This is a poem on how children and technology can be framed and understood in a pedagogical setting like a kindergarten, a pre-school or a afterschool club. The essence here is to give the children and the staff the possibility to become transformers. What that might be, you can read below.
it is in English, as I was writing it at the BIN-norden conference i Stockholm in May 25. The conference was about among other things about childrens culture in a pedagogical setting. Enjoy.
And just to mention it: The second line in the poem is actually part of the first line. This software just cant show such loooong lines of text – in one line.
The transformers
You can think children as narrators, explorers, searchers & decision makers
It is nothing new, it is part of everyday life in a kindergarten
Give them the possibility to experiment and find their own use
For digital media, technologies and narratives
Ask fundamental questions together with the children
Be a We, a group of human beings
What do we want to tell?
What do we want to know more about and be able to?
Who do we want to talk to and where?
And of course, who do we not want to talk to
And where do we not want to be
What do we want to use this technology for?
Because we can change any use together to another use
Our playground is an open laboratory
We are the ones who can transform anything through play
We are the ones who can leave any technology any time
We are the ones, who are the center of the world
It is what we do together that matters
We are the ones who travel online to meet the unknown
We are always body, community and play
We can mix robots, tablets, sand and space
Images can become shaped clay that can become new play
Play can become shaped clay that can become new images
Just use AI, a camera and a circular, playful proces
We are an experimenting community that never finishes
One must just start thinking and acting like that
If you want to know more about BIN Norden, you have got several options: BIN-Norden and BIN Norden – børnekultur i Norden