TMCnet News

DevelopHer Toy and Game Challenge Launches at NCWIT Summit
[May 20, 2014]

DevelopHer Toy and Game Challenge Launches at NCWIT Summit


NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. --(Business Wire)--

Actor and activist Maria Bello kicks off a new competition today to encourage the development of new science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-based toys for young children, particularly girls, at the 2014 National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Summit on Women and IT: Practices and Ideas to Revolutionize Computing. The announcement will stream live at www.ncwit.org/livestream today at 6.20 pm PST.

The DevelopHer Toy and Game Challenge builds off research indicating the importance of STEM-based toys for the educational development of children, particularly young girls. "At the Stanford d.school, we've learned that developing analytical excellence and creative bravery in equal measure is essential for nurturing our next generation of leaders and innovators. As such, it's both exciting and essential what the DevelopHer team is doing for kids and for girls especially," said John Kembel, consulting associate professor at Stanford d.school.

The DevelopHer Toy and Game Challenge seeks to bring together an industry coalition of toy manufacturers, technology companies, and retail partners to spur the production of more STEM-based toys and games for young children. Today's kick off showcases 10 companies - including The LEGO Group and its LEGO® MINDSTORMS EV3 robotics platform - that already are producing STEM-related toys.

"The research overwhelmingly shows that math in particular plays a significant role in a child's decision to continue to pursue STEM subjects and careers later on in life," said Andrea Guendelman, co-founder, DevelopHer. "Young girls are at even more risk because there are fewer STEM toys and games for them to choose."

Current academic research indicates that spatial ability has a direct connection with the likelihood of earning an advanced STEM degree. Research suggests that spatial skills can be improved with practice and use, particularly early in life, which is one reason why the DevelopHer is spurring industry to act.

"We designed DevelopHer Toy and Game Challenge to encourage designers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and the industry as a whole to move faster to close the gap," said Carrie van Heyst, co-founder, DevelopHer. "Based on our conversations with the industry, thee's a growing recognition of the need to do more and the market opportunity behind it. The question now is - who will move the fastest?"



Many toy and game companies already recognize the market demand and are eager to be part of this quickly growing category of STEM-based toys. At today's summit, companies including Build & Imagine, Geo MagNet, littleBits, Modular Robotics, Sphero, Play Works Studio, Mindware, ThinkFun, and Roominate are showcasing their toys and games.

The DevelopHer Toy and Game Challenge also has enlisted a panel of industry experts to serve as judges of the competition including Geena Davis, the Academy Award-winning actor and founder, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; Ibrahim Al Husseini, philanthropist and venture capitalist; Leslie Rottenberg, senior vice president of Children's Media, PBS; Lucy Sanders, CEO and co-founder, NCWIT; Mary Couzin, CEO and founder, Chicago Toy & Game Group; and Jocelyn Goldfein, director of engineering, Facebook (News - Alert).


The DevelopHer Toy and Game Challenge is open to any individual or company (for-profit or non-profit) that has an idea or a prototype for a toy, game, app or video game, that has not been published yet, that develops spatial skillsĀ and other abilities crucial for STEM fields and is designed to engage children, especially girls. The Challenge looks for toys and games for different age ranges, such as ages 3-5, ages 6-8, and ages 9-12. The DevelopHer Toy and Game Challenge recently welcomed its first international partner, DIRECTV PanAmerica.

The 2014 NCWIT Summit will be streamed live at www.ncwit.org/livestream, provided by Turner Broadcasting (News - Alert) System, Inc. The annual NCWIT Summit convenes more than 500 prominent social scientists, educators, entrepreneurs, and corporate executives to learn about groundbreaking research, share ideas, and gain inspiration for taking action in support of women and computing. The event is sponsored by NCWIT's Strategic and Investment Partners, and co-hosted by Qualcomm. Additional support is provided by Cox Communications, Johnson & Johnson, MakerBot, Microsoft (News - Alert) and Rapt Media. Find out more about the NCWIT Summit content and schedules at www.ncwit.org/summit."

DevelopHer is the first and only non-profit organization whose sole purpose is the development, acceleration and distribution of STEM-related toys. For more information, go to www.developherchallenge.org.


[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]