Emerging trends & STEM

Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building Through The Power of Play

November 29, 2012 by Amy Jussel 2 Comments

Nov. 29, 2012 Kuala Lumpur’s famous Petronas twin towers will now always look like ‘stacking cups’ to me, the Guggenheim Museum in New York upside down stacking rings, and Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Stadium a cozy fort “blankets flung, stretched chair to chair”…As I close the picture book “Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building,” brought to life by author and illustrator Christy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Emerging trends & STEM, Media Literacy, People Shaping Youth, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth Tagged With: A Celebration of Building, A+ schools, Art and architecture, award-winning kids books, building kids, building minds, Caine's Arcade, can't be unseen, Case for Make Believe, children's books, Christy Hale, creative thinking, defending pretending, Dreaming Up, early childhood education, ECE, eco art, Edweek arts as essentials, encouraging STEM, engineering, Environment-Kids, Forgiveness Garden, illustrations, imagination, Imagination Foundation, Institute of Play, Lee and Low, Lego, maker faire, multicultural kids books, National Institute for Play, nature of art, once you see it can't be unseen, open ended play, Our School Garden, play, positive kids media, reach and teach, recycled art projects, school gardens, ScrapKins, STEM building toys, Stuart Brown, teaching resources, The Power of Play, unstructured play

Year Round Media That Matters: Positive Picks for Kids

November 26, 2012 by Amy Jussel Leave a Comment

Nov. 26, 2012 With all the coinage and consumption swirling around Black Friday and Cyber Monday for people hunting “deals” I think it’s fitting to honor the organizations that deliver positive media and transformative vision to kids’ lives year-round. It stays with them long after the holiday hoopla and instills the notion that we all have choices in how we want to walk … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Consumerism, Counter-marketing, EcoKids-Environment, Emerging trends & STEM, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth Tagged With: Amy-Jussel, books, cause marketing, Club Chica Circle, consumption, Craig Wiesner, critical thinking, Cyber Monday, Derrick Kikuchi, gender and media portrayals, gender equality, girls leadership, girls self esteem, girls-self-worth, Green Festival, Humane Education, kids online community, meaningful gifts, media mindfulness, Media stereotypes, media-literacy, Nancy-Gruver, New Moon Girls, online gifts for kids, online magazine, positive kids toys, positive media influence, reach and teach, ScrapKins, social justice, teachable moments, Toward the Stars, transform the world, Zoe Weil

Toward The Stars: New Online Marketplace of Goods for Girls to Soar

November 19, 2012 by Amy Jussel 5 Comments

Nov. 20, 2012 “To the moon!” was once an iconic working class phrase that 50s TV star Jackie Gleason made famous in mock-threat to his sitcom wife Alice in The Honeymooners. He'd shake his fist, “why, I oughta…kapow!” Nowadays, media like that would be rightfully trounced and denounced by domestic violence prevention and girl advocates across the board, as we instill … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: A Mighty Girl, Achilles Effect, Amy-Jussel, appearance, Black Friday, brain plasticity, Brave, change the channel of influence, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, curated kids toys, Cyber Monday, Geena Davis Institute, gender in media, Gender Portrayal, girl-empowerment, girlpower, healthier messages, in defense of girlhood, Ines Almeida, kids socioemotional health, Media-Kids, Monster High Dolls, neuroscience, New Moon Girls, No labels no limits, not about pink, PFZ Inc, PigTail Pals, pink and blue, Pink Think, Princess Free Zone, reach and teach, Redefine Girly, STEM programs for girls, stereotypes in toy aisle, Super Tool Lula, to the moon, to the stars, Toward the Stars, toys with positive values, USC Annenberg

Toy Joy or Consumption Junction? Critical Thinking for Holiday Fun

November 15, 2012 by Amy Jussel Leave a Comment

Dec. 7, 2016 Update Why not turn holiday gifting into a media literacy opportunity? Tomorrow I'll be signing up once again for Samaritan House sorting and stocking for kids less fortunate and I can't help but think it'll end up being a blog post about what toys are being gifted and how... From gendered cues to ages and stages, I'm sure it will prove enlightening as I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth Tagged With: Buy Me That, cause marketing, CCFC, change the channel of influence, critical thinking, deconstructing toy ads, eco-friendly toys, empowering gifts for girls, Engage Education, Gender neutral toys, Goldie Blox, Holiday 2012, kids gifts, meaningful gifts, Media Literacy Clearinghouse, Media management, media-literacy, NAMLE, New Moon Girls, pester power, Philosophy for Kids, positive kids toys, project girl, put your money where your mouth is, reach and teach, ScrapKins, social justice, Sophia the Great, SuperToolLula, support healthy media images for girls, teachable moments, Toward the Stars, toys 2012, Zilly

Blizzard’s Snow Job: Security About As Tight As Parental Controls

November 14, 2012 by Amy Jussel 2 Comments

Nov. 14, 2012 Call it karma, payback, or just ‘got caught,’ the class action lawsuit against Blizzard Entertainment (makers of mega-hits like Diablo, World of Warcraft, Starcraft etc) is really about gamers tired of being played.Anyone who thinks youth and gamers “don’t care” about privacy and security might want to watch closely as this media mess unfolds, because it’s an … [Read more...]