Today marks the start of Code.org’s Computer Science Education Week, which this year is heavily centered around the Hour of Code, an initiative encouraging people to spend an hour to start learning the basics of computer programming.  As a founding member of Code.org, Microsoft is showing its support by renewing its commitment to Kodu and other platforms that make learning code more accessible and encouraging employees to volunteer...
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This week is the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, and my friend and coworker Matt Wallaert is presenting. Because I told him to apply. Yes, that’s right: I sent a dude to a women’s conference. I’ve worked in tech for 18 years. I started out as a PM at the SeattleTimes.com, founded Seattle’s chapters of Webgrrls and Linuxchix, worked at a small B2B startup with a female leadership team, and later came to...
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Today marks the official launch of Bing for Schools, a new initiative designed to improve digital literacy for students by putting technology in classrooms, helping students learn how to use the power of search, and making sure they can do it in a safer, ad-free environment.  We’re not only announcing our first partner districts for the search pilot program and taking requests from school administrators to join, but also expanding our...
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Educators use the phrase “zone of proximal development” (or ZPD) to refer to those things that we can do with the help of others, but not yet on our own. And they generally use it with excitement, since that is where you often have the most fun with your students: when they are able, with your help, to see what they can’t yet do but will soon grow into. Obviously, it’s a term that comes up often in childhood development...
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One of the unique interplays between psychology and language is the way in which we communicate using examples. If we were talking about a football game, for example, we would tend to focus on the highlights: the made catch, the missed opportunity. But in reality, the game is a series of plays, each slightly different but driving to the same conclusion. Science is much the same: while we sometimes like to talk about the highlights, we arrive at...
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  First, a quick introduction: my name is Matt Wallaert, and I’m a behavioral scientist here at Bing. I work at the intersection of psychology and technology, and as part of that, you’ll see start seeing articles from me on the Bing blog as part of a new series we’re calling “Bing Your Brain.” Eight years ago, social psychologist Barry Schwartz gave an influential TED on “The Paradox of Choice”: that...
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