Green Media In “Spy Kids” Style: Environmental Intelligence Unit
BBC Scotland is leveraging kids’ pension for codes, clues, missions and 007-style in a fun little interactive for young kids 7-9 called The Environmental Intelligence Unit.
In classic “the world needs your help” secret agent mode, the game puts the child in ‘action-hero’ context to take on traffic, pollution and rubbish aligned with the three R’s of reduce, reuse, recycle.
It’s a pretty basic primer to seed core concepts in sustainability, but definitely age appropriate, incorporating factoids and video clips as kids become environmental agents on a mission to ‘find the missing R.’ (spoiler alert: the teacher’s page will fill you in on what that “R” is!)
There are four island missions (house, clear out, school, beach) and if kids engage in all four to obtain the right code words they can receive a final Eco Certificate. (hmnn…I know this is geared more for ‘reach and teach’ tactics, but I could think of some more creative/green awards that might be a better fit than a printout! So ping me, BBC, the idea hamster here will give you some freebie creative director ideas!)
The secret agent framework is fun and parents and kids can springboard off of it in their own community and school with a tad of imagination to make it pertinent on a local or regional action-steps note, which I love.
There’s irony of course in the lack of e-waste reminders about toxicity of techno gizmos themselves, but given all the positive green media out there in Gorilla in the Greenhouse-style action-mode, it seems like gaming’s gone good in a variety of informal learning and virtual worlds instilling hope and promise for the digital age.
We’ve had great success having kids go ‘undercover’ for Shaping Youth as CIA (Cyber Info Advocates) to unearth safety holes, embedded commercialism and product placement deep within a gaming framework as kids report back to us with media literacy and fun factor, so this EIU island mission concept appeals.
Big advertisers use the ‘codes and secrets’ tactics to market all the time, (and we use them to counter-market!) so I’m really pleased to see these motivators leveraged in an eco-game to use technology with some forethought, instead of dialing down the demographics to simply use technology to hawk tech toys to wee ones.
Teachers can easily marry this ’secret agent’ investigation concept with eco, health/science units, much like the No Child Left INSIDE bill for eco-curriculum in Congress coming to a vote next week. (want environmental education in the classroom? See action steps here!)
If you know of stealthy kids who love to skulk around in futuristic forensics/walkie talkie spy kids mode I think this could springboard into outdoor play and eco-activism too…
Think about it…Working backwards from clues of say, washed up flotsam and jetsam tracing back to a storm drains, or speculating how the heck those shopping carts and tires end up in coastal clean-ups, or tracing an injured bird back to plastic six-pack rings, abandoned fishing line and such helps seed kids’ consciousness about ‘how things got there’ as well as prompt solutions-based thinking!
I’m big on taking the framework of green media into applied sciences in everyday life, so toss in your ideas on how the Environmental Intelligence Unit could make a difference as part of a planet patrol. In school. At home. I like the idea of incorporating kids as EIU agents on grocery outings and food finding missions, to develop label literacy and hunt for additives and clues to ‘weasel words’ and ‘watch out’ ingredients.
For more ‘tracing backwards’ green media picks that use holistic approaches for kids to get a ‘clue’ in the eco-sphere, I love the pilot program of ‘Doof,’ (food backwards) which instills an eco-friendly look at where food even COMES from by looking at roots and origins in colorful, pbs-style, preparing to launch next year. The fun gardening and growth messages provide nourishment for the soul, and it’s great green media to begin to get kids to understand about whole foods, organics and fresh vs. processed.
Conversely, for older teens in an edgy, ‘in your face,’ look at environmental intelligence, the cartoon designed for Fast Food Nation, called “Backwards Hamburger” might turn stomachs as well as attitudes about all of those (ewww gross!) aspects of eating junk food,…including where all those burgers come from and the environmental impact of factory farming on the planet.
Codes, clues, trails and investigation into the whys and hows of sustainable choices can embed kids’ stewardship of the planet in a green media language they love.
Mind you, I much prefer the online to offline ‘get ‘em outside’ leap, so that’s a given, but as we’ve found in urban after school programs with safety, weather, and logistics issues, inside moments can still be used to inspire outdoor eco-messaging fun!
Soooo…Here are a few more ‘green media’ sites worth a peek to raise awareness:
The Lorax’s Save the Trees Game
United Nations Environment Programme, Tunza for Kids and for Teens
Earth Awareness Resources Roundup of a Gazillion Eco-Education Sites
Visual Credits: BBC Scotland Education-See You See Me, Are You Eco-Friendly? EIU game, ages 7-9
Doof Logo from FoodBackwards.com
