Toy Association’s Seiter Spotlights STEM/STEAM Initiative in China

December 16, 2019 | The Toy Association continues to raise awareness of toys role in STEM/STEAM education throughout the holiday season and into the new year, through speaking engagements and engaging social media events.

Highlights include:

2019 Shanghai International STEAM Education Expo

The Toy Association’s Ken Seiter, executive vice president of marketing communications, represented the U.S. toy industry in China at the 2019 Shanghai International STEAM Education Expo held December 12 to 14.

Seiter was welcomed as a guest speaker at the premier global STEAM industry event, which focuses on promoting the STEAM education concept and presenting the most advanced and cutting-edge STEAM products in the industry. Seiter highlighted The Toy Association’s ongoing work to help toy companies create better products for the next generation of children that drive interest in science, math, and related fields. Addressing educators, government officials, students, and developers, he discussed the key findings from The Toy Association’s "STEM/STEAM Formula for Success" report and the 14 unifying characteristics of STEM/STEAM toys, based on in-depth interviews with industry experts.

"The 2019 Shanghai International STEAM Education Expo served as a perfect platform for The Toy Association to present its findings and offer a framework for evaluating products to a broader audience," Seiter said. "The expo was also a valuable venue for collaborating with others in the field to gain new insights to bring back to our members."

Identifying STEAM Gifts for Youth

The Toy Association will co-host a Twitter chat, "Identifying STEAM Gifts for Youth" in partnership with The Connectory, a collaborative tool for STEM program providers developed by the National Girls Collaborative Project, and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute on Wednesday, December 18 at 2 p.m. (Eastern). All members of the toys and games community are invited to join the conversation, highlight their own STEM/STEAM products, and follow along #QualitySTEAMgifts on Twitter.

The Toy Association @ CES

Seiter will lead the fireside chat, "Unrealized Opportunities for STEM and STEAM," on January 9 at the Kids@Play Family Tech Summit, as part of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV.

The session will explore how STEM/STEAM toys can be incorporated in new and engaging ways and offer new data on how companies can improve on the promise of STEM/STEAM. Ted Curtin, chief innovation officer at ProdigyWorks, The Toy Association’s research partner, will also participate.

For more information about The Toy Association’s ongoing STEM/STEAM initiative, contact Janis Zegman, marketing project manager.