Global Education – Curricular Themes

One of the readers of this blog stated that “It almost seems that world interdependence & diversity only come to those with resources. Coming from a rural school district I find it extremely hard to engage my students in discussions or even lecture on our global issues. This is because, as mentioned above, most of them don't have the resources to leave our community.”
I agree that students in small American towns may not have the opportunity to go outside the US however with the advent of Internet, global connections are much easier to make than before. This post is an attempt to help teachers make global connections in the classroom.

Previously I talked about reaching the educators at a philosophical level in helping our children become citizens, who have the skills, knowledge and attitudes to move freely as global citizens. In this post I isolate specific areas of study where I think we need to focus. One thing I do not want to do is to burden teachers with adding more standards and requirements when they are already overwhelmed with what is on their plate. So below are four themes which can be easily subsumed within the existing standards curriculum. Under each theme I also list the knowledge, skills, attitudes and habits of success in the global world. These themes are as follows:

A. Global Connections1
B. Global Issues1
C. Global Culture1
D. Media Literacy

A. Global Connections

Students should learn how they are connected to others in the world socially, politically, economically, and ecologically1. Connections around these dimensions should be addressed in all subject areas and in all grade levels. One must understand the spider web concept of culture, politics, economics, and media.

Knowledge - For example teachers can select literature that helps students see people of their own age in other countries facing similar issues as they do. In Math, students can study the values of currencies of other countries and how they compare to the US dollar. In social studies focus could be on how consequences of one historic event in one part of the nation can stir things in other parts of the world. Students must understand the interdependence of countries across geographical and ecologically lines. In essence, I promote fostering of a systems thinking. Some examples of topics of study are, movement of sun and cycle of day and night across the globe, time differences, tectonics across the globe, impact of pollution across the globe, and interpretation of meteorological data as part of a global picture. Art and music can include diversity of art forms and music in the US and outside.

Skills - Students should be able to apply knowledge to propose solutions for the local problems. Be able to organize, analyze and synthesize ideas. Skills of communicating ideas in all forms of thinking including writing, acting, speaking, singing that may lead to a purposefully developed easiness by which they perform creative acts to solve problems. Problem solving in math and science. Teaching creative activities such as inventions and entrepreneurship.

Attitudes and Habits - Students must see value in the democratic participation. Understand the complexity and yet unifying forces among nations and how it impacts their personal life. Learn to select news sources, like radio television, newspapers and critically analyze it for authenticity. Examine the positive and negative consequences of connections in society.

B. Global Issues

Knowledge – Understanding of the issues that affect their personal lives. Most recent ones are outsourcing and transfer of industrial job outside the country. The environmental issues such as global warming, energy resources and waste. Understand the relationship of World-bank and IMF and developing economies. Help make connections with world system such as water cycle, energy consumption, weather patterns across the world, desalination, and impact of biotechnical waste. Geologic connections between US and neighboring nations. Wars and human condition of the oppressed are examples of topics that can be discussed.

Skills – In order to understand global issues children need to know how to search for information. Understan moral and ethical responsibility of Americans, be able to work with others on economic issues, and be able to understand currency conversions.

Attitudes and Habits- Sense of global responsibility, achieving a state of personal-action, viewing earth as a place to cohabitate with all types of people, a kinder mindset.

C. Global Culture

Knowledge – This refers to language education, learning about the facts of ethnic and racial disparities across the globe, understanding of different types of belief system, understanding of similarities and differences in values of others cultures with American culture, role and place of women in society across the globe, role and place of the disabled across the globe, nature of immigration and patterns of migrations across the globe.

Skills – Developing an ear for strong accents in speech, tolerance for belief system, able to search out cultural values of unknown cultures, and people skills.

Attitudes and Habits – Develop Interest in other languages, conscientious of other pronunciations, developing comfort with foods from other cultures as well as clothing.

D. Media Literacy

I define media literacy as a process of understanding and using different forms of Internet media in a way that it allows active participation in society and in the public sphere. Media literacy today can truly teach our students how to be engaged and voice their opinions and ideas regarding issues that matter to us.

Knowledge – This may include making students knowledgeable of computer systems and basics of connectivity. Using ever growing new vocabulary on technology education. Appropriate use of new forms of virtual environment. Wiki spaces, Second Life, blogging, webcasting, video-casting, using Internet phone with webcam like Skype and others. Use of locations on the web where they can converse with people in other countries like iearn and e-pals.

