The GIANT Room partners with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and Mrs Wordsmith
The GIANT Room continues their engagement with Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop to bring kids’ voices into the design process of STEM products - this time focused on a brand new digital platform: Planet Agora from Mrs Wordsmith
The GIANT Room, an innovation hub for children and their families, is pleased to announce they are continuing their partnership with Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop to bring together diverse groups of youth with researchers and industry innovators to put learning, wellbeing, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) at the center of product development for children. Families with children ages 8 to 13 years old are invited to apply.
Participation entails joining one free workshop focused on co-designing and prototyping a brand new digital platform called Planet Agora in collaboration with Mrs Wordsmith design team. Kids who join will have a chance to learn and practice the art of giving and receiving feedback and then to join a prototyping exercise with industry innovators and researchers. These workshops will be held in person at The GIANT Room in New York City, free of charge for families.
Following a range of award-winning print titles, and two mobile games proven for reading efficacy, Mrs Wordsmith is ready to boost digital literacy for kids aged 8-13, with a brand new digital platform: Planet Agora. “Recognizing the lack of a social network for kids under 13 years old, that isn't too babyish or boring, we are developing Planet Agora to empower kids with the social-emotional tools that help them champion positive values, while navigating the nuances of such concepts as diversity, body positivity, and gender equality.” explains Pierre Lagrange, chairman at Mrs. Wordsmith. “On the platform, kids learn digital literacy in a fun, interactive format, with available support from our auxiliary app, Agora Council: a child development support platform for graduate students serving as guidance counselors.”
Central to The GIANT Room’s mission is the notion that all children should have access to quality creative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) tools and learning experiences to build the world they like to live in. “Technology is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life and is being used in many different fields, including education, business, and communication. By learning digital literacy skills, children can use technology to research and learn new things, communicate with others, and express themselves creatively in a safe way.” said, Dr. Azi Jamalian, CEO and Founder of The GIANT Room.
The GIANT Room believes the best creative STEM tools are the ones that are designed with children’s point of view in mind, and even better, those that are designed with children involved in the design process. Kids have wonderful ideas to share. If given the opportunity, they design the most magical tools, toys, and products that can enlighten millions of other kids. This partnership allows kids to have a voice in designing a social network that is not only engaging and fun but also encourages kids to be mindful of positive digital citizenship.
Children who participate in this series of “co-design” workshops will engage in discussing eight digital literacy pillars defined by the Mrs Wordsmith team of educators and advisers: Body Positivity, Gender Equality, Diversity, Tactfulness, Truth, Authenticity, Creativity, Courtesy and simply Being Nice! They will engage in a series of live “chats” with other participants in the workshop and The GIANT Team, detect offensive language, images, and videos in each category, discuss, and moderate the chat. For example, one participant may flag the statement, “Hacking smart robots is for boys!” as a sexist comment, while another participant explains how she fact checks the statement “Harry Potter is a real person” and flags it as fake news. Examples of these offensive statements or fake news are drawn from examples seen in kids’ media or types of language kids may be exposed to at school or online. They will then design and prototype a social platform that helps kids to be more mindful of this offensive language and engage in positive digital citizenship.
This program is completely free for children to participate. Learnings from this initiative will inform designing a framework of best practices to include youth as co-designers in developing real products. We are accepting a limited number of children in New York City to participate in the second phase of the program. Families with children ages 8 to 13 years old are invited to apply.
For more information about GIANT STEAM programs and a full list of their workshops, class series, and events, please visit The GIANT Room’s website.
The GIANT Room is located at 26 West 23rd Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY.