Interactive Games

Deconstructing Spongebob: Reasoning, Research, & Critical Thinking

September 19, 2011 by Amy Jussel 6 Comments

Sept. 19, 2011 “So, Amy, whose side are you on with the pundits talking and the press reporting about the new University of Virginia Spongebob research?” Whaaaa? Sides? Really? That's cartoonish, like this editorial/visual statement at Beartoons.com at left... Last I checked, the ability to use critical thinking skills was rarely a "one-sided" stance. I tend to take a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Product Placement, Shaping Youth Tagged With: AAP, ad-creep, AngrySlop, brains and TV, branding-youth, cartoon characters, Cartoon Monickers, cartoon-products, cartoons influence, CCFC, child development, childrens cognitive inability to understand, commercial brands, consumption, Critical-thinking-skills, David Kleeman, editorial cartoons, executive function, fast-paced TV, Kids TV, licensed cartoon characters, media watchdogs, media-literacy, merchandising, mugging of Spongebob, neuro cognition, Nickelodeon, pediatrics, pester power, Preschool marketing, Preschool programming, PTC, self-regulation, Spongebob Research, Spongebob Squarebutts, Spongebob Squarepants, University of Virginia, working memory

Selling Reluctant Readers: 10 Marketing Tactics To Amp Up Fun

August 27, 2011 by Amy Jussel 10 Comments

Feb. 14, 2017 Valentine's Day Update: More ways to encourage reading, with therapy dogs (via MindshiftKQED Learning) and a few "Kidlit" picks for Valentine's Day that streamed across my desk, here and here...Off to my new tutoring gig at Reading Partners.org! Jan. 16, 2017 MLK Weekend: Book Three of March is out with Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell and John Lewis' much needed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Counter-marketing, Emerging trends & STEM, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Mobile Media, Apps & Gaming, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth Tagged With: Amy-Jussel, Andew Aydin, banned books, behavioral change, book gimmicks, Boys and Reading, celebrity readers, childrens reading resources, comic books, comics in the classroom, decline in reading, digital media, digital storytelling, edu tech, education, forbidden fruit, Gamification of reading, Getting Boys to Read, graphic novels, GuysRead.com, Harry Potter Alliance, kidlit, Kids & Family Reading Report, kids choice, kids reading less, kids reading more, March, March Book Three, March Book Two, Mo Smells Pink, Nate Powell, online reading, operation teen book drop, PBS Kids, PBS Reading, pleasure reading, Read Kiddo Read, readergirlz, reading, reading games, Reading is Fundamental, reading resources, Real life heroes, Reluctant Readers, Rep. John Lewis, Room to Read, Scholastic study, Storybird, storytelling, Super Why, superheroes, SuperHeroes Documentary, SuperWhy Storybook Creator, teaching with graphic novels, teen lit, Teen Read Week, Tornado Warning, using marketing tactics, Will Smith running and reading, YA books, YALSA

The LAMP Shines Light on Media Literacy: NAMLE Recap

August 5, 2011 by Amy Jussel 3 Comments

Aug. 5, 2011 In internet time, the couple of weeks that have passed since NAMLE (the Nat'l Assoc of Media Literacy Educators' conference) may SEEM like a virtual eternity or 'old news' as digital educators scurry about to start up a NEW school year having picked from an infovore smorgasbord of critical thinking workshops... ...But that's part of the problem in our quick … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Counter-marketing, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, People Shaping Youth, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth Tagged With: 140EDU, Ad satire, Amy-Jussel, BlogHer 2011, children media management, Collaboratory, collective intelligence, collective knowledge, critical thinking, Culture jamming, digital media, DigitalAds.org, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Rushkoff, Emily Long, Erin Reilly, Kelly Mendoza, kids-food-products, kids-media, Lamplatoon, Lampoon, long form blogging, Media Education, media influence, media-literacy, MediaEd Lab, Mohammed Bilal, My Pop Studio, NAMLE, NAMLE 2011, National Assoc of Media Literacy Educators, Renee Hobbs, short attention span world, The LAMP, USC Annenberg, Youth-Media

Harry Potter Alliance: Using Pop Culture Pervasiveness Positively

July 17, 2011 by Amy Jussel 1 Comment

July 17, 2011 No, I haven’t seen the Harry Potter grand finale yet.Yes, it’s been covered from every angle, dominating Twitter streams, Facebook status lines and yielding the largest weekend box office on record with one out of four tickets sold going ka-ching for the wizard boy.And maybe it'll be worthy of the 3D hyped up media zeal, but like the Twilight series or any other … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Counter-marketing, EcoKids-Environment, Emerging trends & STEM, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Mobile Media, Apps & Gaming, People Shaping Youth, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth, Viral & Buzz Media Tagged With: Amy-Jussel, Andrew Slack, blockbuster movies, change agents, changing the channel of influence, Climate Crisis Horcrux, Darkness of Darfur, digital activism, Dumbledore's Army, fandom, Gen Y, Harry and the Potters, Harry Potter Alliance, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, have fun do good, Helping Haiti Heal, HP Alliance.org, HPA, HPAlliance, human rights, inspiring minds, JK Rowling, JK Rowling's Radiohead moment, kids-media, largest weekend boxoffice, Leaky Con 2011, make a difference, Media-Influence-Kids, media-literacy, Mobilizing Youth, Pottermore, Quidditch, reach and teach, send out a howler, social change, social justice, social media activism, social media mobilization, spark change, summer hit movies, teaching moments, The weapon we have is love, Twilight saga, world changing

Grab-n-Go Squeezable Pouch Foods: Ease or Eww?

June 30, 2011 by Amy Jussel 29 Comments

Oct. 16, 2015 Update: Heads up on the voluntary recall of GoGoSqueez pouches with these summer 2016 pull dates, which have had mold discovered in them. I first found the mold in our own stash in the garage when my volleyball crew gave me a wince-worthy 'eww' but I couldn't find any damage to the packaging and it seemed random, since I tried one myself, so I hadn't tossed … [Read more...]