Whether speaking to a corporate audience, or a room full of preschoolers, I revel in the chance to create engaging, surprising, presentations.
KEEN National Conference: Surprise!
Where do new ideas come from?How are engineers similar to novelists? In this talk, AnnMarie demonstrates the importance of seeking out, and embracing, the element of surprise. Sometimes the best ideas are hiding in unexpected places!
THE WORK OF PLAY
At Eyeo 2018, AnnMarie Thomas shares process and learnings, as well as some of the challenges of being a researcher who specializes in play.
TED TALKS: HANDS-ON SCIENCE WITH SQUISHY CIRCUITS
In a demo at TED, AnnMarie shows how two different homemade play doughs can be used to demonstrate electrical properties – by lighting up LEDs, spinning motors, and turning little kids into circuit designers.
PLAYING WITH CREATIVITY AT TEDX
Creativity can be a catch-all phrase to speak to the need to see the solutions and possibilities right in front of us, but often invisible to the mind, or, like playing a tough chess game, a few moves out before hinting at its presence.
PLAYING WITH, AND FOR DATA: LESSONS IN DATA ACROSS CREATIVE FIELDS
Unusual collaborations can often lead to new ways of taking, and analyzing data. This talk looks at lessons learned from working with chefs, circus performers, and preschoolers.
MAKERSPACE ASSEMBLY for PK-12 Students
In the fall of 2017, Mounds Park Academy announced that they were naming a PK-12 makerspace after me, and asked me to speak to their students about my career. The kids had the best questions!
TEDxTC: MAKING MAKERS
AnnMarie addresses the important role that making played in the childhoods of many of today's adult innovators, educators, designers, and engineers. This is contrasted with some of the ways in which today's children are allowed to explore the world around them.
SERIOUS PLAY-DOUGH: INSPIRING YOUNG SCIENTISTS
At the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, AnnMarie and her team demonstrate that science or engineering lessons can be found in almost anything – and a sense of play can make those lessons accessible and incite young minds.
IGNITE MPLS: WHY MAKING MATTERS
AnnMarie gives her 5-minute Ignite talk, "Why Making Matters" at The Heights Theatre in Minneapolis on April 21, 2011.
MAKER CAMP: SQUISHY CIRCUITS
Week 5, Weird Science Wednesday at Maker Camp. Learn all about the science of electricity with squishy circuits. Maker Camp, sponsored by MAKE magazine, was a virtual summer camp for teens, with a focus on creating, building, and discovering.From July 16th through August 24th, 2012, 30 awesome projects were made in 30 days, on Google+.
WORLD MAKER FAIRE 2012: EVERY CHILD A MAKER
AnnMarie talks about the work of the Maker Education Initiative, focusing on developing the people, places and practices to allow more children the opportunity to be makers.
SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE PLAY: DR. ANNMARIE THOMAS
How many engineering professors do you know that understand both the science of circus and regularly soar through the air on a trapeze? Meet one who does. Dr. AnnMarie Thomas is an Associate Professor at the University of St. Thomas.
