The Diversity+ Interactive Scenarios: Supporting ECEC staff to solve practical challenges related to diversity inclusion

The Diversity+ team is ready with the final project output – 30 interactive scenarios, addressing teachers and other staff in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The animated scenarios are built around common situations arising in everyday dynamics related to discrimination, racism, bias and stereotypes. Be among the first ones to use the Diversity+ Interactive Scenarios and let us know what thou think about it via this form. 

Learning occurs through experience as players immerse themselves in the serious game context and make decisions in the first person in order to tackle everyday-life challenges through solidarity, empathy, mutual respect and awareness.

The innovative game-based approach makes learning more friendly, engaging and attractive, welcoming ECEC educators and assistants to recognize and challenge bias, to challenge their approaches, to place a positive value on differences and to treat all people with respect. Each scenario begins with a short introduction that acquaints the user with the context and is confronted with a typical challenge. 

At a critical point, the professionals have to make a decision and choose one of the alternatives before them. They will see how the story unfolds, according to the decision they have made, and receive feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of the decision taken. Thе scenarios could be played more than once, to experiment more decisional paths. 

The Diversity+ international team has developed 30 short scenarios grouped in 9 topics:

Language: 

• New in School – A Ukrainian boy comes to a Czech kindergarten for the first time.
• Name Calling – Children fighting using labels such as stupid, bad etc.
• Johnny and Mary – Comparing children’s performance and its effects.

Differences: 

• They left me out – The kids didn’t invite the Vietnamese boy to a party.
• Easter or Ramadan – Children confronting over most important religious celebrations.

Age and Physical Abilities: 

• Music class – Teacher, Mr Aziz, asks their students who will come to see them at the end-of-year concert. Erik, an extrovert boy, made fun of Marco’s disabled sister.
• Toys for grown-ups – Two little girls are playing cards. A new girl, younger in age, wants to play with them, but they won’t let her, telling her she is too young.
• The Elephant – an overweight girl is insulted by a peer.
• Anthony’s Drawing – a hyperactive child has a hard time. 

Physical Characteristics: 

• A Tall Girl – Children mocking a tall girl.
• Limping girl in the class
• The Princess – A girl is not allowed to play a princess, because she is not pretty.
• The boy’s weight – A boy is teased for his size.

Gender: 

• Male Teacher – Discussion with female colleagues and classroom practices.
• Genderless Toys – A young boy is playing in a family centre with a baby doll and another boy is laughing at him because “he’s using girls’ toys” .
• The Tree Climber – Three children are playing in the kindergarten garden when a girl and her friend start climbing causing the concern of the other children.
• The Boy’s Hair – A boy being teased because of his long hair.

Family Composition:

• I Live Only with My Mom – children are confused as their peer lives only with mother.
• My two Dads – A boy has two fathers

Economic Class: 

• Do Clothes Make the Man? –  A boy proves that he is a valuable team member
• A School Trip – Children thinking of how to help their classmates in a bad social situation
• Bobby’s T-Shirt – a poorly dressed boy is excluded from games

Ethnicity: 

• Concerned Parent – Parent complaining for having Roma child in the group
• Christmas Traditions – Children learn names of Christmas food in different languages
• The Missing Toy Car – A Roma boy is blamed for a missing toy
• The Girl’s Hair – A girl is teased about her hair texture

Cooperative Problem-Solving: 

• Football Match – Children arguing during a football match.
• I Made A Mistake – Dealing with a situation where a child destroys something.
• I Know How to Ask for Help – Solving a situation when a child fails to handle a simple task.
• Shared Toys – Conflict management for the use of common toys, avoiding labels and prejudices.
• Apologize! – A father wants a boy to apologize publicly for offending his daughter.