Speakers
Gary Stager, Ph.D.
Since 1982, Dr. Gary Stager has helped school educators around the world embrace computational technology as an intellectual laboratory, vehicle for self-expression, and window onto a world of possibilities for amplifying the potential of each student in preparation for an uncertain future. All of his work is rooted in the Piagetian notion that “knowledge is a consequence of experience.” His activities with teachers and students are guided by a focus on learning-by-doing.
Gary is one of the world’s leading experts and advocates for computer programming, robotics and learning-by-doing in classrooms. In 1990, Dr. Stager led professional development in the world’s first laptop schools and played a major role in the early days of online education. In addition to being a popular keynote speaker at some of the world’s most prestigious education conferences, Gary is a journalist, teacher educator, consultant, professor, software developer, and school STEM. Director. An elementary teacher by training, he has taught students from preschool through doctoral studies.
Dr. Stager’s most recent book is Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50: Future Visions of Education Inspired by Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon’s Seminal Work. Gary is the co-author, along with Sylvia Martinez, of the influential text, Invent To Learn – Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom.
When Jean Piaget wanted to better understand how children learn mathematics, he hired Seymour Papert. When Dr. Papert wanted to create a high-tech alternative learning environment for incarcerated at-risk teens, he hired Gary Stager. This work was the basis for Gary’s doctoral dissertation and documented Papert’s most-recent institutional research project.
Dr. Stager’s work earned a Ph.D. in Science and Mathematics Education and he collaborated on a project that won a Grammy Award. Gary has been invited by Fondazione Reggio Children to lead a public seminar on education, speak with doctoral students in “Reggio Studies,” and teach students in Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Gary is on the advisory board of the NSF-funded project, BJC4NYC: Bringing a Rigorous Computer Science Principles Course to the Largest School System in the US and maintains the world’s largest archive of text and multimedia by Seymour Papert at The Daily Papert.
Gary is the founder and CEO of Constructing Modern Knowledge.
Sylvia Martinez
Sylvia Martinez is the co-author of Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, often referred to as the “bible” of the classroom maker movement. She is a veteran of interactive entertainment and educational software industries, with two decades of design and publishing experience. She is currently president of Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, Cymbal Press, and Constructing Modern Knowledge, LLC, and is principal advisor to the Columbia University FabLearn Fellows, a group of global educators researching and developing hands-on, minds-on projects and curriculum. Sylvia also ran educational non-profits and headed product development for consumer software, video games, and educational games at several software publishing companies.
A former aerospace engineer, Sylvia Martinez helps teachers bring the exciting tools and technology of the modern world to classrooms. She advocates for student-centered project-based learning with an emphasis on STEAM for all.
As president of Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, Sylvia publishes books offering high-quality content and ideas for education in the modern world based on time-honored principles of hands-on, minds-on education.
Martinez started her career designing high frequency receiver systems and software for GPS navigational satellites. She holds a masters in educational technology and a bachelors in electrical engineering.
Sylvia has been a featured speaker at national education technology conferences in areas ranging from the maker movement in education, student leadership, project-based and inquiry-based learning with technology and gender issues in science, math, engineering and technology (STEM) education.
She holds a Master’s in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. Read Sylvia’s popular blog here.
Jaymes Dec
Jaymes Dec is the Director of Innovation for the Franklin School, a new high school in Jersey City with a focus on personalized learning, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Previously, he was the Chair of Innovation at the Marymount School of New York where he developed the first Fab Lab at an all-girls school.
Jaymes is an Adjunct professor at Teachers College, Columbia University in the Creative Technologies Certification program. After graduating from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, he served as the Program Manager at GreenFab, a National Science Foundation program for high school students from the South Bronx that taught science, technology, engineering, and math skills through classes on sustainable design and green technologies.
Jaymes was named a “Teacher of the Future” by the National Association of Independent Schools and a Senior Fab Learn Fellow by Stanford University.
Jaymes is the coauthor of Make: Tech DIY: Easy Electronics Projects for Parents and Kids.