CTL Minecraft Curriculum Presentation

Building Our Post-COVID Future: International Children Connecting in Minecraft

Nana Gulic

CTL 1312: Democratic Citizenship Education

Building Our Post-COVID Future: International Children Connecting in Minecraft

UofT Student Engagement Award 2021Madeleine Ross, SJE MEd student

• Children from Canada and Croatia aged 10-13
• Engaged students in building a post-pandemic world in the popular video game Minecraft
• Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR): workshops to reflect on their experiences as young people during the pandemic and use a global citizenship lens to envision the healthy future they want in three areas: schools, neighbourhoods, and relationships.

CTL 1312: include more dialogic and participatory activities we discussed in class and read in readings, target audience 12-16.

Today

The Project

Background

Curriculum Aims

Conceptual Framework

3 Phases and Activities

Context

Proposed Future Research

Background

Conceptual FrameworkContext

Challenging reality:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• Fast changes, migration
• Conflict and disharmony, polarization (McAvoy & Hess, 2013; Tribukait, 2021)
• Populism and ethnonationalism (Moon & Tocci 2020; Starkey, 2012)
• Postconflict and postcolonial political and economic struggles (Akar, 2016; Bickmore et al. 2017; Quaynor, 2015; Tribukait, 221; van Ommering, 2014)

Citizenship Education

Challenge and Opportunity

Schools are a good place to help students unpack and address their lived experiences and engage with democratic citizenship(Bickmore et al., 2017; Quaynor, 2015)

Normative frameworks, ontological assumptions and epistemological claims (Sant, 2019).

What democratic citizenship education should teach, and in what ways, is a highly polarized issue(Awad, 2019).

Citizenship Education

Critiques

Western, liberal approach to democratic citizenship education dominates.

rationality vs. emotion

content knowledge vs. skills

Knowledge of systems, preparation for becoming a citizen in the future. Despite the benefits of other approaches, they are not widely used in classrooms.

lived experiences vs. taught curriculum

passive vs. active engagement

Citizenship Education

that transforms students and communities

01

02

03

04

Actively engage students in discussions and critical analysis of competing narratives, followed by action to address the concerns in their immediate environments.

Expose and address the contradictions between lived experiences and idealized narratives.

Carefully navigate and correlate individual and community needs.

Curriculum includes knowledge, culture and emotions.

Systematic Analysis of 130 articles 1995-2015 (Anyon et al. 2018) - outcomes associated with YPAR: Leadership (75.0%) Academic or career (55.8%) Social (36.5%) Interpersonal (34.6%) Cognitive (23.1%)

Youth Participatory Action Research:

• focus on addressing social justice issues

• youth as agents of change
• a collaborative relationship between students and teachers
• pedagogy: an investigation that is followed by action

YPAR can help us understand democracy as an ongoing process that we consciously create in partnerships with our students (Portelli & Koneeny, 2018).

Digital YPAR

d-YPAR

Changes to digitalization of education

COVID-19 impact

Interconnected World

Student reality since birth

The Curriculum

Curriculum Aim3 Phases and Activities Future Research Proposal

Curriculum Aims

3 areas

1. Inclusion of youth voices in the international conversation on future of education2. Development and testing of d-YPAR tools 3. Increase in knowledge and skills of individual participants

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3 Phases

BUILDING

VISIONING

CONNECTING

PHASE 2:VISIONING

PHASE 3:BUILDING

PHASE 1: CONNECTING

PHASE 1: Connecting

In-person and online relationship building:

• Never have I ever
• Two truths and a lie
• Lightning round
• Introduce yourself, your city and your country

Additions:

One day in the life of... Wheel of values Power flower Newspaper interview Live library Collective service learning day

PHASE 2: Visioning

Activities inspired by qualitative participatory research methods:

• Focus Group Discussion (feelings and experiences)

• Photovoice (hope and resiliency)

• Interviews (family perspectives)

• Data Analysis (designing and mapping)

Addition:

