Mister Rogers knew that children’s imaginations are powerful tools for learning. When the capacity for make-believe meets the chance to try on grown-up jobs and responsibilities, remarkable things can happen.
Tamara Allen-Thomas saw this in action years ago at the Penn Hills Charter School for Entrepreneurship, where she used to be the principal. There, students run their own MicroSociety: a model community in which students elect leaders, start businesses, apply for jobs, and even get “paid” in invented currency.
Having seen how deeply engaging an imaginary community can be for elementary school students, Allen-Thomas decided to bring the MicroSociety concept to the Clairton City School District, where she serves as superintendent.
Read the full story at Kidsburgh.