July 25 Event

Wednesday's roll out event went well, with about 30 people from MPL and HCL in attendance. Kirsten spoke well about informal learning and the importance of after school programming; Keith did an excellent presentation on Scratch. All nine workstations were filled with experimenters after his presentation. It felt helpful to talk about the Game Studio as a 21st century literacy activity in much the same way story times were 19th and 20th century literacy practices. The increasing global and collaborative workforce has different entry points than previous generations experienced; it is not enough to know how to read and write, but to use higher order thinking and processing skills, creativity, and technology skills fluidly. It is unfortunate that the formal educational system has been mandated to focus on things like No Child Left Behind at the expense of creating engaging and constructionist situations for kids to learn in. Perhaps more than anything else, the capacity to learn, unlearn and relearn (to take from Alvin Toffler) is what will set millennials apart from their elders and ensure their future success in education and the workforce.