From our perspective, children's ideas matter, they should be listened to and valued. Firstly, because we adults need to be inspired by children's ideas, ideas so simple that we think, "but how could I not have thought of this?". The word idea means "to create in the mind" and is directly related to imagination and fantasy. We know, of course, that imagination and fantasy are fertile fields for children, who have endless imagination and are masters of the art of make-believe. Children have unlimited ideas, unlike adults. When adults come up with ideas, they start by doubting them, then quickly adapt them to reality or (more commonly) dismiss them out of hand.
This is because children have very high levels of creativity and should have the opportunity to present their ideas to their peers and adults, receiving feedback, using this exercise to develop skills such as communication, public speaking, but also argumentation and critical thinking. By developing these skills, which are transversal, they will potentially become more active and reflective citizens about their surroundings.
In addition to the importance of stimulating imagination and creativity, children's ideas matter because we are promoting processes of civic participation. Children usually identify problems that are close to them, in their communities or territories, so by listening to them and paying attention to their solutions, we are involving them in existing social and environmental problems, valuing them and giving them the motivation they need to believe when they grow up that these ideas can happen and that they really can change the world.
Since 2018, the Changing the World educational project has been running an Ideas Competition for children aged between 6 and 12. This year marks the 5th edition of this event, which is much more than a competition of ideas.
Changing the World is a project promoted by the IRIS Social Innovation Incubator that aims to work on social innovation with children, families and educational contexts using simple tools. The children's book "When I grow up I want to change the world!", a Handbook for Educational Agents and online courses are the materials made available to children and teachers, leading them on a path through social innovation - a path through a creative idea that solves a social or environmental problem!
The Changing the World Ideas Competition takes place at the end of each school year, encouraging children to take part with the help of their families or educational agents. With a first phase of online applications, either individually or in groups, where children present the problem they have identified and their idea, the process for arriving at this idea and how the world will become a better place once the problem has been solved, the finalists are chosen by a rigorous jury, which always expresses the tremendous difficulty of evaluating such good ideas.
Once the finalists have been chosen, preparations are made for the Competition Gala, which is the highlight of the competition, a moment full of magic, where the finalists are called on stage to present their creative solutions and (the most eagerly awaited part) receive their prizes!
In a world full of social and environmental challenges, many of them on a global scale, it's valuable to encourage children to "think global, act local" and to use their valuable ideas in the communities close to them. Children's ideas are important and at Change the World we're looking forward to meeting them all!
