We will be updating soon with video footage from the day, for now check out some photos from the day!

Youth at Seward Park library with Game Creators Cindy and Queena

Librarian Johanna Lewis with Library youth as their play through is being filmed.


Youth having a treat from the Doughnut Plant, a location used within the game.


Youth learning about Rose Schneiderman.


Youth solving the mystery of what happened to Sadie.


Youth signing the petition created by Queena and Cindy to end sweatshops.

This week Global Kids Leaders at MS 391 were treated with a special visit from author Barry Lyga. Continuing from the work they have been doing thus far in developing a story for their new game, Barry led a great lesson on character and narrative. The youth participated in exercises that improved their descriptive language and encouraged them to think of alternative ways to modernize basic story premises.

Today I had the pleasure of talking to a fantastic group of teachers around the country. You can watch the webinar recording here:

http://iste.adobeconnect.com/p2ew126uwl0/

It's appropriate that on the eve of International Women's Day these young ladies toured the streets of Seward Park with iPads in hand testing the mobile game they designed on women's labor rights. Youth leaders Cindy and Queena along with Global Kids staff member Joliz Cedeño and librarian Johanna Lewis spent yesterday ensuring that the game - tentatively titled "Ghost and Found" - not only highlighted some of the interesting sights in the neighborhood but explored the history of the area through its characters. The narrative follows the detective on the hunt for a missing girl. Through his investigation he learns about the issues immigrant women faced finding safe working conditions in the early 1900s.

The girls wanted to make clear that these women fought for changes and due to their continued efforts, labor laws were changed to make sweatshop work illegal. However, since these issues still remain prevalent today, the youth decided to create a petition to urge the US garment industry to stop the use of sweatshops not only in their neighborhood but around the world.

Cindy and Queena have their first taste of the Doughnut Plant

The testing of the game was a positive experience as the girls were treated to their first time at the Doughnut Plant, checking out the Tenement Museum, and seeing the inside of the Essex Street Market where Mayor LaGuardia sent all the push carts of Hester Street in order to improve health conditions. Queena and Cindy were excited by the result of their hard work and can't wait to showcase the game next week to the other youth at the Seward Park Library.

Queena guides us through the tragic tale of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Below is the banner, designed by the youth within Gamestar Mechanic, that was shared with E-Line's designers:

It shows two forces in confrontation and a protagonist caught in the middle, protecting the resources desired by the two.

Below is the final banner designed by the awesome crew at E-Line:

It was adapted for this button, as well:

The story follows the detective on a quest to find a boy's lost sister. Using research from various books and primary sources the girls took copious notes on historical events that could be incorporated as plot points. Early on the story of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire became the anchor for their game. Having discussed how immigrants are still being exploited in the neighborhood by being subjected to harsh working conditions, the youth felt passionate about educating their community on the difficulties faced by women and immigrants in the past and how despite the strides made by protests and change in policies - these issues continue today not only in Seward Park but worldwide.

Having chosen the topic the girls worked on developing the story, plotting out the areas of the neighborhood they wanted to highlight. Players would discover the Hester Street Market, see the location of the Tenement Museum and see the location where trolleys would travel through to take the young girls from their neighborhood to the west side of town to work in the factories. To place their own signature within the game, they introduced the detective writing case notes to take him from each location and allow the player to process each discovery through the detective's eyes. The player is introduced to a few colorful characters including labor activist Rose Schneiderman who famously declared that “What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist…the worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.” It wasn't just about earning your wages, you should have a safe proper environment to work in as well as time off. As a call to action the girls developed a petition to request that the United States Garment Industry stop the use of sweatshop practices worldwide.

Zachary Timm visited to shoot the opening video sequence with the girls as well as their call to action. With a very brief lesson on how to use Aris, the platform used for their game, Cindy and Queena took the initiative to begin coding some of the final dialog sequences the detective has. With the game close to being finalized we're excited to test it out with others and showcase the amazing work done by this group of young people.

Cindy and Queena work together to code dialog in Aris.

In the Spring of 2011, Global Kids began working with the Epstein School in Atlanta, introducing them to the power, potential and perils of digital badging systems. Epstein identified nine subject areas to badge, and together we developed a strategy for running the badging system and rolling it out to the school in August, 2011.

Below is the mid-year report we delivered this past January to the funder, the Covenant Foundation. With the permission of both the school and Foundation, we share it below in the hopes of advancing our collective knowledge about the use of badging systems to support lifelong learning skills, both inside and outside formal educational settings.

Download file

To learn more about other badging programs at GK, please explore the links below:
Below are a number of resources which highlights Global Kids’ educational use of badges over the past three years:

• Badges in an after school program (Media Masters at the High School for Global Citizenship) (video)
• Badges in a library (New York Public Library)
• Badges in a K-5 School
• Badges in a museum (American Museum of National History)
• Badges within Global Kids (article)
• Badges overseas in Senegal based on Global Kids' work.