While NewTechKids teaches primary and middle school students tech knowledge and skills and an innovator’s mindset, we don’t control how they deploy them.
We were reminded of this very fact recently.
This week, we wrapped up our game design module for students at an Amsterdam primary school. We use game design as the context for teaching digital literacy topics, including:
- online safety
- dopamine and tech addiction
- privacy and the way gaming companies use our data
- how companies like Roblox profit off of content produced by kids
- how gaming companies make money off of kids through in-game advertising and microtransactions (purchasing in-game currency with real money, paying to unlock new characters or level, and buying skins, costumes, or weapons)
We use an online platform that enables kids to build their own games without the need to write code. Kids can build everything from simple, basic games to games with a lot of cool, interactive features. The beauty of this curriculum module is that it helps expose kids to self-directed learning: we introduce the main functionalities of the platform and then kids work in pairs to explore and create a game which fellow students can eventually play.
We had an inkling of trouble when we heard snickering and then “I’m telling the teacher”. Apparently, a student had discovered a new feature where you can embed text in the game and he decided to include swear words. We talked to the student and removed him from the class, in line with the rules we explain to students at the beginning of each program.
This student’s behavior has been challenging since the beginning of our program. At the same time, he also created an amazing game using advanced features that most of the other students did not. While we were disappointed in his use of the curse words, we were secretly impressed with his ideas and game design.
That brought up an interesting point which has broader implications. A person may have the most amazing tech knowledge and skills but they end up using them for purposes that harm people rather than benefitting them. Our student may have done this in a relatively harmless primary school class setting. But just imagine the thousands of tech professionals around the world who do this on a daily basis while building their own companies or working for someone else’s?
Tech is not neutral. Gone are the days when we can teach computer science, AI and digital literacy without also helping kids to understand the implications, consequences and ethics of tech as well.