Tag Archives: play

Image created by AI with prompt “Old time radio in the metaverse”

I am excited about the field of Coolabilities. When I first learned about the field from Vint Cert and Guido van Nispen in 2019, everything in my world changed. As a young adult, I was diagnosed with Hyperlexia, among other things and could mostly only see the disadvantages in the way I had to adapt to the world around me. I have now come to understand the gifts my diagnosis brings. After researching inside this space for the last five years, I am on fire for the exciting future possibilities.

I co-wrote this piece with the beautiful human Shannon Mullen O’Keefe of the Museum of Ideas. Together we spent months exploring what we wanted to share about this emerging field, and what seemed most important was to tell the human story. A human with a neurodivergent diagnosis can possess superpowers; not everyone but many do, and we should be paying attention to what this can mean for all. It was magical to explore an idea through thought and research and conversation. Thank you Shannon!

Also, please know The People-Centered Internet (PCI) Coolabilities website will go live in Spring 2023. Additionally, I will co-produce with Guido van Nispen a book on Coolabilities in early 2024 with the Innovation for Jobs (i4j) / PCI Community.

I am thrilled to play in this Coolabilities space with so many incredible thinkers.

#Coolabilities and #Neurodivergent #superpowers are the #future #workforce

 

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Make it S.T.E.A.M-Y

Arizona S.T.E.A.M fans – Join me on Sept 15th for my talk on making your S.T.E.M and S.T.E.A.M events S.T.E.A.M-Y at Scottsdale Center for the Arts
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“Make it S.T.E.A.M. – Y,” a session about creating experiences through S.T.E.A.M., is an interactive opportunity to see how creativity and play provide clarity around innovating and integrating S.T.E.A.M into business and educational practices with a focus on Process over Product.

Session Objective:

In this session you will learn how to leverage creative, playful methods to enhance your work. What you will learn from this session include the following discussion points:

Discussion Points:

1. Have Fun
Ask are you having fun? If the answer is no – make small ‘micro moment’ changes now!

2. Be Brave
Learn how to walk into creative play with bold bravery and a ‘let’s just try it’ attitude.

3. Brainstorm
Start with playful Ideation and creative brainstorming.

4. Experiment
Allow for the process to let experiential, organic magic to occur. Then learn how to capture this to use next time. This takes bravery to muster up the courage to play creatively but let’s talk about the fact that you have nothing to lose and will likely have a fun time experimenting.

5. Commit
Be deeply committed to Process Over Product because it is a journey – there will be many ever-changing destinations. S.T.E.A.M is already designed to celebrate this – learn how to harness and enhance it.

6. Just Do it
The way to allow for process to take root in your playful creative practice is to say out loud things like ‘I am playing’, ‘I am experimenting’, ‘I want to see what will happen if. . . . . .’ Learn how to Just play, enjoy the process, make and experience a lot of stuff. If you commit to the playtime to just be creative you will create all kinds of stuff, some terrible, some very cool, some you want to repeat.

7. Dump it or Deposit it
If you look at something you have been working on and think maybe there is something there but are not sure then store it for a while by depositing it in a place for safekeeping. Then pull it out when you have a fresh perspective.

8. Time
You have to dedicate time to this. When and how can you set aside time to play and be creative?

 

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Natural Playgrounds

Why have kids play and explore in nature? Because they already know what to do there – not instructions required. Kids are hard wired to know how to play outside, it is only we adults who interrupt their potential while they are explore. We do this out of our own fears but what if we allow these young explores to take over and investigate all on their own? Just think of what they might come up with. Beyond playing out in a natural environment what if you are interested in building a playground in the back yard for the kids? consider building one out of natural materials. You can keep it simple and put up a few tree stumps to offer space for imaginative play.

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You could create structures that are more complex and offer a fort like set ups so kids feel like they are in their own land and are able to invent new games with new rules. They can build characters and use their imaginations to create whole new worlds.

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Mix nature with richer character development and storytelling by creating an outdoor structure that is a puppet theater combined with a beverage stand or Lucy from Peanut’s Advise stall. Let kids decide how they want to incorporate nature into the story they tell and how they see the world.

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Next time you think “should I let the kids play an hour more on their tech or should I take them to a nearby playground?” consider how healthy it is for kids to have unsupervised, creative outdoor play. Leave them alone because they know what to do out there, just like you did when you where a kid.

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