Chicagoland, since 2008

About Thinkersize: two friends, one product, and a classroom-tested idea

Thinkersize, LLC is an EduTech company based in the Chicagoland area, founded in 2008 by Andy Larson and RJ Lindelof. We make one product, Cranium CoRE, and we have spent every year since proving one idea in real classrooms: if you read, write, speak and listen well, you can take those skills into any curriculum, any job, and greatly improve your chance at success.

Thinkersize is based in the Chicagoland area.

Our mission

Make reading, writing, speaking, and listening skill development engaging, collaborative, and fun.

We believe authentic discourse and student-generated inquiry are the catalysts for durable comprehension, transfer, and lifelong learning. Our vision is simple: more people reading for the enjoyment it gives them.

How Thinkersize started

Andy and RJ have been friends and colleagues for more than three decades. Andy came out of education and school library automation; RJ has been writing software since 1993 and founded his first internet software company in 1996. By the mid-2000s, the two of them were looking at the same problem from two sides: classrooms full of students who could decode but would not read, and classroom software that quizzed them alone on a screen.

The design came from a conversation Andy had in 1997 with Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook. The original plan was "read the whole book, then play." Trelease pointed out that this would lose exactly the reluctant readers the product was for. Read one chapter aloud, he said, then play. That became step one of the method, and it never changed.

RJ conceived Cranium CoRE during the Web 2.0 shift, rebuilding a fifteen-year-old installed product as an internet service and adding the community layer that lets members write and share games. Thinkersize launched a beta to five districts in December 2008, went public in June 2009, and debuted Cranium CoRE at NECC (now ISTE) that same month. The iOS and Android apps followed in 2012. In January 2013, Hannah Beardsley Middle School in Crystal Lake, Illinois played Evergreen Academy of the Chicago Public Schools on one book - one school hosting the game show and screensharing it over a video call, the other school's team answering on its own device - and the school-versus-school format that now anchors Battle of the Books was born.

Why a game show

Andy's father, Art Larson, could not get his baseball-obsessed son to read until he started bringing home baseball biographies from the library. Find what a kid cares about, hand him a book about it, and the reading follows. A TV-style game show is the same move at classroom scale: it is a format every student already knows and already wants to win, and it makes a room full of thirteen-year-olds beg to open the book so they can prove their team right.

The rules are tuned to the goal. Teams of three, so students have to talk. One device per team, so they have to agree. Points for being right, not for being first, so the careful team beats the fast one. Three attempts with shrinking points, so a wrong answer is a reason to look again, not a reason to quit. And after every round, the book opens and the teams defend what they chose.

Education should be fun. It should not be easy.

A father hands his son a library book about baseball.

The team

Andy Larson, Co-Founder and President

Andy sets the direction of Thinkersize and is the face of Cranium CoRE in schools. Trained as an educator at Southern Illinois University, he co-founded what became the world's largest school library automation company before turning to educational gaming. He has spent hundreds of hours running Cranium CoRE games in classrooms in grades 5 through 12 and in nearly every state, hosts Battle of the Books events in person, reads the lists and writes the questions himself, and leads the Textually Complex Question Writing training for districts, BOCES, colleges of education, and media specialist groups. He keynoted the Interactiv technology conference in 2012 and speaks on education, emerging technology, and building classrooms that produce lifelong learners.

Andy Larson on LinkedIn

RJ Lindelof, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

RJ has worked in software development since 1993 and founded an internet software company in 1996, followed by online stores, a novelty products brand, an advertising startup, and award-winning automation software. He conceived Cranium CoRE's web architecture, built the service, and leads its development, quality assurance, and maintenance today. He is the reason a free app, a school Chromebook, and a projector are all a classroom needs.

RJ Lindelof on LinkedIn rjlindelof.com

Milestones

The original Cranium CoRE RF remote controllers, labeled Team 1 through Team 10, fanned around the master remote. — The original Cranium CoRE RF remotes, the team remotes before the free app arrived.

A hand holding a Side Keys RF transmitter with answer keys 1 through 4 and a Team 1 key. — Side Keys

1997
The Jim Trelease conversation that put read-aloud at step one.
2008
Thinkersize, LLC founded in the Chicagoland area; Cranium CoRE beta with five districts in December.
2009
Public launch in June; debut at NECC 2009; featured by the Florida Association for Media in Education.
2011-2012
Conference circuit (Illinois Reading Council, Texas Library Association, AASL, FETC, IRA); Cranium CoRE Remote apps for iOS and Android; Interactiv 2012 keynote.
2013
"A Tale of Two Schools, One Book": the first school-versus-school game, one school screensharing the game show to the other over a video call.
Today
7,000+ games on 1,875 books in the community library, 7,700+ members, Battle of the Books programs running on Cranium CoRE, and Andy still in a different classroom most weeks.

What people say about Andy

"Andy Larson is one of the most creative individuals anyone could find. Andy has been on the cutting edge of motivation for many years."
Dr. Blanche Woolls, Past President, American Association of School Librarians

"You had the audience in the palm of your hand."
Scott Christensen, Director of Technology, Burlington Area Schools, on the Interactiv 2012 keynote

Frequently asked questions

Who founded Thinkersize?

Thinkersize, LLC was founded in 2008 in the Chicagoland area by Andy Larson, Co-Founder and President, and RJ Lindelof, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer.

What does Thinkersize make?

One product, Cranium CoRE (Community of Reading Engagement), a browser-based team game show where students in grades 5-12 read a chapter, answer higher-order questions as a team, defend their answers from the text, and write questions of their own.

Why a game show?

A TV-style game show is a format every student already knows and already wants to win. Teams of three, one device per team, points for being right rather than first, and an open-book defense after every round turn that energy into close reading and discussion.

Why is team play part of the method?

It is as elegantly simple as real life. A team has to agree on one answer, so the collaborative effort fosters interdependent thinking - persuasion, listening, and conflict resolution - and nobody reads alone.

Who writes the Cranium CoRE games?

Andy Larson authors new titles himself, and premium member schools publish their own games immediately. The library of 7,000+ games on 1,875 books is the work of a community, and it was designed that way from the start.

What is the goal of the method?

Thematic discussion of the text that results in greater comprehension. Every step is open book, so students practice identifying what the author is doing and why, and defending that reading out loud - a skill that transfers to any curriculum and any career.

Work with us

The best way to understand Thinkersize is to watch a game. Andy will run one with your students on a book they are reading now.

Request a demo Visit Cranium CoRE