I extremely enjoyed the sources we dove into this week. The first source I read was the scientific study done on the AIM project within classrooms. I could not stop reading because I was so intrigued. The study showed how great of an impact the AIM program was in these classrooms. The teachers gave positive feedback in regards to the program and said is successfully taught the students how to listen and reflect on the decisions in the AIM program that might be helpful for them sometime in their life (present experiences or future). I then watched the short video on the Arthur Interactive Media which described how it was developed and what type of impact they hoped it would make in schools for young children. They hoped it would teach children empathy and kindness. The buddy system they created to “go along” with the AIM program also was a motive to teach children communication, conversation and empathy skills within each other. I then began to play the actual game; AIM. Just like the article on the study done on AIM, the game was about Arthur and a confrontation with one of his friends. The game gives you options you might choose in regards to how you might react to the situation. It was an opportunity for self-reflection, learning empathy and kindness towards the character that was upset. Lastly, I listened to the podcast about Dora The Explorer and how her character came about and WHY. It was important to the creators that they make a Latinx little girl with brown skin, hair and eyes who spoke her native language so that little girls that looked just like her could watch a cartoon and relate; to feel like there was finally a cartoon on TV that looked like them. Each of these sources had a motive and their motive was to inspire or make a child a better person than they were yesterday and that, is so important.
I felt a deep connection to these articles because my future career hopefully is to be a K-5 teacher. Finding ways to incorporate activities that teach children how to be a GOOD person is essential. But finding activities that they will enjoy AND teach them how to be a good person would be so ideal and I feel that the AIM program does just that. Moving on to the Dora The Explorer cartoon. Being a Latinx woman myself, this podcast was so touching to me. Although when Dora The Explorer came out I was 12 years old, “too cool” to be watching cartoons, so I didn’t experience her the way kids who grew up watching her did, I stand for her. Dora has helped so many feel comfortable with themselves and their identities and it is a beautiful thing.
How can we introduce the AIM program into more classrooms? Are there other online programs similar to AIM that are efficient?
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