When Apps Get Us Talking

Our feature this week is from Michael Handelman of Playtime Interactive,  an award-winning designer and producer of educational games. It is co-written by Dr. Michael Baran, a cultural anthropologist specializing in how children learn about race and diversity. Dr. Baran teaches at Harvard University and is the Director of Cambridge Diversity Consulting. They discuss their app Who Am I? Race Awareness Game, which will be featured this week for App Friday. Who Am I is a helpful springboard for a new and necessary conversation, and an example of how interactivity can be accomplished with an app.

Handelman The making of Who Am I? Race Awareness Game has its roots in a desire to use games and digital media in a way that makes a difference for kids. I’ve produced educational kids titles for LeapFrog and several other companies, so I know the power certain games have on educating kids. But while there are many games available to teach core curriculum, I wondered why so few teach about more complex social issues and values for living responsibly in today’s world. When an old college friend told me about his new diversity consulting business, we got to talking.  That’s when the idea was born: to integrate his expertise on race with my background in designing and producing kids games.

Baran I was coming at the issue from a different angle. I was really focused on figuring out how to solve a problem. Parents, and especially white parents, are just not talking to their kids about race.  They think that by ignoring the issue, they can create “colorblind” children. Kids as young as 3-years-old are curious about race, and they are trying to learn about it from subtle clues all around them because adults are not engaging in the conversation. Academics see this happening, but they are typically not trained in how to communicate these important ideas to a wider audience.  The idea of making a game – something that would teach kids while also entertaining them – was fascinating to me.

Handelman We decided on using the iPhone platform for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, we saw how our own kids loved playing with apps and how convenient and accessible they were. We wanted to be a part of the excitement surrounding the boom of mobile apps, and knew that there were only a handful of apps that touched on multicultural issues.  We decided to release Who Am I? at the same time as another app, Guess My Race, which is targeted to teenagers and adults.  We think they work really well together.

Baran Trying to come up with a game to teach kids about race was a big challenge. Race in general is a difficult subject to talk about because it’s so loaded and there are so many misperceptions. Because of that, we wanted to come up with a game that not only taught kids to think responsibly about race, but that also taught parents how to have conversations with their kids about race.  That’s how we landed on this two-player game that uses pictures of real people to get kids thinking about the beauty of human diversity and that also gives 70 practical tips for parents to use to start overcoming their own discomfort with these conversations.

Handelman Reactions to the game so far have been fantastic! We are constantly receiving e-mail from parents, teachers, and kids organizations describing how excited they are about the game. Both of the apps have been getting some great press, including a Slate.com article , and mention in the November issues of Parents Magazine and Parent and Child. Since these apps are really unique, when adults see that the family has fun while learning about race and diversity in a way that’s educational and fosters empathy, they get excited and news spreads. For the future, we aim to get these apps into as many educational contexts as possible and start thinking about our next set of apps.