PRESENTS APRIL 15 AND 16, 2013 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CAMBRIDGE, MA is a series of conferences designed to address how technology affects the ways kids play, learn, and connect. As technology is woven into every aspect of our children’s lives, Sandbox Summit raises the bar on questions surrounding the use and development of their new toys and tools. Through high-energy presentations, innovative demonstrations, original research, and thought-provoking discussions with industry and media leaders, analysts, journalists, educators and parents, each Summit strategically intermingles disciplines and viewpoints so that we never talk to a room full of nodding heads. The goal of every Sandbox Summit is to collaboratively encourage kids to become creative, critical thinkers in the 21st century. our mission Play is how kids learn. By creating a forum for conversation around play and technology, Sandbox Summit strives to ensure that the next generation of players becomes active innovators, rather than passive users, of technology. 2 Pixel the Possibilities welcome Returning to MIT for this, our ninth Sandbox Summit, and fourth event in Cambridge, underscores how far we’ve come in our exploration of technology and play. What were once (a mere childhood ago) considered groundbreaking innovations (Furby! iPods! The Wii!) are now mainstream items, or worse, last year’s news. Imagining the future in a world that changes at the speed of a tweet is a daunting task. Pıxel The Possibilities: Nurturing kids’ imagination in the digital age is more than an attempt to map the future; it’s an opportunity to control the future. By sharing our diverse intelligences in a collaborative venue, we hope to inspire new thinking, new relationships, and yes, even new companies to lead the way we entertain, educate and engage kids today and tomorrow. Over the next two days, you’ll hear amazing predictions and presentations from media mavens, education experts, and geek gurus. Sit back and listen (or stand up and shout), and go back to your office and act. We know Sandbox Summit will nurture your imagination. Then it’s your job to nurture others. Claire a nd Wendy Nuturing kids’ imagination in the digital age 3 team claire s. green, cofounder pClaire is the president of Parents’ Choice Foundation, the nation’s oldest nonprofit guide to quality children’s media and toys. Since taking the helm in 1999, Claire has been determined to preserve and promote the organization’s reputation as a leading authority in and advocate for quality children’s media and toys. One of the ways she does that is by getting down on the floor and playing with her minions of mini testers. Claire serves on the selection committee for the National Toy Hall of Fame® at the Strong National Museum of Play® and is a member of the TOTY nomination committee. Prior to heading Parents’ Choice Foundation, Claire wrangled the national press corps for Presidential visits, the international press for the 1996 Olympics Broadcasting Unit, and produced award-winning film and video projects. Claire lives in a cabin in the middle of the woods in Maryland with her husband Tom and dog Sammy. wendy smolen, cofounder pWendy has been an astute player in the children’s toy and media industry for nearly 20 years. She tests, evaluates, and critiques products and brands, and often blogs about them on Kidscreen.com. Because her office is wall-to-wall toys, she refers to her business appointments as “playdates.” Wendy has held senior editorial positions at Nick Jr. Family Magazine, Parents, and Toy Wishes. She has appeared on numerous television shows, and has been interviewed by national publications discussing parenting, play and media. She is a member of the TOTY nomination committee and was a judge for the 2012 iKids Awards. She and her husband Paul live in Westport, CT. They have three children whom she credits with keeping her up to speed in social media, since they now text more often than they call. scot osterweil pScot is Creative Director of the MIT Education Arcade, a research director in the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, and a founding member of the Learning Games Network. He is a designer of award-winning educational games, working in both academic and commercial environments, and his work has focused on what is authentically playful in challenging academic subjects. He is the creator of the acclaimed Zoombinis series of math and logic games, and leads a number of projects in the Education Arcade, including Vanished, the MIT/Smithsonian game (environmental science), Labyrinth (math), Kids Survey Network (data and statistics), Caduceus (medical science), iCue (history and civics) and the Hewlett Foundation’s Open Language Learning Initiative (ESL). It was while designing Zoombinis, that he kept recovering his earliest memories of childhood play, and began to recognize all the ways those play experiences continue to be a significant component of his work. Scot is married to Marcia Hulley, an award-winning TV producer at WGBH. They are the parents of sons Willie and Peter. 