AnnMaria De Mars

Numbers in AR app showing answer to 7 x 8 — I cannot emphasize enough the importance of algebra As a professor, I saw SO many students enter college with high hopes, only to run into the obstacle of their first college level math course. One of two things happened. Either they dropped out of college altogether when they found out […]

How to help your child get ready for algebra: Easy ...

14 May, 2019 in AnnMaria / Educational Games / Math by AnnMaria De Mars

calculator made of chocolate — I didn’t need a special week to tell me that Sister Marion, Mr. Cartwright and Dr. Eyman had a positive impact on my life. They were my teachers in sixth-grade, eighth-grade and in my Ph.D. program and not coincidentally, all of them were math teachers. Most of us, no matter […]

Teacher Appreciation: Putting our Money Where our Mouth Is

8 May, 2019 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria by AnnMaria De Mars

Native character saying you know how to compare like fractions — You probably know how to compare fractions with like denominators, but what about fractions that don’t have the same denominator?Well, to compare fractions with unlike denominators rewrite the fractions with like common denoinators, making the like fractions! Learn fractions and how to compare them with this video from our game […]

VIDEO – How to Compare Fractions with Common Denominators

3 May, 2019 in 7GenGames / Educational Games / Educational Resources / Fifth Grade / fractions / Math / Mathematics / Teachers by AnnMaria De Mars

Emilia drawing while watching an instructional video, surrounded by art supplies and the remains of her breakfast — When my four children were school age – and two of them home schooled – certain people made comments behind my back about the state of my housekeeping. Some even said it to my face. I often get asked how I manage to do it all and the answer is […]

Good parents have messy houses

2 May, 2019 in AnnMaria / Parenting Like I Know What I'm Doing by AnnMaria De Mars

Hunter walking 3/6 of the way to a meeting place — Look how far we've come! I wonder what those people who saw our very early efforts expected. If you're one of them, please take a second look because I'm sitting here grinning thinking how surprised you're going to be.

If you haven’t seen us lately, you haven’t seen us

22 Apr, 2019 in AnnMaria / Educational Games / Game Progress by AnnMaria De Mars

Fish Lake — The good news to report to you is that Fish Lake Adventure is now in the app store for iPad. All of you who have asked for our game that teaches fractions to be available for iPad, here it is! It also teaches Ojibwe history and culture. Let me tell […]

At what age can your children know fishing and hunting ...

14 Apr, 2019 in AnnMaria / Educational Games / Educational Resources by AnnMaria De Mars

Staff with no unicorns shirt — A week ago, I wrote about how, despite heroic efforts on the part of many teachers and administrators and some success stories, the problems I see in education today are the same as when I began teaching in Banning and Riverside, CA almost 35 years ago. If nothing changes, nothing […]

How to change education: Rant part 2

8 Apr, 2019 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM by AnnMaria De Mars

view from airplane window — When releasing 2 games isn’t what took most of my time this month, you know it has been crazy busy. Start a company so your time is your own, they said… Shaking my head so hard I think it will fall off. We DID release two games that got overshadowed […]

9 cities, 2 games & Wrestlemania

3 Apr, 2019 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

girl in pit — For the past several weeks we have been criss-crossing the country talking to teachers and administrators. Thank you immensely for all who took the time to meet with us, attend our workshops and visit our booths at conferences, from Long Beach, California to Spirit Lake, North Dakota. If you still […]

Nothing changes in education when nothing changes

30 Mar, 2019 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM by AnnMaria De Mars

Daniel — If a picture is worth 1,000 words, an educational video should be worth at least 10,000, don’t you think? So, what’s videopalooza? Do you have enough time to make videos for your class? In my life, whether I was teaching middle school math or multivariate statistics to graduate students, I […]

Videopalooza! A video is worth 10,000 words

10 Mar, 2019 in 7GenGames / Educational Resources by AnnMaria De Mars

We have come a long way with math games, from our start with Spirit Lake: The Game. I will never be able to say thank you enough to the teachers at Turtle Mountain and Fish Lake for helping us with our very buggy first version. How you like me now? […]

How a math game evolved on an American Indian reservation

26 Feb, 2019 in 7GenGames / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

Last post, I talked a little bit about why students are not learning math. So, my question here is, how much do you care? No, this is not another rant on how kids would all learn if their teachers cared more, but it is a serious question. Unless you are […]

How Much Do You Care if Your Kids Learn Math?

22 Feb, 2019 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Math by AnnMaria De Mars