About UMIGO
Overview of Programming
UMIGO ("yoU Make It GO") is a unique and innovative transmedia experience for children ages two through eight that provides children with opportunities to learn basic principles of mathematics through child‐initiated learning and play. UMIGO will also encourage children to develop and refine their abilities to think creatively, invent, and work collaboratively. These educational and developmental goals are intended to help early learners, especially those from low-income settings, obtain skills that make them ready for school and once there, get and remain on grade level.
UMIGO delivers a curriculum-based, interactive learning experience where the child is the center of the narrative and, as our name implies, they make it go. Using digital and real world tools and engaging in "projects," the child's own work and creations move the story along, with the aide of the friendly and engaging UMIGO characters that serve as guides and companions in the child's creative journey.
UMIGO's curriculum is based on rigorous mathematics standards and research as well as encompassing best practices and skills from the Common Core standards for mathematics. The embedded learning experiences address the full range of early math concepts and skills and are delivered through engaging and fun media activities that engender math knowledge and literacy without "feeling educational." Based on a constructivist approach, sequenced challenges provide the opportunity for early learners to use their developing math skills for creative strategic problem solving. The curriculum enhances the media that it is delivered, as the digital instructional opportunities are linked to meaningful feedback through the use of embedded assessment tools and analytics, thereby the child's learning experience is more individualized and developmentally appropriate. These analytics are also reported to the parents, caregivers, and educators who can assist in their development with greater precision.
As a transmedia property, there are multiple entry points into the world of UMIGO, including computers, touch screen devices such as tablet computers and smart phones, print and digital books, board games and trading cards. The world of UMIGO is not just one place, but many places where children can learn, build and share. Through a variety of activities, children will use various mathematical skills to design clothing, "mash-up" their own musical beats and create songs, produce their own virtual mazes as video game "levels," and create their own magazines and videos to share with others. Each of these different areas of UMIGO have different functions, with corresponding toolkits and learning libraries where students can search for and gather information about various tools and get help with their creations. UMIGO also offers children an opportunity to share their creations, which can be viewed by others in the UMIGO community. Like Wikipedia, UMIGO libraries grow continually as users add new content to share.