Kokoro – Digital Game
Kokoro – Learning to Live Together
A virtual global community for children and youth to develop intercultural and interfaith learning and collaborative ideas to transform the world.
Kokoro is the winner of the PeaceApp Competition for 2015, in the category of projects under development, organized by the United Nations Alliance Of Civilizations and the United Nations Development Program in collaboration with Build Up, in order to promote digital games and ramified apps as venues for cultural dialogue and conflict management. We are in the process of receiving mentoring to finalize the conceptual development of Kokoro to be able to get started with its final design development.
Kokoro is a simulation game for children above 12 years based on the manual Learning to Live Together – An Intercultural and Interfaith Program for Ethics Education. The objective of developing Kokoro is to provide an interactive virtual platform based on the educational approach of the manual for children and youth to meet, learn from one another and collaborate.
The interest of Arigatou International lies on the potential of digital technology to provide learning opportunities for children and youth around the world to develop global citizenship competencies, such as intercultural and interfaith collaboration, cooperation and communication, creativity, problem solving, empathy and solidarity. Digital games can allow children to take control of their own learning while having fun, interact with others and transcend language, geographical and cultural barriers.
Kokoro aims to simulate issues derived from learning to live together in an interactive game and platform where children and youth above 12 years old can learn to make decisions, reflect about themselves, on their attitudes and behaviors towards others, challenge their prejudices and stereotypes, analyze situations that discriminate others, learn non-violent alternatives, and to work collaboratively to transform the world.
Arigatou International Geneva aims to:
- Create a unique global digital platform that connects children and youth around the world across cultures and religious backgrounds;
- Provide opportunities for children and youth to develop as global citizens and take collective action on topics that affect them;
- Promote collaborative learning and problem solving among children and youth across countries and cultures;
- Promote respect, responsibility, empathy and reconciliation as key values in the development of global citizenship competencies;
- Nurture children and youth’s capacity to contribute to a culture of peace.
Kokoro uses an online roleplaying collaborative approach where children interact with one another to learn to live together, develop strategies to solve issues that affect their communities, particularly on issues related to working and living with people of different cultures and beliefs. It uses a value-based approach and a learning process supported by constructivist approaches that support the development of critical thinking and collaborative skills.
Goal of the players
The goal of the players is to help a society get along and work together by making ethical decisions throughout the game that can help solving conflicts, challenging prejudices and stereotypes, promoting mutual understanding and respect, improving relations and developing collaborative projects together. Their goal is to help a society learn to live together by going through real life situations, understanding the causes of conflicts, putting themselves in the place of the other, and developing innovative, collaborative and non-violent solutions to transform their societies and immediate communities around them.
Learning objectives
By playing Kokoro, players will:
- Reflect about their values, beliefs, and identities;
- Strengthen their capacity to make well-grounded ethical decisions based on values that promote respect for other cultures and beliefs;
- Identify the needs of their societies and respond with an attitude of reconciliation;
- Develop collaborative skills, critical thinking, problem solving and non-violent communication skills;
- Discover their capacity to transform their societies and take individual and collective responsibilities for the future;
- Nurture their spirituality by practicing self-reflection and social service engagement.
If you are interested to join efforts with Arigatou International Geneva to develop Kokoro, write to us.
