Asian Youth Center Partners with Civikids Collaboration
Our workshop was hosted online on Wednesday, June 30th. The main goal of the workshop was to give a brief introduction regarding civics to children around 6 years old. We designed mini-games and presentations to deliver the knowledge in a more kid-friendly manner. Each mini-game aims to reduce the complexity of political concepts and create more engagement. The presentation was divided into three main parts: Branches of government, Electoral process, and Taxes.
3 BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
We started off the workshop with a lecture on the three branches of government. Most kids knew the name of the branches but not their powers and functions. For instance, almost no one knew that the legislative branch could make all the laws, control all the money, and have the power to declare war. Knowing our audience is primarily kids, we also came up with tips, such as “Laws= Legislative,” to help them remember these concepts. We then put the kids into several breakout rooms with one leader in each and played the first minigame of creating an island. We presented the kids with different scenarios and asked them what type of government is on this island, for example, an island with a central government with local governments versus an island with only one government. Our instructors hope that the kids can learn the core principles of American civics through the lectures as we continue to talk about the electoral process and taxes.
ELECTORAL PROCESS
The electoral process is an important concept for every citizen to understand, and it is our priority to educate this concept to the kids. In order to facilitate learning for students, we presented with lectures on the processes required to apply for integral positions that are found in the government. These include the Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Supreme court Justice positions. The kids didn’t know that there are many requirements to apply to any of these positions, such as the difference between running for president versus for vice president. The lecture along with the minigames was successful in helping the kids understand the electoral process. Continuing from the previous island minigame, each Civikids member led a group of five to six children to discuss the process of selecting a leader on the island that had become a society. This game gave the kids a visual representation of the electoral process, hence helping them better grasp the concept and recognize the difficulty of becoming the leader of a group.
TAXES
Taxes constitute an imperative portion of our society’s welfare program. Governments retrieve taxes from citizens and invest the money for the great good of the overall society. Taxes are the main budget for most federal programs, and they come in multiple forms, one of which is the income tax. Our mini-games and slides were welcomed by kids who have no previous knowledge and helped them understand the multifarious nature of taxes. Our mini-games created virtual scenarios where kids get to brainstorm the necessity of taxes by using examples based on prevalent hobbies among the youth.
CONCLUSION
Following the great success of the workshop held on June 30th, Civikids look forward to carrying on the momentum in educating the youth. Soon we will be organizing another workshop to keep children engaged in civics. Following the next workshop, there will be a series of civic Workshops waiting for the young citizens of the United States. In the future, we will be consistently hosting more workshops and spreading our influence such that the beneficiaries of political education can lead to the success of the next generation, yielding an even brighter future.