Research on Global Awareness in Classroom: 2017

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Research 10

How to teach Global Awareness Across Content Areas!

Literature and Language Arts

Part of living in a global community is learning strong conversational skills that include valuing each other’s strengths, listening well, and explaining thinking clearly. Ms. Bomer models these behaviors as she guides her 5th graders in thoughtful discussions of the text they read. See Engaging With Literature, program 2, “Voices in the Conversation.” Find teaching strategies for reading works by American authors with diverse ethnic backgrounds in Teaching Multicultural Literature: A Workshop for the Middle Grades. Enhance students’ understanding of literary texts using cultural artifacts that provide background knowledge for the stories they read in Artifacts & Fiction. For example, in workshop 6, “Cultural Geography,” students compare photographs and excerpts from Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street to understand cultural divisions in contemporary Chicago neighborhoods.

Mathematics

Fourth graders in a bilingual classroom use a Valentine’s Day card exchange to work on mathematical concepts and problem solving skills in Teaching Math: A Video Library, K-4, program 42. The students respectfully communicate in Spanish and English during the lesson. Use the cards as an opportunity for students to share expressions in their native languages. Talk about genetic resistance as a global issue, and provide case studies. Against All Odds: Inside Statistics, program 29, “Inference for Two-Way Tables,” focuses on the research of the series host Dr. Pardis Sabeti. She uses statistical tools to examine possible genetic resistance to deadly Lassa fever in West Africa. Integrate global awareness into lessons exploring the mathematical concepts of connectivity and networks, from Mathematics Illuminated, unit 11. This unit provides insights into various ways life is connected, from social networks to ecosystems. The video starts with 16th century poet John Donne’s concept that “no man is an island entire of itself.”

Literature and Language Arts

Mathematics

Talk about genetic resistance as a global issue, and provide case studies. Against All Odds: Inside Statistics, program 29, “Inference for Two-Way Tables,” focuses on the research of the series host Dr. Pardis Sabeti. She uses statistical tools to examine possible genetic resistance to deadly Lassa fever in West Africa.

Integrate global awareness into lessons exploring the mathematical concepts of connectivity and networks, from Mathematics Illuminated, unit 11. This unit provides insights into various ways life is connected, from social networks to ecosystems. The video starts with 16th century poet John Donne’s concept that “no man is an island entire of itself.”

Science

Essential Science for Teachers: Life Science, session 7, is about energy flow in communities. Define community and examine energy flow within a community. Take these lessons a step further by providing students opportunities to explore energy flow among organisms in communities around the world. Read about our earliest common ancestors to learn what makes us all human in Rediscovering Biology, unit 9, “Human Evolution.” Anthropologist Ian Tattersall explains how modern humans developed and migrated from Africa to populate the globe. Teach students how demographers study human population dynamics by tackling questions on how population growth affects the environment and whether or not urbanization is a threat to humans’ quality of life. Go to The Habitable Planet, unit 5, “Human Population Dynamics.”

Information found on: https://learnerlog.org/socialstudies/how-to-teach-global-awareness/

Research 9

Why Global Awareness Matters to Schools

Teaching children about global issues and encouraging them to see the world through other eyes is of huge importance, according to Campbell and a growing movement of internationally-minded educators. In an increasingly interconnected world, today's young generation need to learn be able to engage in communication with people from a wide range of different cultures and traditions, they argue. Three-quarters of businesses also think the UK is in danger of being left behind other countries unless young people think more globally and are worried that many young people's horizons are not broad enough for them to operate in a globalised and multi-cultural economy.

The vast majority of businesses believe schools should help young people to think more globally and four out of every five believe schools should be doing more.

Significantly, twice as many business leaders rate knowledge and awareness of the wider world as an important skill as ability to speak a foreign language. While they still regard language skills as important it is the 'soft' skills of cultural awareness and understanding global issues that are particularly valued.

"Because we live in such a globalised world today our mission should be to ensure every young person in school feels more confident and able to live in that world," says Tom Franklin, Think Global chief executive.

"There is altruism to that. A lot of our research has shown that by understanding global issues and the challenges we face such as international development, sustainability, climate change and conflict resolution people are more likely to take action to make the world a better place. It might be as simple as donating, volunteering or taking action in their professional lives.

"But it's also good from a selfish point of view as well. As our research with the British Council has shown, giving young people an understanding of how the world works can be a really important skill as far as getting on in life is concerned.

"What we need to create in our future workforce is a nation of Little Worlders - instead of Little Englanders - who understand the world and how it works."

Increasingly, schools in the UK are looking to do just that. The IB diploma has been gaining popularity in recent years and is now offered by 194 schools ranging from leading independents such as Wellington College in Berkshire to George Green's School in Tower Hamlets, a comprehensive that serves one of the most disadvantaged communities in the country.

A key feature of the IB diploma programme is its emphasis on developing cultural understanding, multilingualism and global engagement across a broad range of subjects.

Other prestigious alternatives to A-levels and GCSEs also stress the importance of global understanding. The Cambridge Pre-U diploma has global perspectives and research as a core component while the Cambridge International GCSE aims to develop students' ability to think critically about a range of global issues.

While global learning features prominently in several A-level qualifications such as Edexcel's AS and A2 geography, there is growing pressure for it to be incorporated in all examination specifications.

According to the Global Skills Gap report, one of the many possible reasons for the narrow horizons of British school-leavers is the relentless focus on exam results combined with an overburdened and outdated curriculum that has squeezed out any time in schools for learning about the wider world.

