Global Kids is a 20-year-old nonprofit that uses digital games to teach social issues to thousands of youth in New York City and beyond. It discusses its approach of using games, virtual worlds and social media as tools for learning rather than distractions. The document highlights Global Kids' "Playing 4 Keeps" program and several games it has created, including Ayiti: The Cost of Life and Hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City. It concludes that while making socially relevant games is challenging, the impact on both teen game creators and players is worth the effort.
How do you talk to your kids about this? Hurricane Katrina. Could you use something like this?
or this? A slum in Haiti. Could you use this?
or even this? The US criminal justice system. We use this.
I’m Rik Panganiban, Assistant Director at OLP Going to talk about the Global Kids approach to digital games as a means to engage young people w social issues and empower them as change agents in the world
Teaching Social Issues through digital games
NYC nonprofit whose goal is to transform urban youth into global leaders and successful students. We work with at risk youth from marginalized communities in NYC, in schools w very low graduation rates. We use a constructivist pedagogical approach to expose our teens to critical global issues, help them connect it w their own experience, and act positively in their community and the world. run afterschool programs in about 15 HSs and Middle Schools in NYC, as well as at our HQ
9 years ago we started the Online Leadership Program Incorporates digital media into our youth development approach For youth to be effective citizens in 21st century, need to know how to navigate in this increasingly digital society we use a range of media
Games, virtual worlds, social media, social networks -- all can have negative connotations We see them some what differently Games: tools for learning about serious issues Virtual worlds: safe spaces for empowering youth voice Social media: tools for youth to better consumers and creators of all sorts of content Social networks: Supporting communities of practice
a yearlong after-school program at Southshore HS and Canarsie HS 20 students get to create a digital game about a social issue begin by exploring games as media learning about diff social issues , human rights - choosing an issue deciding on game platform : side scroller, FPS, strategy, maze developing game design document working w game designer to create game
Here’s a little promo video that shows how our program works at Carnasie HS
Our 1st game is called Ayiti:The Cost of Life issue: access to education and poverty in Haiti resource management game: you are a member of a small family making life choices that effect your future played over a million times used in classrooms, afterschool programs all over the world
Our 1st game in Second Life issue: medical experimentation on African-american prisoners inhabit the role of prisoner and have to make choices
latest game: hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City issue: disaster response to hurricane katrina you play the role of vivica, a girl who has been relocated to NYC but missing her mom side scroller learn about disaster and what people did
impact on teens: sense of accomplishment that they created something that can help raise awareness of an issue Students in program learned teamwork skills, media literacy, specific social issue knowledge, IT skills Impact on players: played 1.5 million times by players around the world "Never have I played a game where I felt so heartbroken and exposed when it was all over... Never have I been so affected by a game before." - Ayiti EDC report on P4K: Players came to understand that a single-minded approach to the problem of staying alive in the game was less useful than some form of balancing the factors of health, money and education. the central idea embedded in the game play, that no single factor accounts for success, appears to have been successfully communicated to the majority of players.
we train other institutions to use the GK approach w their kids worked with public housing projects in Boston area and NY Library System we provide educator trainings, curriculum, ongoing phone support, social network
Making socially relevant games is HARD WORK. Our P4K programs ask a lot of our teens that participate. a full year commitment, working collaborative, researching, coming to consensus, beta testing. The rewards are great: confidence in themselves, understanding an important issue, having a rich awareness of games as a form of media