4 Pixel the Possibilities advisor y boa rd ALICE CAHN Vice President, Social Responsibility, Cartoon Network ALEX CHISHOLM Executive Director, Learning Games Network DREW DAVIDSON, PH.D. Acting Director, Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University, and Editor of ETC Press CARLACARLA ENGELBRECHT ENGELBRECHT FISHER, FISHER, ED.D. PH.D. President and Founder, No Crusts Interactive TERRY FITZPATRICK Chief Content and Distribution Officer, Sesame Workshop JANE GOULD Vice President, Consumer Insights, Nickelodeon/MTV Networks ANDY KAPLAN Chief Financial Officer, DonorsChoose.org ERIC KLOPFER, PH.D. Associate Professor and Director, MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program and Director, MIT Education Arcade STACY LEISTNER Vice President of Strategic Communications, Toy Industry Association SCOT OSTERWEIL Creative Director, MIT Education Arcade MITCHEL RESNICK, PH.D. Professor of Learning Research, MIT Media Lab NANCY SCHULMAN Division Head, Early Learning Center, Avenues: The World School SCOTT TRAYLOR Chief Kid, 360Kid CARLA F. P. SEAL-WANNER, ED.D. Director of Education and Curriculum, FlickerLab ALICE WILDER, ED.D. Chief Content Officer, Speakaboos, and Head of Research and Education, PBS Kids Super Why! Nuturing kids’ imagination in the digital age 5 the game plan I monday, april 15 STATA CENTER AUDITORIUM 7:45 AM I BREAKFAST Sponsored by FableVision 8:15 AM I WELCOME Presented by Scot Osterweil, Creative Director, MIT Education Arcade 8:30-9:15 AM I In the Beginning: Building creativity from the ground up Presented by Andy Clayman, Creative Director, Avenues: The World School pppWhen Andy joined founders Benno Schmidt, Chris Whittle and Alan Greenberg in 2009, Avenues had little more than an extremely discriminating parent body being asked to entrust their most prized possessions to a school that did not yet exist. After hundreds of hours observing curriculum and building design sessions, Andy was challenged to not only create a marketing and branding campaign interpreted across multiple media, but a way to translate creativity to the school, making it an integral part of its culture. As quite possibly the first Creative Director named to a school, Andy will discuss the process behind developing both the Avenues brand of education as well as the brand itself. His insights will illustrate the importance of building creativity into any product—especially one for children—from the foundation up. 9:20-10:00 AM I New Games/Old Rules: How we play today Presented by Margaret Robertson, Managing Director, Hide & Seek pppGames don’t just use technology; they are a technology. In her work, Margaret has used games to get comic book fans to help 8 year-olds learn about Saxon etymology, introduce iPhone gamers to opera, and help teens understand Chlamydia. At Hide & Seek, gamers play with everything from Kinect cameras and AI parsers to cardboard boxes and beer coasters. In each case, they build on an understanding of the rules games use to redefine space and time. “It’s the principles, not the platforms that teach,”says Margaret. 10:05-10:50 AM I Hacking How We Learn: Everyday lessons in good design Presented by David Sherwin, Principal Designer, frog design pppLocal communities often aren’t empowered with the skills, tools, and time designers have to untangle problems and act on them. How can we take the critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration skills that designers wield and open-source them to our communities? And how can we leverage everyday technologies in ways that make these skills accessible at scale? As the principal designer of a global innovation firm, David will share a set of tools to effectively integrate collective creativity and play into youth and adult education. 10:55-11:15 AM I BREAK 11:20-12:05 PM I A Conversation with Howard Gardner: Creating media for a complex world Howard Gardner, Ph.D., Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Carla F. P. Seal-Wanner, Ed.D., Director of Education and Curriculum, FlickerLab pppHoward Gardner has spent a lifetime thinking about the multiplicity of intelligences that each child brings to learning. His recent work addresses the complexities of education in the age of digital media, relentless change, globalization and cultural confrontation. He argues that in the fast-paced present, multifaceted minds are essential for creative, innovative, and moral citizenship. Carla Seal-Wanner met Gardner as a doctoral student at HGSE, and credits him with influencing her career from the first class she attended. Together, they’ll discuss the ways Gardner envisions ideal formal and informal learning experiences. 12:10-12:55 PM I Growing Up Weird: A story told with words and sounds Presented by Fred Newman, President, Barking Dog Productions pppFred Newman, who creates the sounds and voices for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, offers a very personal look at starting out as an odd child in small-town Georgia in the ’60’s and growing up to become an odd, semi- adult in New York City.