SMALLab Learning Announces Winners of the Flow Design Contest for Teachers

Learning CEO.

Teachers were invited to propose ideas for an embodied learning scenarios with Flow that would address difficult learning concepts and an innovative approach to learning. Flow is designed to get students up out of their seats, playfully engaged as they learn. The system uses one Microsoft Kinect™ camera to track students’ movements in real world space. This kinesthetic approach opens new pathways for teaching and learning in the K-12 classroom. Flow can be added to any existing Interactive Whiteboard or other projection system. Judges reviewed the entries to find the best proposals for Flow. In the end, they named one winner and two finalists.

The winner is Dr. Kim Eberle-Wang, an expert science teacher from Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Eberle-Wang remarks, “SCH Academy's mission and curriculum is all about educating students in innovative ways that promote the joy of discovery. I am thrilled that my embodied learning scenario, ‘Darwin’s Finches’ could bring the concept of natural selection to students in an interactive and playful environment using the Flow system. They get to experience natural selection first hand by becoming birds in a virtual environment and competing with each other for food." Learning will build this scenario, making it available to Dr. Eberle-Wang, her students, and all Flow customers this summer.

Two finalists for the contest will be receiving a free Flow installation:

■ “Interactive Reading” by Melissa Borchers of McKeel Academy in Lakeland, Florida

■ “Students in Motion: Erasing the Gap through Motion” by Lauren Brooks and Jerod Johnson of http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/4/prweb9447547.htm