Matilde Vieira and Amir Mousavinejad – Learning through Activity

One of the most important contexts in which young people develop a sense of self and a social behaviour-set is the world of games and sport. This is often the first situation where they are able to have a say in the making (and sometimes the breaking) of rules, in the selection of groups, and in the consequences of their activities. Studies demonstrating the crucial importance of unsupervised play in early life continue to proliferate in Education scholarship, but you don’t need to be a social scientist to grasp their conclusions. Play is our first practice for autonomous socializing, community-building, and competing in public, and should be regarded with the same seriousness that we treat the other academic disciplines with.

This fact becomes clear as soon as you start talking to young athletes like Matilde and Amir. These two teenagers, one from Portugal and the other from Iran, came to Toronto alone and immediately found themselves surrounded by unfamiliar people and ideas. But where others may have succumbed to the forces of Culture Shock and suffered the alienation and torpor that go with it, these two have used sport as an avenue to identity, health, community and confidence. Today, they are recognized as caring friends, successful students and influential leaders in our school.

Check out this episode to learn more about how games and sport can transcend the barriers that divide us and inform a purpose-driven life no matter what level we play at!