Aspirational Holiday Gifts

My grandfather believed in aspirational rather than age- appropriate gifts. Of all the holiday and birthday presents I received while growing up, the one I most vividly remember was the fountain pen and mechanical pencil set my grandfather gave me, when I was five. My initials even were embossed on both the pen and pencil in gold.

     What are some aspirational gifts that would inspire young people to learn more about the world? A globe is my favorite. It shows the world is round and countries are their correct relative sizes to each other, unlike on some two-dimensional maps, where Greenland is as big as Africa. Globes show the world has more than 200 countries, three oceans, and seven continents, one of which is frozen. A child can put a sticker on where he or she was born and lives.

     If a child already owns a globe, there is the Atlas of Animal Adventures that shows where animals live. Children can go from the book to the globe to find the country habitats of their favorite animals.

     Even in this digital age of email, children feel very grown up, when they receive mail. With a subscription to National Geographic Kids (shop.nationalgeographic.com/ category/magazines/national-geographic-kids), they receive a magazine nearly every month. Adults also will look forward to the world's fun facts, activities, photos, and games in each issue.

     Little Passports (littlepassports.com) is another way to give children mail every month. Each mailing provides activities, souvenirs, letters from fictional pen pals, and other fun ways to learn about a particular country.

     Presenting a child with a $25 kiva (kiva.org) gift card enables a child to loan someone in one of 80 countries the funds to improve a life. With the help of an older person, a child can scroll through the faces of people who need just a little help to plant a crop, open a store, or build something. And it is up to the child to decide where to offer his or her loan. They then receive email messages telling the amounts of every loan repayment.

     And finally, to advance a student's budding interest foreign languages or foreign travel, I'd suggest Other Wordly: Words Both Strange and Lovely From Around the World  by Yee-Lum Mak and illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley and the series: The 500 Hidden Secrets of London, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Paris, and The 500 Hidden Secrets of Barcelona.

     None of these aspirational gifts will choke children under three (I hope), but they will give them a head start in feeling comfortable in the world where they will spend their lives.

   

Robots for Good

Where can techies around the world go to collaborate with other techies? One creative space is Wevolver.com, the web platform where co-founder, Richard Hulskes, offers open-source hardware technology and a way for people with project ideas to collaborate and build physical, tangible products at home. Pascal Jaussi, an engineer and Swiss Air Force military pilot, had a similar idea to make space accessible. His Swiss Space Systems in Payerne, canton Vaud, assembles existing components and uses proven technologies from the United States, Russia, Europe, and Asia to create sub-orbital reusable aircraft that can put commercial satellites into orbit.

      The forces that have come together in Hulskes' "Robots for Good" project illustrate just how powerful technological collaboration can be.

One project provides an example. By combining:

• an Ultimaker 3D printer
• the head and torso of the humanoid InMoov 3D printable robot
• the free, downloadable blueprint and materials for an Open Wheels segway
• Samsung's head-mounted, virtual display oculus rift
• software
• children working with Ultimaker personnel at MakerMovement spaces in London
• seriously ill children at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital

some hospitalized children are about to self-direct a virtual experience at the London Zoo.

     One team in London is using the 3D printer to assemble an InMoov robot and Open Wheels segway that can move. Another in the U.S. is working on software. Kids will drive the robot with a remote control. And, wearing an oculus rift, they will be able to move the robot's head by moving their heads and to see through the robot's eyes.

     Remote controlled drones also are being designed to fly over wildfires to relay information about  sources of water in ponds and wells and escape routes to firefighters on the ground. According to National Geographic Kids (May, 2015), roboticist Thomas Bewley at the University of California at San Diego is already developing a drone like this. Only a little larger than a postage stamp, his drone requires less energy than it takes to power a lightbulb.

(Also see related ideas in earlier blog posts, "Play, Computer Connections, and Pets Come to the Aid of Sick Kids," "I Made This Myself," "Transform Spaces into Creative Places," and "Robot Revolution.")


   

 

Introduction

Globalization came as a shock to the U.S. generation that won World War II and even to the Baby Boomers who followed. The current generation is different. International elements surround today's children from birth. Their first toys have tags showing that they were made in China, Thailand, or Malaysia. As youngsters, they may have attended Montessori schools that use methods developed by an Italian doctor or, under the influence of Japanese musician, Shinichi Suzuki, been gently nurtured to play an instrument. Long before leaving for junior years abroad, students expect to share classrooms and playgrounds with children whose heritages are Mexican, Nigerian, and Korean. Young people are growing up without a competitive edge in a world where democracy is not a shared goal. Their families work for multinational firms, complain about jobs outsourced to foreign companies, vacation where exchange rates provide the best value, or travel only as far as the price of Middle Eastern oil permits.

     National boundaries fail to shield today's children from the rest of the world's languages, religions, and drug traffickiing. Back in 1939, when isolationists were determined to keep the United States out of World War II, Senator Arthur Vandenberg thanked God for the protection of "two insulating oceans." Nowadays, neither the Atlantic nor the Pacific prevents global communication and terrorism from bringing the wide world home. When one billion people are international travelers every year, oceans no longer insulate anyone from tuberculosis or mosquito-borne diseases like the Zika virus. Neither can lines on a map limit where today's young people will work, the cultures they will share, nor the problems they will solve.

     Globalization requires an international, interconnected perspective. Children who have lived outside the country where they were born already may possess the cosmopolitan savvy to feel comfortable wherever they are plopped down in the world. But stay-at-home kids need not cede to their well traveled cohorts the feeling of being comfortable with foreign cultures, knowledge of world geography, the will to deal with environmental challenges, or decisions about war and peace. Teachers and parents now have access to resources at home and on the Internet that enable them to help young people acquire both a taste for what the world has to offer and confidence that they can contribute something to the world.

     My granddaughter's interest in Italy began with mythology. She knows everything about chimeras. These three-part lion, goat, and serpent creatures terrorized Asia Minor until a hero riding on Pegasus killed one. When my granddaughter learned there was a bronze chimera statue in Florence, that city became her dream destination. Although she has yet to travel outside the United States, she took me directly to a book store's language section and showed me the Italian workbook and interactive CD-ROM she wanted for her birthday. Mythology, art, and language combined to widen my granddaughter's view of the world. In a similar way, young athletes might develop their international perspective after watching the Olympics in London this summer. For other children, a foreign coin, a "Made in Bangladesh" clothing label, or a musical rainstick could stimulate interest in their world. This global awareness is what my blog is designed to foster.