Reimagine Learning
Second Avenue Impact July 2020
A thin slice of the type of work we do and why we do it. In a word, impact.
Second Avenue “Being An Agent of Change”
When we founded Second Avenue in 2006, it was with the mission of improving learning outcomes for all learners. Since our inception, we have focused our work on the twin pillars of equity and efficacy. When we were proposing the development of our middle school science games, we used this graph to explain our urgency to the National Science Foundation. We said, as a country, we need to do better. They agreed. We remain committed to being an agent of change.
Second Avenue Welcomes Summer Interns
For the past year University of Rochester graduate Tallis Polashenski has been leading content development for Library of Congress project Voices for Suffrage. The project is going so well we were able to bring on two summer interns to help with our research and primary source attribution. We would like to introduce you to Callie Slevin and Sara Swihart both college students from Smith College.
Four Generations of Games & Fun Nintendo Switch
If you are looking for additional ideas for the family this summer, a great way to strengthen inter-generational connections is Nintendo Switch. Released earlier this year,The Original Mobile Games collection put 149 years of playable game history into the hands of game enthusiasts of all ages! The game features playable digital reproductions of historic dexterity games and puzzles, complete with original art, photographs and background information for each game straight from the archives of the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. The games all use motion controls and require the player to tilt, turn and tap their Switch to complete the puzzles.
Here a few of the games you will find:
- Pigs in Clover: An 1889 game in which players navigate four balls through a maze
- Aero Race: Players “Pilot” three “jumping beans” from one corner of the game to the other as they recreate the competition to fly from New York to Paris
- Niagara Puzzle: Players must send a stream of balls into the whirlpool at the bottom of the Falls
Staff from The Strong, Second Avenue and faculty and students from RIT spent months researching, playing, and photographing the original games in The Strong’s collection to capture this history and the games’ exact mechanics. A highlight for us was seeing Game Grumps review of the Original Mobile Games making it the first viral mobile game. Perhaps we are all a bit nostalgic right now and playing these games evokes the past and inspires new memories.
These games are available to download in the App Store and Google Play.
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