Kids Have a Unique Perspective to Add

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it. Begin it now! Goethe

In many respects, kids are bolder and dream bigger than adults. They are not as burdened by a fear of failure or the idea of the impossible. This open-mindedness is reflected in how they see the world, their preferences and often solutions for making improvements.

Twelve year old Adora Svitak, in a recent TED talk, What Adults Can Learn from Kids, describes how children have a unique perspective that deserves attention. Listen to her explain the value of “childish” thinking composed of bold ideas, wild creativity and optimism.

Perceptions
Children perceive the world differently than adults. Take for example a study recently published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology by Pivik (2010). The purpose of the study was to see how principals, special education resource teachers (SERT) and students evaluated their schools for accessibility barriers (barriers that impede individuals with disabilities). The first study looked at schools where the student evaluator had a physical disability. In 29 different schools, the principal, SERT and student, independently walked around their school and noted down any accessibility barriers they saw. As expected, the students who had a disability and lived with these barriers daily, were able to identify significantly more barriers than their principal or SERT. What was unexpected though was that the students identified barriers in more areas of the school than the other two, particularly classrooms, libraries and recreational areas. The second study in this paper looked at how students without disabilities compared to their principal and the SERT in identifying accessibility barriers. Across 22 schools, the students once again identified the most number of barriers and in the greatest number of school areas. Essentially, this paper suggests that even though one spends a considerable amount of time in a place, as does the principal, teacher and student, different groups see the same place differently and youth were considerably better at identifying barriers for people with disabilities in schools.

Reference: Pivik, J. (2010). The perspective of children and youth: How different stakeholders identify architectural barriers for inclusion in schools. Journal of Environmental Psychology, doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.02.005. Visit www.aprioriresearch.com for more information.

Preferences
As well, children have shown to have different preferences for places than adults. Since adults were once children, we often assume we know what kids would like. Not so, as seen in a study conducted by Ward Thompson (1995) who found significant differences in how students and teachers viewed a prospective school environment. Teachers were asked to imagine the type of playground that students would want and then their responses were compared to those of their students. Significant differences were found between the two groups, with students wanting natural elements that could be manipulated or studied, whereas the teachers felt they would prefer attractive, soft and comfortable landscapes.

Reference: Ward Thompson, C. (1995). School playground design: A projective approach with school pupils and staff. Landscape Research, 20(3), 124-140.

Problem-solving
I would like to share a personal experience which highlights the unique perspective of youth and its connection to problem-solving. In my community, which is a small coastal island, a group of us were working together to start a re-use it shop, so goods would not have to be shipped off island if they were still usable. On this committee were 6 students, ranging in age from 9 to 14 years old. The municipality had donated a piece of land for the store and we were at the stage of designing the space and determining public access in a 1000 square foot forested area. A few of the adults on the committee had experience in this area and were leading the meeting. However, they got stuck when it came to figuring out how to allow people to get to the building from the parking lot, since that path crossed over a ditch and municipal land that could not be built upon. Many options were discussed such as moving the parking lot, building a path from the busy road or rearranging the building site. After about an hour of going back and forth, discussing the pros and cons of each plan, Kate, a grade 9 student spoke up. “Why not build a bridge over the ditch?” Stunned silence filled the room. Then everyone started talking at once, saying things such as “of course, why didn’t I think of that? Or “amazing, so simple”. This example was just one of many that highlighted the unique problem-solving abilities of our student representatives over the 2 year project.

Reference: Pivik, J. (2008). A child friendly perspective on community service and learning: The story of the Knick Knack Nook. The Community Psychologist, 41(3/4), 71-74.

Resources
Other examples of youth problem-solving:

The Green Dream Initiative is a multi-media website developed by Victoria Maraví and Zach Komes. Its aim is to provide information and support to youth for enhancing environmental sustainability.

Apathy is Boring Project is a youth-run, nonpartisan organization that aims to use art, media, and technology to re-engage youth in the democratic process.

One World Youth Project builds and connects communities of youth action through cultural understanding, leadership training, and service learning by linking middle and high school student groups throughout the world together in learning partnerships.

If you have examples of how kids see the world differently or would like to share a youth led initiative of how they are changing their world, please leave a comment below.

Introduction

Kids Helping Communities is the sister blog to Communities Helping Kids. Although it will also present research, resources and real examples, it will likely be a bit more fun. Look for how kids are changing their world, methods for engaging them and the impact of their efforts on the environment, social services, health and poverty.