Skills – Identifying assumption behind a media film, distinguishing between what is fact and what is opinion, skills of writing full sentences as well as abbreviated sentences (text messaging) tact in ‘speaking’ in online communication, web-search skills, webcast or types of video-cast communication

Attitudes and Habits - Etiquettes and rules of conduct, listening attitudes and connecting with the audience.

I recommend the global curriculum be addressed at all levels; the school environment, policy making, teacher preparation, textbook selection and curriculum assessment. It is a mindset that should permeate our society and our schools.

Following are three wonderful website that can help teachers get involved in global issues and get connected. These provide ideas one can use to virtually take children to other worlds and yet connect with global issues in their own lives.

Google Earth: My recommendation to search out Google-earth educational ideas in the web and there are wonderful ideas a teacher can use. Here is one link that provides excellent activities using Google Earth http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/googleearth.htm
iearn - http://www.iearn.org/
e-pals - http://www.epals.com/
PBS Wide Angle : Global Classroom - http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/classroom/index.html

Reference
1Cezarra, F. (2003). Global Education Checklist: For Teachers, Schools, School System and State Education Agencies. American Forum for Global Education. http://www.globaled.org/fianlcopy.pdf

Globalization - Fear or Freedom

My neighbor Gloria, a sixty eight year old woman refuses to buy any goods at her local Wal-Mart store. She adamantly says “I do not want to be their patron; they have taken away business from small shops in our town”. Reflecting on her comment I sense that there is a fear of globalization in small towns of USA especially where the labor jobs have been sent away to China, India and other developing countries. This comment from my neighbor inspired me to search for more information. As an educator I realized that globalization is indeed changing the face of America and how we deal with it today will determine what kind of life our children will have tomorrow.

Globalization is complex. It is complex because it has created interdependence at all levels of society. At economic level it refers to multinational companies of developed nations using labor from developing countries, hence creating a shift in types of jobs and productivity in the US; at political level these big companies have been accused of gaining power beyond boundaries of nation states hence threatening the nation state power structure; and at cultural level it refers to mixing of cultural values of people across the globe.

Although there is much dialog over the Web about positives and negatives of globalization, I believe globalization is about us – the people. I do not want to give into the fear of unknown outcomes of this global revolution; rather I want to focus on what I can do to deal with it. With Internet connectivity, people can communicate with other people anywhere, seek out relationships at all levels, and exercise individual freedom of expression and influence masses if they want to. That is empowering and at individual level I want to center on that.

Furthermore, a study, done in 1999, to generate curriculum recommendations from multinational perspective, reported the following challenges that we should monitor as we teach:

• The economic gap among countries and between people within countries will widen significantly. This means the gap between rich and poor will widen.
• Information technologies will dramatically reduce the privacy of individuals.
• The inequalities between those who have access to information technologies and those who do not will increase dramatically. This refers to digital divide that is already dividing people in the US.
• Poverty in developing countries will increase. Poverty and homelessness is at rise in the US as well.
• Conflict of interest between developing and developed nations will increase due to environmental deterioration.
• The cost of obtaining adequate water will rise dramatically due to population growth and environmental deterioration
• Deforestation will dramatically affect diversity of life, air, soil, and water quality (Parker, Ninomiya, and Cogan, 1999, p.125)

I believe that these trends are interdependent and have direct implications for educators in the classroom:

1. Students and teachers need to view all areas across the curriculum from a global perspective. Connecting the dots from events in one country to the events in our country.
2. All students should have the access to technology in school and also should be taught to solve problems in meaningful ways. Thinking critically and strategically is the key here.
3. Students should be taught social skills to deal with cultures other than our own, and to maintain a proper conduct while communicating with people across the globe via technology.
4. Students should be made aware of the issue of equality and inequality and critically examine their civic responsibility as citizens living in their local communities and the global community.
5. Last but not the least, students should be taught to see connections between the world problems and our citizenship in terms of environment and use of natural resources. (More on this later)

Interdependence suggests that we must accept that we are not alone. What would I say to a parent who feels the same as my neighbor Gloria does? I would say, old jobs are not coming back, and if they did we would not be able to afford basic necessities of life today. However we can embrace it; we can read, we can learn, we can understand the economic, social, and political forces in this new global world, and use our freedoms to help prepare our children to live in it successfully.

Reference
Parker, W. C., Ninomiya, A., and Cogan, J. (1999). Educating world citizens: Towards multinational curriculum development. American Research Journal 36,(2) 117-148.