How2Day: Edutainment Associations

Edutainment inspires the joy of learning through popular culture. AE Pictures Inc./Digital Vision/Getty Images
Edutainment combines education with entertainment. It is the use of popular culture---such as current films, books and technology---to engage interest in a variety of subjects such as science, math, history and reading. Various groups and associations use edutainment to further their organizational and community goals.

Bands for Lands is a Colorado nonprofit that uses music, creative arts, motivational speakers, activists and educators to inspire environmental sustainability, conservation and social awareness. Their goal is to use edutainment as the means to disseminate eco-social awareness and solutions. One way Bands for Lands accomplishes this is through their Mobile Edutainment Collaboratory, or MEC. This is a 24-foot box truck, fueled with bio-diesel and straight vegetable oil, which Bands for Lands converted into a mobile stage. The MEC visits local and regional concerts, festivals, conferences and conventions.

Bluenose Edutainment, or BNE, uses music, film and sports to motivate students to read and write. The BNE website provides free lesson plans for English and language arts teachers (grades five through 12) to use in their classrooms. These lesson plans focus on songwriting, script writing and sportscasting. BNE also encourages students to submit their writing to BNE sponsors for prizes.

Animal Edutainment Inc. is a private, not-for-profit wildlife education outreach organization that develops and offers programs for youth. They primarily serve the North Central Texas area, approximately an hour's drive from Dallas. Animal Edutainment Inc.'s animal care facility houses over 50 orphaned, injured or cast off wild animals that can no longer live in the wild. These animals serve as animal ambassadors to spark children's curiosity, interest in learning and respect for the world at large.

The trained professional animal handlers of Animal Edutainment Inc. use a variety of teaching strategies to reach audiences with different learning abilities. This organization also offers educator resources and professional development seminars.

Pin Points Theatre offers plays, publications and programs that educate, entertain and inspire learning. Originally a writer's workshop, Pin Points Theatre is a community theater that travels internationally. They create plays and workshops in impoverished Washington, D.C., communities; they also present throughout the U.S., Canada, Germany and parts of Asia.

Digital Games Research Association, or DiGRA, is a professional society focused on the evolving fields of digital gaming and game studies. It is an international nonprofit association of developers, academics and professionals that promotes the understanding of digital games. DIGRA members also share research on a variety of digital gaming topics, including its application in e-learning, educational pedagogy and simulations,

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