Shared inquiry: student-led Debate On this day in the past (connecting past, present and future) Data analysis - together Visioning - together (include simulations, negotiation, historical evidence) Quiz: open/closed; policy/empirical

PHASE 3: Building

• Minecraft building
• Meeting up and exchanging ideas and providing feedback

Addition:

Time spent in Minecraft working together Connecting structures and spaces Presenting results to stakeholders

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Proposal

for future research

Focus on teachers and students and their experience choosing, utilizing, and taking part in YPAR in online environment.

rationale: evaluate and improve pedagogical tools

Interviews:10-12 teachers10-12 students Observation: 5-10 sessions

Ethnography research methods: Semi-structured interviews and Participant observation

References

Akar, B. (2016). Dialogic pedagogies in educational settings for active citizenship, social cohesion and peacebuilding in Lebanon. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 11(1), 44-62. Awad, Y. R. (2019). Food for thought: The trajectories of democratic peace-building citizenship education. Citizenship Teaching & Learning, 14(3), 347-363. Barton, K. C. (2019). Teaching difficult histories: The need for a dynamic research tradition. In M. Gross & L. Terra (Eds.), Teaching and learning difficult histories: Comparative Perspectives, pp. 11-25. New York: Routledge. Bellino, M. (2018). Wait-citizenship: youth civic development in transition. Compare, 48(3), pp. 379 - 396. Bickmore, K., Awad, Y., & Radjenovic, A. (2017). Voices of Canadian and Mexican youth surrounded by violence: Learning experiences for peace-building citizenship. Research in comparative and international education, 12(1), pp. 26-45. Kubow, P. (2018). Exploring Western and non-Western epistemological influences in South Africa: theorising a critical democratic citizenship education. Compare, 48(3), pp. 349-361. Gordon, T. (2006). Girls in Education: Citizenship, Agency and Emotions. Gender and Education,18(1), pp. 1-15. Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: aka the remix. Harvard educational review, 84(1), 74-84. McAvoy, P., Hess, D. (2013). Classroom deliberation in an era of political polarization. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(1), pp. 14-47. Mitchell, K. & Parker, W.C. (2008) ‘I Pledge Allegiance To . . . Flexible Citizenship And Shifting Scales of Belonging’. Teachers College Record, Volume 110, Number 4, pp. 775-804. Moon, S., & Tocci, C. (2020). Citizenship education beyond the nation state: Implications for teacher education. In Global Citizenship Education and Teacher Education (pp. 85-101). Routledge. OECD (2020) Lessons for Education from COVID-19: A Policy Maker’s Handbook for More Resilient Systems, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/0a530888-en. Portelli, J.P., Koneeny, P. (2018). Discussion Paper: Inclusive Education: Beyond Popular Discourses. The International Journal of Emotional Education, 10(1), 133-144. Sant, Edda. (2019). Democratic Education: A Theoretical Review (2006–2017). Review of Educational Research, 89(5), pp. 655-696. Starkey (2012). Human rights, cosmopolitanism and utopias: implications for citizenship education, Cambridge Journal of Education, 42(1), 21-35. Tribukait, M. (2021). Students’ prejudice as a teaching challenge: How European history educators deal with controversial and sensitive issues in a climate of political polarization. Theory & Research in Social Education, pp. 1-30. Tupper, J. (2012). Treaty education for ethically engaged citizenship: Settler identities, historical consciousness and the need for reconciliation. Citizenship Teaching and Learning, 7(2), pp. 143-156. United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2020). Policy Brief: Education During COVID 19 and Beyond. Accessed on world wide web, https://en.unesco.org/news/secretary-generals-policy-brief-education-during-covid-19-and-beyond-launched, November 2020. Quaynor, L. (2015). ‘I do not have the means to speak:’ educating youth for citizenship in post Conflict Liberia. Journal of Peace Education, 12(1), pp. 15-36. Van Ommering, E. (2014). Formal history education in Lebanon: Crossroads of past conflicts and prospects for peace. International Journal of Educational Development, 41, pp. 200-207.

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