Ministry with Children

Digital youth report out

The MacArthur Foundation has funded a major piece of ethnographic research on youth engagement with digital media which has just been released. "Kids' Informal Learning with Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures" is available in a variety of forms (short summaries, an extensive white paper, the whole report) and so on. Among other findings, the report suggests that youth use online media to extend friendships and interests, and to engage in self-directed, peer-based learning. The report suggests several implications, including the almost banal notion that "adults should facilitate young people's engagement with digital media." This is a really significant piece of research, and worth pondering in full.

Supporting volunteers is good adult ed

I think sometimes in the harried mix of children's ministries, we forget how important it is to focus on the volunteers who are leading them. Supporting such volunteers is a key element of good adult education. Here's a quick list of some ways to do so (it's set in the worship context, but is relevant here, too).

Great overview of recent research

Karen Marie Yust just published, via the Resources for American Christianity site, a great overview of the emerging literature on children, youth and Christian formation.

More on teens and video games

Here's an excellent summary of the recent Pew study of teens and video gaming.

Rock the vote poll on young people

Big new poll full of data from Rock the Vote.

Teens and video games

The Pew Internet & American Life Project just released a new study in which:

The first national survey of its kind finds that virtually all American teens play computer, console, or cell phone games and that the gaming experience is rich and varied, with a significant amount of social interaction and potential for civic engagement

Wiki for global youth

This is kind of cool -- it's a wiki for collecting and discussing youth issues around the world. It's kind of new, so I don't have much of a sense of its biases yet, but it's great that someone's trying to put something like this together.

Great notes on fall trainings

Here's a useful set of reminders on how to structure fall volunteer training events for Christian educators.

Access, analyze, act

PBS has put together a pretty cool interactive website to help youth learn about civic engagement and social media. It's chock full of lesson plans, exercises, and really useful resources.

Using multimedia tools with youth

Here's a great, concise, guide to ways to use multimedia tools with youth.

Lessons learned from swimming lessons

PastorPam reflect on what she's learning about learning, while taking her kids to swim lessons. Great tips in short summary, but read the whole piece:

• Inspire confidence
• Train the heck out of your teachers
• Have a clearly laid out system, but treat every individual like an individual
• Evaluate like crazy
• Failure is not an option
• Believe that this is important -- and really fun, too

Teaching tips for kids with special needs

Here's a comprehensive list of useful sites for teaching kids with various kinds of special needs. While it's not oriented towards religious educators, it's still very useful in that context, too.

Best practices in fair use of online video

Thanks to Anita for pointing me to this new document which outlines a set of best practices for fair use of online video.

Teens and technology

Here's a fascinating weblog post by the ShapingYouth blog that is dense with interesting links off to resources on teens and technology.

Common Good radio premieres

Check it out! A new internet radio station for kids, with music, scripture and prayers to speak to their faith.