, they will no longer be in the middle of the pack for STEM achievement but leaders of a competitive global community.

“This movement goes far beyond preparing students for specific jobs,” the Education Week article goes on to say. “STEM develops a set of thinking, reasoning, teamwork, investigative, and creative skills that students can use in all areas of their lives.”

A school STEM Night is a great way to include families, educators, and the community in supporting students’ ability to do just that. On Tuesday, March 22nd, Bethesda Elementary students in grades K-5 get a chance to display their STEM projects at the annual STEM Night celebration. With the help of teachers and parents, students chose topics they were interested in learning more about. They applied the scientific method to a hands-on investigation that produced results. They worked individually and in teams to build creative displays that will communicate their discoveries to the STEM night audience.

STEM education is close to our hearts at Dig-It Games. We’re a company that uses technology to produce video games that teach and support these vital subjects. We are deeply invested in the national dialog on STEM, and we believe in the power of game-based learning to promote STEM education in schools and new and fun ways.

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We loved being a part of Bethesda Elementary’s STEM night last year. Dig-It staff members Dayle and Steve ran our exhibit table as well as checking out and admiring students’ STEM-related projects and getting a chance to interact with parents, educators, and especially kids. Their favorite part of the night was seeing how excited students were to play, and meeting parents who were just as excited as the kids! Some kids ditched their parents for the games right away, some kids didn’t want to let go of the games, and some kids competed with their parents! In fact, there was so much interest that we ran out of devices for visitors to play on.

This year, we’re honored to be invited back again, along with C3 Cyber Club, KID Museum, Under the Sea‘s mobile aquarium, and Montgomery County Public Library. We’re bringing more devices and more DIG folks. We will also be exhibiting some of our unreleased titles before they are seen by the general public. Students can comment and give feedback on a game-in-progress, which is known in the industry as beta testing, an essential part of product development. This little bit of behind-the-scenes insight fits right in with the STEM movement’s goal of motivating kids to pursue intellectual curiosity, and equipping them for hands-on, innovative problem-solving.

DIG_Bethesda-Elementary_Science-Fair

“We love events like this where we interact with our end users,” says Dig-It Games president Suzi Wilczynski. “Being around students, parents, and teachers helps us to make sure that our games are meeting the needs of those whose opinions we trust and follow. It also supports our belief that game-based learning enriches education by encouraging critical thinking, independent learning, and the joy of intellectual discovery. Bethesda Elementary’s STEM Night is an event we look forward to attending.”

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“We’re thrilled that Dig-It Games has again partnered with us,” says Kenneth Tercyak, a co-organizer of the event. “Bethesda Elementary students enjoy learning about computer science and its application to game design. It’s a great way to help build their interest in STEM and STEM careers.”

Follow STEM Night as it happens at https://twitter.com/bethesda_es.

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The FETC 2016 Experience

Dig-It! Games joined nearly 10,000 education leaders and tech experts at the 38th annual Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC). From our participation in an exclusive Game-Based Learning Summit to the Education Arcade on the show floor, we loved sharing our games and insights.

GBL Summit attendees at FETC 2016

As part of the GBL Summit, Suzi Wilczynski, Dig-It! Games’ Founder and CEO, led a discussion on important features of game-based learning, including how to make it easier to find, evaluate and utilize games in teaching. GBL Summit attendees also took place in a 3 Digits competition and found out more about Dig-It! Games classroom resources.

FETC attendees getting hands-on demos of Dig-It! Games in the Education Arcade

Dig-It! Games also offered hands-on demos in Exhibit Hall’s Education Arcade. Thank you to all the educators, FETC and our GBL Summit partners for a great conference!

FETC 2016 Game Based Learning Workshop from DigItGames

Join Dig-It! Games at FETC 2016

The Dig-It! Games team is heading to Orlando next week to join teachers, administrations and other educational technology advocates at the 38^th annual Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC).

On January 12, Dig-It! Games is partnering with FETC, BrainPOP and the Learning Games Network on the Game-Based Learning Summit, a day-long professional development session on integrating game-based learning in the classroom. As part of the GBL Summit, Suzi Wilczynski, Dig-It! Games’ Founder and CEO, will lead a discussion on important features of game-based learning, including to how to make it easier to find, evaluate and utilize games in your teaching. She will also highlight the Dig-It! Games Teacher Network, its benefits and how attendees can get involved!

