Our team directed our research toward play structures that would support the student led discussions on fairness and inequality. We knew we wanted a play structure that would inspire student led conversations around fairness. Our lesson study team had the opportunity to develop a research based lesson that would deepen our practice. We started with our shared goals. We want to teach in ways that raise our communities’ socio political consciousness. We want to empower students, teachers, and families to think critically about the world and feel a responsibility to work against racism and injustice. This work is sometimes at the forefront of lessons, sometimes in the dynamics of the community building, and sometimes woven into the routines and practices we utilize through instruction. The conversations that can help students develop and deepen understandings of the socio political structures in society are sometimes considered too challenging for young children. Messages about race, gender, and privilege are so salient in society, it is impossible to not incorporate them into one's schema. Bouette (2008) states, “residual effects of living in a racially stratified society do not escape children’s detection.” Since young children are trying to make sense of the patterns they observe, we must help them identify and safely question patterns of oppression.

            Many adults are uncomfortable questioning these same patterns. Avoiding the conversations when they arise naturally is also a pattern that students will observe. According to Schwartz (2019),  if you do not have these conversations,  “you are unfortunately perpetuating the idea that it is not to be talked about, that white privilege is off-limits, that racism has been solved.” The questions do not go away if they are unanswered. According to Bouette (2008), “without venues to discuss issues surrounding diversity, actions and discourse will continue in subversive ways.” 

          We want to reinforce pro-justice thinking in practices, conversations, and community starting as early as kindergarten. Our team considered opportunities in kinder that could facilitate the development of pedagogical practices that deepen the communities socio political consciousness. We noticed that students notice injustice and grapple with these experiences openly during play. According to Schwartz (2019), “it’s common for young kids to exclude one another in games and on the playground based on differences.” 

        One of the most common complaints is that things are unfair. We were interested in the kindergarten understandings of fairness. When reflecting on the most obvious patterns of fairness, we noticed negative interactions arise with resource distribution. According to Shaw and Olson (2011), “children, like adults, become upset when others receive more than them and reduce inequity by sharing resources with others who have less.” This aversion to inequality is an opportunity to practice facilitating conversations about injustice. 
 encourage student interactions. We were drawn to the Reggio-Emilia method and its 8 essential concepts. One of the driving concepts is the co-construction of learning through social relationships. Within this concept the role of the teacher is to “generate strategies to support students interacting amongst themselves, as throughout the negotiation, the students are able to generate knowledge,” (Fernández Santín, 2017) We knew if we were to place students into a play structure that invited social disequilibrium, we needed to provide them with pre-lessons on ways to safely respond to these feelings so discussion can happen. 

        As we started to piece together the specific goals of our lesson, questions arose about the amount of teacher facilitation necessary in a play based lesson. We knew we wanted the candid questions and eager grappling that accompanies play, but we also wanted students to have a shared experience to help focus the student led discussion. If a question arose in a small group of peers and was brought to the group, would that discussion (during play) be as engaging and meaningful for the whole group? We went back and forth between a free play and guided play structure. According to Fisher et all (2010), “Teachers play a unique role in guided play experiences. They can sensitively guide learning, creating flexible, interest-driven experiences that encourage children’s autonomy/control over the process.” Using a guided play structure would also afford us the opportunity to practice streamlining critical conversations into curriculum.  

        The guided play structure could lower affective filters and help students grapple with academic tasks as well. Fisher et all (2010) states, “playful learning programs promote academic knowledge and cognitive and socio-emotional competencies beyond those attained in traditional, academically focused programs.” We could hold a space to reflect critically on our shared play experiences, practice math concepts, and develop habits of questioning inequality within one lesson. 
With lofty goals, we reflected deeply on the students and their ever developing strengths. According to Fisher et all (2010), “The extent to which the adult sets up the environment and participates in the play varies according to the adults’ curricular goals and the child’s developmental level and needs.” Being very intentional with the setting will help students enter disequilibrium around fairness, driving them to apply math skills and emotional skills.

        Engaging 24 young humans in student driven math play that elicits a shared feeling of injustice is not the everyday structure. At times in our planning we grappled with the idea that critical conversations happen naturally and that a more guided structure limits the range of discussion. In reflecting on our reservations, we chose a structure that would ensure each student would feel the value in our conversation about fairness. Haney & Bissonnette (2011) clim that new teachers “might be less likely to take advantage of naturally occurring situations or to construct learning opportunities where play can facilitate cognitive or emotional development.” As we continue to develop our practice, we will be more skilled at having critical conversations in the moment.