Pittsburgh’s expanding edtech scene continues to form around a small hub of startups popping up in new coworking spaces and tech incubators throughout the city. But several key players in the city’s tech scene have found that listening and collaborating with the people who will use their products—teachers and students—are invaluable in building products that work.

A national video game design contest takes the game controller out of kids’ hands and replaces it with the reins. The National STEM Video Game Challenge, an initiative of the Smithsonian Institution in partnership with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and E-Line Media, is soliciting applications for its fourth annual game design competition. High school and middle school students are invited to submit entries by February 25, 2015.

Both Common Sense Media and the American Academy of Pediatrics weighed in on screen time for young kids last week. With mobile devices proliferating the market, how much screen time makes sense for the little ones? Experts say it depends on the content and the context.

What does it take for today’s students to succeed? What is it exactly that makes some learners so self-directed, while others lack motivation? Pittsburgh students let us in on what keeps them engaged, and why it’s not all about grades.

Lucas Blair, game designer and founder of Little Bird Games, spends his third day at the Games+Learning+Society conference and shares his thoughts on the speakers, sessions and even a fun new product.

Little Bird Games founder, Lucas Blair, continues his report from the Games+Learning+Society conference in Madison, WI for Day 2.

Melissa Butler writes a guest post for the Spark blog on her use of inquiry-based learning in her Kindergarten classroom at Pittsburgh Allegheny K-5.

Ready your submissions- the DML2013 proposal deadline is coming up on November 6, 2012!

The SMALLab at Elizabeth Forward Middle School gets some fantastic coverage in Education Week.

eSchool News profiles SMALLab as "First Pennsylvania lab of its kind immerses students in computer simulations for what educators hope is more effective learning"

Funding announced to support pilot programs that leverage collaborations between organizations to create pathways for learning activation

Elizabeth Forward Middle School opens a SMALLab to create multimodal learning environment that reinvents the traditional classroom.

The city of Pittsburgh is a great place to be a kid. Growing up in Pittsburgh means year-round sports games, long afternoons exploring wooded parks and field trips spent in planetariums, zoos and even submarines. But our best resource of all? Our people -- especially our teachers.

Evernote and Moleskine join forces to create a unique product that bridges the gap between paper and pixels.

Educators struggle to call an end to summer, just as students do. Here are 5 habits educators should develop for going back to school, brought to you by MindShift.

The White House is pursuing research into the potential civic benefits of video games. USAToday offers insight into this investigation.

Pittsburgh's own Dr. Alice Wilder was mentioned in a recent article by Slate Magazine about educational technology.

The maker movement is more than just a trend; it is a revival of the heart and soul of the American dream where everyone has the potential to push the boundaries of the imagination and create something that has never been done before.

Recent research discovers that having good health may ultimately lead to getting better grades. Huffington Post provides support for this argument.

Seema Patel and Patrick Mittereder joined K+C Network members today for a luncheon of learning at The Children's Home & Lemieux Family Center to discuss information from the Sandbox Summit

Spark, Kids+Creativity Network members joined IFVP participants and Activation Lab researchers in an interactive conversation about Activation.

The Digital Media and Learning Badge Development Research Competition is making a call for proposals! Learn how to gain $75,000-$250,000 for your research!

Gamification can do a lot of things, but can it solve world peace? One educator seems to think so, and before you make up your mind, you may want to take a look at his innovative lesson plan.

PA Legislators and Governor Tom Corbett expanded tax breaks to corporations in return for donations made for private school scholarships.