Dig-It! Games will also be a part of the Maker’s Space in the FETC Exhibit Hall January 14 and 15. Come meet the team, play games and sign up for our Teacher’s Network. Not attending FETC? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates from the GBL Summit and FETC.

Dig-It! Games Celebrates 10 Days of Giving

Looking to keep children entertained during holiday travel? Or, do you have a new mobile device and are looking for games the whole family can enjoy?

Dig-It! Games is giving away free downloads of our award winning, educational games until the end of 2015!

Our games incorporate age-appropriate content in math, science, social studies and language arts into fun, interactive and engaging learning experiences for kids of all ages. The holidays are a great time for families to expand their vocabulary skills in I Have a Word or go head-to-head testing their math skills against the Maya number system in 3 Digits.

Visit the Dig-It Games page in the Apple App Store each day for a new free educational game, and follow us on Twitter to see that day’s give away.

Happy holidays from Dig-It! Games!

Getting to Know You: Tim Mrozek, Artist

Tim Mrozek is an artist at Dig-It! Games, bringing environments and characters alive through modeling and animation. Tim grew up in Catonsville, which is just outside of Baltimore, and of course, is a huge Orioles fan. He moved to Silver Spring, MD about right years ago to take a job as a 3D artist and animator at the National Institutes of Health. After that, he worked for four years at Pixeldust Studios as Lead 3D Modeler and 3D animator and worked on around 20-25 projects, including Fabric of the Cosmos, Alien Deep, NOVA: Cracking Your Genetic Code, The Smithsonian’s X3D project. Tim was fortunate enough to be nominated for an Emmy for his work as character artist on a Smithsonian Channel show called Mass Extinction: Life on the Brink. Tim studied Animation Major at UMBC. In the spring, He’ll be back at UMBC to teach ART 484 (advanced animation) in the evenings.

Tim sat down to answer some questions about his average day in the studio , what attracted him to educational games and his go-to karaoke songs.

What’s an average day at Dig-It! Games look like for you?

The flow of my day changes pretty frequently, but there are a few things that remain pretty constant. Every day starts with my bike ride from Silver Spring to Bethesda. This, of course, is immediately followed by obtaining coffee. Then I’ll settle down at my desk where I’ll do a quick visual review of any works in progress posted by the other artists. After that it really varies on a daily basis. Sometimes I get right into zbrush and start sculpting a 3D model for one of our games, or I’ll open Photoshop and get to work designing the UI for one of our games, or menus. Sometimes it’s a team meeting to critique each others work and discuss how we want to move forward on a particular design or game. Each day is exciting when you have a team of artists you really enjoy working with, and the dev team isn’t too bad either.

What got you interested in game design?

I’ve always been incredibly intrigued by video games since the first time I played an NES. As a 32 year old, video games as a whole are only a few years older than me, so I’ve always been incredibly excited to age along with games. The moment that I really knew I wanted to pursue making games was when I first played Riven: The Sequel to Myst. I had never seen CG look so incredible. The mindblowing still renders in that game, combined with the really challenging, naturally integrated puzzles and story took me completely off-guard. I knew that I wanted to learn how to do this, and if I got lucky, make a living making games for the rest of my life. I’ve even joined a team of volunteers, called The Starry Expanse, that are rebuilding this inspirational game for the new generation using the Unreal Engine.

What is your favorite video or digital game from childhood?

Since I already mentioned Riven, I’ll go with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This wasn’t the first 3D game I had played, but it was the first 3D game in my favorite series of games (Legend of Zelda). This game gave me a whole new perspective of what was possible in a video game. I have probably replayed this game about 10 times in my life. While small by today’s standards, the open world felt endless to me at the time. The first time I stepped onto Hyrule Field I felt like I was given complete freedom to explore anywhere I wanted, and I had never experienced this in a video game before.

What drew you to Dig-It! Games?
I’ve always been interested in using animation and CG for education. Before Dig-It! Games I was working at Pixeldust Studios where I was creating animation for Smithsonian Channel, National Geographic, and Discovery. I have always gravitated to games and TV that explore science, archaeology, and education as a whole. This, combined with my interest in making video games made Dig-It! a pretty natural choice. I love the idea of creating games that will inspire creativity and exploration in a new generation of kids.

What song would you sing at karaoke and why?
Funny you should ask, I was just at a karaoke party a week or two ago, and I sang three songs. Bad Romance, by Lady Gaga, Heaven on Their Minds from Jesus Christ, Superstar and In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins.

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