Wise Up, Kid!: talkin' peace, love and straight thinkin'

Abstract

Background. A new media asset for ethics education for 10 -12 year old children, 'Wise Up, Kid! -talkin' peace, love and straight thinkin'' is a pilot for a children's comic book application for touch screen tablets. The interactive interface 'Pond, ponder .. pondering' aims to encourage in children an attitude of attentive curiosity. The question and challenge that underpins this research publication is how to exploit digital technology in the adaptation and revitalization of traditional wisdom practices for an active engagement with children. Contribution. 'Pond, Ponder … Pondering' takes its cues from the Basho haiku in fostering a spirit of inquiry and mindfulness. Designed for touchscreen tablets, the project revitalises traditional spiritual practices for a contemporary audience by leveraging affinities with interactive digital media, an action-based approach to learning and a comic vernacular. Players may fold an origami boat from found newspaper, skim pebbles across the pond's surface, investigate the history behind a love heart engraved on a tree and peer at life below the water's surface. Audio options introduce notions of minimalist music (traditional Eastern/Eno/Cage) while literature options refer to Basho's poem and William Blake's 'Auguries of Innocence'. Significance. 'The Wise Up, Kid!' project was developed with a Griffith University AEL New Researcher Grant and selected for exhibition at Writing Digital: MIX DIGITAL 3, a flagship conference for Bath Spa University with international contributors from the UK, Australia, Europe, North and South America. 'Wise Up, Kid!' builds on doctoral research in new media pedagogy. The application was developed via intensive peer review and collaboration between doctoral candidate and Games Design Program Director Mr Gordon Moyes (computer programming), Animation Program Director Dr Peter Moyes (concept development and creative direction), and doctoral candidates Ms Marianna Shek (interactive story) and Mr