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Toys teach the value of green design By Karen Tuohey Wing and Joe Savrock
From left, Zach Zimbler, Afeique Sheikh and Krishna Esteva display the Seventh-Generation Toy they designed for the Toys that Teach competition at the Green Design Conference at Penn State. It won the Peter Kurzman Prize. Photo by College of Education	“Children have this incredible vitality and imagination, and they’re not constrained by the world as it is. They feel completely liberated to envision new ways of looking at things and new ways of designing the world that many of us trained in design regard as impractical or even impossible.” When Barbara Anderson, assistant professor of science, technology and society in the College of Engineering and author of Sustainable Living/Design for Life, spoke these words, she was referring to the work by middle school students in the Toys that Teach competition. The contest was part of the 11th annual Green Design Conference held in April at University Park.   The Toys that Teach competition was one of the highlights of a weekend-long conference titled Rural Renaissance: Restoring Our Roots in the Land. The conference brought together individuals and organizations committed to designing and building the ecologically healthy systems, structures, landscapes and cultures that provide the foundation for sustainable communities. It was a cross-University initiative organized by Anderson and supported, in part, by the College of Education’s Office of Outreach, Cooperative Extension, Technology and International Programs, under Associate Dean Dr. Patricia A. Nelson’s direction.   “This conference brings together a wealth of opportunities for faculty and youth to learn about the environment,” Nelson said. “The Toys that Teach competition was a collaboration on an environmental education initiative that for young people ties together the concepts of green design.”   She added, “The larger vision for the competition was making the connection of ecological initiatives with schools and creating a way to engage students in the process. It began as a local initiative, and it was so successful that we hope to broaden it, so teachers and students throughout the state can participate. This is an important part of the conference that helps young people learn the importance of preserving natural resources and creating a healthy environment.”   “The young create some of the most amazing designs,” Anderson said. “And since they’re the ones who will ultimately live in the world we’re creating, they should have a role in designing it. All of those factors together have made the children’s participation, I would say, critical in the nature and the functioning of the Green Design Conference.”   Dr. Madhu Suri Prakash, professor of education in the College of Education, collaborated with Dana Stuchul, College of Education faculty member; Dr. Christopher Uhl, professor of biology in the Eberly College of Science; and the Center Learning Community Charter School lead teacher Brian Rowan, for this year’s competition. The focus was on toys that teach others about ecological sustainability and green design principles.   Winners from the Center Learning Community Charter School were: Elizabeth Barsom and Margery Swan, who designed and constructed a recycled doll house from reused and recyclable materials. The frame of the house was made from reused cardboard boxes, and all of the floors and walls were covered with reused fabrics. The exterior of the house was covered with scraps of old blue jeans. This toy, designed to show how children can make toys from household materials rather than buying new toys, earned the Blakeslee Frederick Prize for 2003. Nikkita Bechdel, Samantha Egolf and Sarah McConnell, for their creation of a board game called World Wide Rescue. This group took the game MonopolyTM and gave it an environmental twist: players purchase properties in order to preserve them, not to make money. The actual game board includes real natural areas from around the world. Players of the game can be fined for harming endangered animals or plants. This game was the Toys that Teach category winner for 2003. Krishna Esteva, Zach Zimbler and Afeique Sheikh, who designed and presented a Seventh-Generation Toy, “In All Our Deliberations, Let Us Be Mindful of the Impact Our Decisions Have on the Next 7 Generations.” Their toy is designed to teach people about the great law of the six-nation Iroquois Confederacy. It consists of a series of games that focuses on the concept of an ecological footprint and the impact that lifestyle choices have on the environment. Their computer game and two board games engage players in making decisions that affect their ecological footprint. To win, players must learn how to reduce their ecological footprint. This series of games won the Peter Kurzman Prize for 2003.   “I really appreciate the opportunity that the Green Design Conference has given our students,” Rowan said. “It’s very valuable and motivating for them to present their work in front of a real audience.”   “We wanted the competition to be a bridge between the two great places of learning—the schools and universities,” Prakash said. “The experience was so positive we hope to extend our outreach-oriented, intercollegiate collaboration and multiply many-fold the participation of Pennsylvania schools in next year’s Green Design Competition.”   The theme of next year’s Green Design conference is The Utilization of Green Design in Urban Renewal. For more information, check the Web site at http://www.engr.psu.edu/sts/greendesign/. An outreach program of the Science, Technology and Society Program, College of Engineering, College of Education and other Penn State colleges