👋🏽 My goal is to never stop educating myself. I believe there is value in curiosity. This curiosity leads to increased collaboration across teams, more equitable program and project designs, and a clearer view of the wider systems at play. With the right tools, this information can be used to design a stronger, more accessible world.
Children require play. Not only is it is an essential part of their development; children have a lot of energy! As children move into a school environment, they require a space to let loose. Traditionally, school playgrounds serve as a place to release and have fun. Unfortunately, not all playgrounds are created equal.
view projectThe first step in understanding this problem in its real context was establishing an accurate map of the data in realtime. The School District of Philadelphia does not currently track the state of its playground spaces. Upon talking with experts in the field of education and play, I realized the only way to accurately assess the state of all Philadelphia elementary school playgrounds was to survey them myself. Over the course of four months, I completed site observations for 149 Philadelphia public schools. During that time, I conducted interviews with local community members, recorded photographs of each site, and populated a data sheet with my observations.
view projectAn evaluation of my data found that two-thirds of Philadelphia’s public elementary schoolyards lack playground equipment. Patterns in my data emerged where schools lacking proper playgrounds mimicked patterns of poverty and segregation. At these sites, kids play on bare, cracked concrete. Often, students share their play space with the staff parking lot, weaving between the parked cars as they play tag and dribble basketballs. Open dumpsters sit in plain view -- children climb them and play hide-and-seek around them at recess while overwhelmed aides tend to the needs of other students.
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