Videos: Young Children as Citizens
As we enter into another election year, it is important to remember that children are current and future citizens and members of their community. Engaging in civic life can start in early childhood. My former professor Ben Mardell has researched and written about this topic often.
The videos below are examples of how you can get young children involved in their community and engage them in civic life.
Teacher Stephanie VanHouten shares how a dirt hole in her school’s playground became a life changing year of school for her kindergarteners and the lessons they learned along the way. Stephanie VanHouten is a kindergarten teacher in a local public school. She is passionate about using authentic learning experiences to educate young learners and was the first to receive a master of education degree concentrated in the Reggio Emilia approach. The approach originated in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and focuses on transforming young children into proactive society members. Building relationships, collaboration, and finding one’s own strengths are key traits of successful community members, and Stephanie advocates for an education that encourages these skills from the start of each child’s educational career. She advocates with the support of her husband, Sam, and son, John. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
