(Photo from left to right, Michael Cohen, Allison Logan, Candice King-Sadler, Susan Snyder) Presenters: Michael Cohen, Ph.D.: President, The Michael Cohen Group; Candace King-Sadler: Teacher Leader, Cesar Batella School (Bridgeport, CT); Allison Logan: Total Learning Master Trainer; June Malone, Ph.D.: Director of Research and Development, Action for Bridgeport Community Development; Susan Snyder, Ph.D.: President, Arts Education Ideas, LLC and Director, The Total Learning Institute. You have experienced the pressure of local, state, and federal mandates. You imagine infusing the arts into powerful learning, especially for our most vulnerable children. We will introduce Total Learning, where the arts are vehicles for powerful curriculum delivery and for enriching learning while students achieve more and learn deeply. Total Learning gives schools and teachers the tools to bridge theory and practice. We’ll explore program development, funding, implementation, and documentation/research for K-5 programs in low-income urban settings and will provide a ‘how to’ guide to start or continue to deepen your arts integration initiative.  

Survey conducted by The Michael Cohen Group (MCG) gives insight on the purchase and motivations for the “it” gift this holiday season. NEW YORK, Dec. 20, 2012/PR Newswire/- Leading research firm, The Michael Cohen Group, released the results today of a nationwide survey on parental attitudes towards purchasing a touch screen device for their children. The study, conducted from December 17th to 18th, polled 300 parents of children under 18 and found that 45% of parents surveyed have bought or intend to buy a touch screen device for their child this holiday season.  Other findings include: Parents surveyed earning $25,000 a year or below are just as likely to purchase a touch screen as parents earning $75,000 a year and above. Children five and under are just as likely to receive a touch screen this holiday season as children age thirteen to eighteen. Fifty-nine percent of parents with toddler and preschool age children purchased devices not specifically designed for children (e.g. Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Kindle Fire). When asked about their motivations to purchase a touch screen, 64% of parents surveyed indicated that they wanted to help their child’s learning and education, about half of this number (34%) cited entertainment as their primary reason for purchasing a touch screen for their child. See chart for additional parental motivations. "Children find the tactile exploration (tap, drag, swipe) to be a natural extension of the way they explore the world,” said Dr. Martha Hadley, Managing Director at The Michael Cohen Group. “It is not a surprise that educators and parents are quick to recognize the educational potential of these devices.”

UMIGO (YoU Make It GO) is a transmedia property that is designed to engage children ages 6-8 in the exploration of science, technology and mathematical concepts.  UMIGO inspires kids to invent, build and create through collaborative interactive play. It is a math based property that features animated music videos containing original songs from artists such as Bootsy Collins and Biz Markie, an online interactive environment, mobile apps, books board games and more.  The world of UMIGO is populated by geometric building blocks known as UMIS.  The cast of characters includes Bit, the magic box, who gives learners the tools they need to navigate; Dizzy, the big, blue bundle of energy, who provides inspiration and Bean who will help learners execute tasks through her incredible know how. UMIGO is funded by the Ready To Learn Television Program at the U.S. Department of Education and is a partnership that includes: Wildbrain Entertainment, the Michael Cohen Group (MCG), WTTW-Chicago, and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM). The Michael Cohen Group is the research partner for UMIGO. The UMIGO project seeks to gain knowledge of how unmediated learning takes place with new media devices, as well as find new ways to make these technologies appropriate for formal, mediated settings such as classrooms.  In addition, we hope to learn whether the use of media-based interventions allow for a “continuum of learning,” as the content delivered via media platforms moves seamlessly from the classroom to the home and extends learning opportunities for young children. UMIGO outreach programs seek to foster greater student academic achievement for elementary school aged children by working with organizations that target low-income children to promote school readiness.  By offering learning tools that use interactive digital platforms as well as multiple innovative technologies, UMIGO and its outreach partners will engage children in fun new ways to learn math skills.  The UMIGO outreach program will begin this Fall in 10 markets across the U.S., including New York City (Children’s Museum of Manhattan); Bangor, ME (Maine Discovery Museum);  Bozeman, MT (Bozeman Children’s Museum); Oak Ridge, TN (Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge); New Orleans, LA (Louisiana Children’s Museum); San Jose, CA (Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose); Chicago, Illinois (WTTW); Tacoma, WA (KBTC Public Television); Johnston, IA (Iowa Public Television); Carbondale, IL (WSIU). Follow UMIGO on: Facebook:  facebook.com/umigo Twitter:       @umigo YouTube:   youtube.com/umigo