[kids-lib] Possible Resource: Contraption Maker no cost STEM software (FYI)

[Katie Anderson]

Hi! I just received the following promotional email about Contraption Maker which is free STEM software kids can use to make their own digital contraptions and share them with the world.  I thought some of you may be interested.

This is not an endorsement.  Please remember to follow your library’s policies to review all possible resources and/or performers to make sure they are an appropriate fit for your library and community.

For more information, go to: http://contraptionmaker.com/

Questions? Contact:
Deborah Fike
deborah at spotkin.com<mailto:deborah at spotkin.com>
Director of Educational Outreach


Katie Anderson, Library Support and Development Services
* Youth Services Consultant * Oregon Center for the Book Coordinator *
Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301
katie.anderson at state.or.us<mailto:katie.anderson at state.or.us>, 503-378-2528

[StoryTime_GrandeRonde.png]<http://storytimeoregon.com/community-partners/partner-downloads/>
Become a StORytime<http://storytimeoregon.com/community-partners/become-a-partner/> partner!

Hi Katie,

My name is Deborah Fike, and Jo Oshiro of the Oregon Department of Education referred me to you.  I work for Spotkin, based in Eugene, Oregon.  Our latest learning game, Contraption Maker<http://contraptionmaker.com/>, is free to educators.

Contraption Maker provides a set of puzzles that are reminiscent of Rube Goldberg cartoons. Children use hundreds of parts like hamster motors, balls, and conveyor belts to fix broken contraptions. Moving down our knowledge funnel, kids can create their own contraptions and share them with the world.  Advanced students can use our JavaScript modding<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke5OpjVKQjI> capabilities to truly make the game their own.  It’s an engaging digital sandbox that promotes creativity by experimenting with logical cause and effect consequences.

Contraption Maker was chosen as a Best EdTech App<https://www.graphite.org/top-picks/best-edtech-of-2014> of 2014 by Graphite.  We know Contraption Maker is effective in the classroom because it is the modern successor to a game our team built in 1993 called "The Incredible Machine” (TIM).  TIM was used by thousands of classrooms with high accolades.  Many academic researchers used TIM as a model to successfully incorporate video games into classrooms.  We constantly receive feedback from professionals ranging from medical doctors to computer programmers that they choose their career because they played TIM. To learn more, check out our educational page<http://contraptionmaker.com/education/>.

Let me know if you know anyone who might be interested in free educational copies of Contraption Maker.  We'd love to have more Oregonians using our software!

Thank you for your time,
Deborah Fike
deborah at spotkin.com<mailto:deborah at spotkin.com>
Director of Educational Outreach |  www.spotkin.com<http://www.spotkin.com/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/kids-lib/attachments/20141212/dae412a7/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 22483 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/kids-lib/attachments/20141212/dae412a7/attachment.png>