In brightly colored paints and youthful script, the poster reads: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need a costume and you don鈥檛 need special powers.鈥� It鈥檚 a superhero鈥檚 motto that rings true no matter your age.
The poster and motto were created by Jose, a student in an after school club called聽El Pueblo Innovation Club, or EPIC, an ongoing partnership that began six years ago between the CU Boulder School of Education and Alicia Sanchez International Elementary School in Lafayette. Third-fifth grade students from Sanchez work with CU Boulder education students from the EDUC 441,聽Educational Psychology for Elementary Schools,聽course as partners on a variety of long-term projects. Supported by a , the club聽serves as a critical space in which children and adults from different racial, class, and linguistic backgrounds can interpret and re-imagine their roles as learners and teachers. Together, the Sanchez and CU partners engage in interest-driven design projects that utilize play, literacy, technology, and problem-solving. The projects, developed by a team of faculty and doctoral and undergraduate students, aim to support inquiry into issues that relate to social justice and equity.
This semester brought out the inner superhero in all students. The doctoral students leading the club on superhero day, Kelsey Tayne and Francisco Torres, introduced a unit modeled after activities that Torres has used to critically engage youth in taking up issues of social justice through play. With Tayne, they expanded the unit to invite students to look for superheroes and villains represented in larger society, and create original superheroes and villains to make sense of the current political climate in particular. CU and Sanchez partners designed gadgets, storyboards, videos, and superhero mottos that represented their commitment to fighting for justice even in trying times.
鈥淭he kids at our club really understand the world around them,鈥� said Susan Jurow, associate professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development and the Director of EPIC. 鈥淚n the imagined world of superheroes, they can play with ideas in safe ways, take risks, and solve problems.鈥�
鈥淲hen they play with something, they bring it into being. That鈥檚 the fundamental theory that grounds our class 鈥� they can play with and think about something that has deep resonance for them culturally or historically, and they can do something about it in the real world.鈥�
Kelsey Randa, an English major and student in Jurow鈥檚 EDUC 4411, worked with a student who taught her about the power of play. 鈥淎t first he was really shy, but he opened up a lot when we started working on the superheroes,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e cannot assume that they can鈥檛 talk about central issues.鈥�
Anisah Spahn, a humanities and English education major, said the project allowed students to exchange ideas and address concerns. 鈥淭hey loved to talk about topics that relate to cultural background,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey grew a lot.鈥�
Like a faithful superhero, the hero unit will return to EPIC next semester. However, the EPIC elementary students will work with new undergraduate partners. As the fall semester came to a close, saying goodbye was hard, and there were plenty of hugs to go around. It turns out, 鈥榶ou don鈥檛 need a costume and you don鈥檛 need special powers鈥� to have an impact on children and to inspire change in the world around you.
The fall 2016 EPIC team includes: Faculty Advisor Susan Jurow; Doctoral Students:聽Aaron Guggenheim,聽Emily Price,聽Jose Ortiz,聽Francisco Torres,聽Kelsey Tayne,聽Quinton Freeman, and聽Maravene Taylor-Heine; Undergraduate Learning Assistants:聽Katrina Murphy,聽Rachel Speer, and聽Rachel Thornes; and ATLAS faculty and students:聽Ben Shapiro and聽Susana Gomez-Burgos