Playful current events?

[David Thomas]

Hello:

I was just talking to a reporter today about the power of playful teaching. She asked about how it could be used to address contentious conversations about current events.

Anyone working in current events that has a story to tell about how play helped facilitate a productive learning experience around issues such as American politics or the Israel/Hamas conflict?

David

 

[Suzanne Ensmann (Dr. Suz)]

Yes! 

In the '90's I experienced current events whereby children had no say in a court of law effecting them. As a parent all I wanted was for the judge to listen to my children but was told "they had no rights" children were divided like assets in divorce cases, regardless of domestic violence. I was protected by law but my children "had not rights."  I learned many many more children go through this every day and are subjected to whatever the courts and counties rules are despite our federal legislation stating we are all entitled to freedom of speech. Age is not protected. 

Subsequently, I found that the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) ratified by ALL UN countries except the US in fact, states freedom of speech and expression is a right of children as listed by articles 12 & 13 in the CRC treaty. When educating youth about this at a summit, they asked "Why don't more people know about this?" I used Sandra Day O'Connor's iCivics.org Do I Have a Right game to teach students in my schools about their rights and responsibilities, but am completing an immersive 3D video game for pro-social change next spring called A Way Home! for adults to disseminate crowd-sourced scenarios to adults to answer the teenager's cry of "Why don't more people know about..." the fact that the CRC upholds rights for children and the US has not yet ratified it. Still a current event, twenty-five years since it's been ratified by all other nations but the US.

Thanks for asking.

-Suzanne