# karlsen (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 1 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover karlsen. Page: Feed: --- ## [Breaking the news: Facilitating young children’s exploration of climate change](https://www.theremake.org/breaking-the-news-facilitating-young-childrens-exploration-of-climate-change/) _2026-08-16 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ I think a lot about climate change and what it means for my students at Newtowne School. Knowing that the future of the planet depends on humanity moving from an extractive to a sustainable relationship with the rest of nature, I aim to foster my students' solidarity with ## [“Be a Pain”: Talking to young children about AI chatbots](https://www.theremake.org/be-a-pain-talking-to-young-children-about-ai-chatbots/) _2026-07-08 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ There are a host of questions artificial intelligence raises about education. This essay addresses one: how should we explain chatbots to young children? As a teacher and parent, I have spent a lot of my time socializing young children into their relationships with different parts of the world. Take dogs. ## [What to do when children stomp on, play with, cry about, and intervene with critters? Answer–it depends](https://www.theremake.org/what-to-do-when-children-stomp-on-play-with-cry-about-and-intervene-with-critters-answer-it-depends/) _2026-06-23 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ Grounded in a 20 minute episode on the playground, this essay shares the perspectives of colleagues and children to explore four teacher decision points regarding the socialization of children’s relationship with the natural world. Every spring dozens of Eastern Subterranean Termites emerge from their underground colonies ## [Why not write about happiness: A conversation about stories with Susan MacKay and Matt Karlsen](https://www.theremake.org/why-not-write-about-happiness-a-conversation-about-stories-with-susan-mackay-and-matt-karlsen/) _2026-06-10 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ Every time I talk to Susan MacKay and Matt Karlsen from the Studio for Playful Inquiry I learn something. They ask really good questions about important topics that push my thinking forward. Case in point, last week we had a conversation where we discussed stories. Based in part on my ## [Brian, Jerry, and Vivian: Why I write](https://www.theremake.org/brian-jerry-and-vivian-why-i-write/) _2026-05-25 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ The Studio for Playful Inquiry is a vibrant, international community of educators who think deeply about the role of playful learning in our turbulent times. Each month the Studio's facilitators, Susan MacKay and Matt Karlsen, pick a theme to organize the community's conversations. In June the ## [Special Critter Friends](https://www.theremake.org/special-critter-friends/) _2026-04-18 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ This essay describes the start of the Special Critter Friends project which aspires to foster four and five-year-olds' solidarity with nature by creating a bond between children and particular animals. “I wish Bucksaw was real” In late February, walking with Wole past the poster of ## [“Be scared, not dead”: Children’s thoughts on taking care of friends, scary stories, and the news](https://www.theremake.org/be-scared-not-dead-childrens-thoughts-on-taking-care-of-friends-scary-stories-and-the-news/) _2026-03-18 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ In January my former student Zolan Kanno-Youngs was in the news. Along with three of his New York Times colleagues he was part of a conversation in the Oval Office. There was a lot of talking. Some disturbing things were said. Zolan is the reporter nearest the bust of ## [Play is sub-optimal, and just what we need in the Climate Crisis](https://www.theremake.org/play-is-sub-optimal-and-just-what-we-need-in-the-climate-crisis/) _2026-02-18 · Amos Blanton · The Remake_ Evolution doesn’t design — it repurposes. The adjacent possible is the set of next viable moves that are just one step away from what already exists. Stuart Kauffman’s term describes how a feather, evolved for warmth, one day becomes a flight surface. Or how a failed ## [Learning from the Platypus](https://www.theremake.org/learning-from-the-platypus/) _2026-02-06 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ Ben Mardell and Amos Blanton In our most recent essay we explained the urgency of our work, reviewing the science of climate change. In this essay we address the implications for educators of the climate crisis, providing an unlikely role model to guide our work. And so… what ## [The Betrayal of Isaac](https://www.theremake.org/the-betrayal-of-issac/) _2026-02-05 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ Ben Mardell and Amos Blanton Politically, 2026 has started as a continuation of 2025, only darker. Amidst the chaos, we worry that attention to the climate crisis is being lost. So we begin the year with a reminder about the science of climate change. This science, along with the reality ## [Crush Every Threat in Real Time (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/FGoZdGVVkH4Q) _2026-02-05 · **Sponsored**_ One agent for real-time detection, exposure tracking, and active defense. ## [Solarpunk Futures: Playing towards a Sustainable World](https://www.theremake.org/solarpunk-futures-playing-towards-a-sustainable-world/) _2026-01-28 · Amos Blanton · The Remake_ Lately, leaders in the movement to address climate change have described our current malaise as a crisis of the imagination , by which they mean it seems hard for us to collectively imagine and move towards a better, more sustainable future. Imagining sustainable futures is difficult because the causes of the ## [Creativity is not enough: Further reflections on the Leaf People](https://www.theremake.org/creativity-is-not-enough-further-reflections-on-the-leaf-people/) _2025-12-13 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ This essay builds on a previous post about collective imagination and The Leaf People. I argue that as part of creative, collaborative activities teachers need to point children in the direction of care. The Leaf People In The Leaf People: An exercise in collective imagination , I described a school-wide ## [Children are scientists with hypotheses: More Playing with the Sun at Newtowne School](https://www.theremake.org/children-are-scientists-with-hypotheses-more-playing-with-the-sun-at-newtowne-school/) _2025-11-22 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ This essay describes a session where two- and three-year-olds explore a solar powered Merry-Go-Round created from the Playing with the Sun kit, documenting how these materials create opportunities for hypothesizing and experimentation. The title of this essay expands on a famous saying of Loris Malaguzi, the ## [Choosing to Care](https://www.theremake.org/choosing-to-care/) _2025-10-10 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ In a time when educational discourse is increasingly shaped by ideals of efficiency and optimization—and the world faces rising authoritarianism and dehumanization—choosing to care is not only pedagogically meaningful, but also politically urgent. -Carmelo Presicce, LifeLong Kindergarten at the MIT Media Lab Children choosing to care ## [Singing, transgression, and rituals: Lessons about playful learning from my nieces’s weddings](https://www.theremake.org/singing-transgression-and-rituals-lessons-about-playful-learning-from-my-niecess-weddings/) _2025-09-11 · Ben Mardell · The Remake_ Drawing on two joyful weddings that I attended this summer, this essay brings forward singing, transgression, and rituals as strategies to create playful learning experiences. It might surprise you to find an essay grounded in two weddings posted on The Remake . I did not attend my nieces’ weddings thinking