Cambridge Massachusetts
Our story
We work on the border of wayfinding and wonder in a metaphorical “laboratory” of media, texts, and philosophical traditions.
Our curricula are play-based, curiosity-fueled, responsive, open-ended, technologically reflective and philosophically introspective.
Social and emotional learning, like academic content and powerful skills, are woven into our curricula.
Our curricula are play-based, curiosity-fueled, responsive, open-ended, technologically reflective and philosophically introspective.
Social and emotional learning, like academic content and powerful skills, are woven into our curricula.
David Alsdorf (tutor & founder) is a teacher, education researcher, artist and designer of learning experiences and manipulatives. He also serves within the local public school district as Elementary Math Program manager for the nonprofit Cambridge School Volunteers.
As the product of a public K-12 system in which he struggled to engage - dropping out of math and science, and cutting school most days in favor of New York’s museums - David is inspired to help children who might (in the famous words of John Holt) “fail because they are afraid, bored, and confused.”
David’s graduate thesis analyzed how children, with varying degrees of familiarity with a Montessori apparatus (the trinomial cube), speak - and speak differently - about the object, its properties, and utility. He was fortunate to study play-based pedagogies with Dr Ben Mardell and maker-centered learning with Dr Brian Gravel, and to have worked on several projects funded by the LEGO Foundation, through Tufts CEEO and Harvard’s Project Zero. His most challenging and open-ended assignment was to teach “creativity” in a brand new “maker space” at the LEGO-affiliated international school in Billund, Denmark.
He has worked in public, private and international schools teaching philosophy, computer science & robotics, developing curricula, and conducted embedded ethnography.
David studied Religion at Reed College and Early Childhood Education at Lesley GSE.
As the product of a public K-12 system in which he struggled to engage - dropping out of math and science, and cutting school most days in favor of New York’s museums - David is inspired to help children who might (in the famous words of John Holt) “fail because they are afraid, bored, and confused.”
David’s graduate thesis analyzed how children, with varying degrees of familiarity with a Montessori apparatus (the trinomial cube), speak - and speak differently - about the object, its properties, and utility. He was fortunate to study play-based pedagogies with Dr Ben Mardell and maker-centered learning with Dr Brian Gravel, and to have worked on several projects funded by the LEGO Foundation, through Tufts CEEO and Harvard’s Project Zero. His most challenging and open-ended assignment was to teach “creativity” in a brand new “maker space” at the LEGO-affiliated international school in Billund, Denmark.
He has worked in public, private and international schools teaching philosophy, computer science & robotics, developing curricula, and conducted embedded ethnography.
David studied Religion at Reed College and Early Childhood Education at Lesley GSE.
Advisory Board
Yusuf Ahmad is VP of New Products at Teach for America, the largest education nonprofit in the United States, where he heads the New Product Studio. He also advises companies through Samba and coaches startups through MIT’s Sandbox Fund.
Previously, Yusuf has contributed to Scratch, developed creative education tools in new media, led degree products for a pan-African higher education startup with over $80 million in funding, and worked with the South African government and Qatar Foundation on ambitious education projects.
Yusuf earned his undergraduate degree at Columbia University and his Master’s at MIT Media Lab, where he was positioned in the Lifelong Kindergarten Group.
Eric Bowman is Chief Technical Officer for TomTom. A US National based in Berlin, Eric was the principal architect for the worldwide rollout of 3G and a contributor to the first edition of the Sims. He graduated Reed College with a degree in Physics.
Rebecca B. Miller is the Associate Director for Curriculum Design & Assessment in the Teaching and Learning Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), where she leads initiatives related to the design, development, and assessment of new courses and curricula. She is also a Lecturer on Education at HGSE.
Her professional and research interests center on curriculum and instruction in higher education, with a particular focus on efforts to promote inclusion and identity development via foundational or general curricula in STEM fields and in the field of education.
Becca received her Ed.D. in Education Policy, Leadership, and Instructional Practice and her Ed.M. in Specialized Studies from HGSE. She received her A.B. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University.
Yusuf Ahmad is VP of New Products at Teach for America, the largest education nonprofit in the United States, where he heads the New Product Studio. He also advises companies through Samba and coaches startups through MIT’s Sandbox Fund.
Previously, Yusuf has contributed to Scratch, developed creative education tools in new media, led degree products for a pan-African higher education startup with over $80 million in funding, and worked with the South African government and Qatar Foundation on ambitious education projects.
Yusuf earned his undergraduate degree at Columbia University and his Master’s at MIT Media Lab, where he was positioned in the Lifelong Kindergarten Group.
Eric Bowman is Chief Technical Officer for TomTom. A US National based in Berlin, Eric was the principal architect for the worldwide rollout of 3G and a contributor to the first edition of the Sims. He graduated Reed College with a degree in Physics.
Rebecca B. Miller is the Associate Director for Curriculum Design & Assessment in the Teaching and Learning Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), where she leads initiatives related to the design, development, and assessment of new courses and curricula. She is also a Lecturer on Education at HGSE.
Her professional and research interests center on curriculum and instruction in higher education, with a particular focus on efforts to promote inclusion and identity development via foundational or general curricula in STEM fields and in the field of education.
Becca received her Ed.D. in Education Policy, Leadership, and Instructional Practice and her Ed.M. in Specialized Studies from HGSE. She received her A.B. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University.