The report calls for concerted action from business leaders, government and civil society and recognises that schools cannot be expected to achieve this shift in emphasis on their own. It calls for greater investment in schools-based programmes to encourage global thinking, including a young global enterprise scheme. It also calls on the government to use its current review of the national curriculum to give schools the space and legitimacy to incorporate global issues into science, geography, history and other subjects such as maths and English.

Robert Campbell would like to go even further. He would like to see exams at 16 scrapped altogether with children's core skills assessed at the age of 13 and an IB-style curriculum introduced in place of A-levels.

"What is the point of an exam at 16 when the norm is no longer to leave school at 16? It's such a backward-looking view of education. It doesn't look at it holistically which being part of a globally aware school does encourage you to do.

"There are many good things about our education system but it's got its ugly side too. At their worse GCSEs and A-levels cultivate a sort of Little Englander mentality. We would want to have the opportunity to do the IB's middle years programme here and not be beholden to GCSEs," he says.

There is also growing interest in teaching children global awareness in primary schools. While there are only 13 UK schools that offer the IB primary years programme more than 1,000 follow the popular International Primary Curriculum which is designed to encourage international-mindedness.

There are many other reasons why schools are taking up the global awareness agenda. Some use it to promote tolerance and an appreciation of different beliefs, cultures and backgrounds while others use it to give their pupils an understanding of emerging industries and opportunities for training potential future leaders.

"What comes through strongly from talking to headteachers who have really embraced this agenda is that it can be good for schools in both prosperous areas and schools in areas that are much more deprived," says Tom Franklin.

"Headteachers in more prosperous areas say that by teaching from a global perspective they help to open students' eyes to challenges they otherwise wouldn't see and to the fact that there are others around the world that are less fortunate and need help. It helps to teach them about compassion and understanding.

"In schools in areas of high deprivation what heads say is that a global perspective can help to raise the aspirations of young people. A lot of their pupils have rarely travelled outside their locality. So by teaching from a global perspective it helps to raise children's sight and encourage them to look at the bigger picture."

Robert Campbell agrees: "Teaching children global awareness makes for a more vibrant and more encompassing school community. It certainly means that for us as a school community there is greater harmony.

"One of the characteristics of Impington that was cited by Ofsted when they visited in May [the school sixth form was rated 'outstanding'] is the incredible acceptance of real difference whether it be of children from other countries or of children with very pronounced special needs. Our students are always the first to stamp on any racist comments and chastise their peers."

Information found on: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/nov/05/global-awareness-schools-education

Research 8

This website has TONS of lesson plans that you can use in your classroom for Global Awareness!

https://unctv.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/global-learning-lesson-plans/#.Wv3ua9Mvy8U

Research 7

7 Apps for Building Global Awareness in the Classroom!

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/07/21/7-apps-for-building-global-awareness-in-the-classroom.aspx

Research 6

Here is an AMAZING powerpoint on how to teach global awarness!

http://www.teac.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/teaching_for_global_awareness.pdf

Research 5

How to Increase Global Awareness in the Classroom!

ProjectExplorer.org’s mission is to bring the world into the classroom with free multimedia content and lesson plans that improve students’ global awareness and cross cultural understanding. – Project Explorer

Browsing on Project Explorer website, you can see how easy it is to find the perfect resource for your students. First, you can select which grade level you’re interested in (upper elementary, middle school, or high school). Then you’ll see a range of “Adventures” for that grade level, sorted by country.

For example, you can explore Mexico with your upper elementary students by watching a 6-minute introduction video, reading a brief article together, and looking at additional resources on the Mexican Flag, and Spanish Language.

Here are a couple ideas of how you might use this web resource in your classroom:

Break students into groups and let them choose their own country to explore. Have them look at all of the resources as a team, and report back on their findings.
Students could use these resources as part of a genealogy project. They’ll love learning about the origins and cultures of their ancestors.

Information found on: https://www.simplek12.com/digital-media/increase-global-awareness/

Research 4

30 Quick and Easy Global Awareness Activities for the Classroom!

Use National Geographic's People and Culture photographs with young children to help them develop respect for other cultures.
Let children listen to and respond through movement to dance music from different cultures with Pandora! Simply scroll to the bottom of the home page and select BROWSE GENRE STATIONS. Click on WORLD. Also, type MUSIC in the search box and find outstanding global music lesson plans at Oxfam.org!
Let students make a Hair Book.
Look at and talk about similarities between the daily lives of those in the books and our own lives. Ask pupils to illustrate a frieze entitled "A day in the life of our class."
Create a word bank by brainstorming other pupils' qualities: funny, helpful, talkative, stubborn, and so on. Ask children to choose words which they think describe themselves, and then write them as a recipe which ultimately will become part of a class book of recipes.
Find out about the lives of other children around the world.
Access TONS of interactive whiteboard resources by National Geographic with a free registration.
Listen to songs from Mexico and the United States to discuss which is the odd one out.
Read dual-language story books.
Display greetings in different languages.
Read a story about refugees or migrant workers.
Read non-fiction books about energy conservation and the water cycle.
Visit water treatment facilities.
Write a report to the local newspaper to share environmental or community events, like a tree planting.
Establish a connection with a class that lives elsewhere by using www.ePals.com.
Conduct interviews with someone from another country.
Display photos and mementos from teachers' trips.
Use global performances at assembly programs.
Offer books and maps with global themes, all prominently displayed in the media center.
Invite parent volunteers who can promote global awareness.
Use culture boxes from UNC's Center for Global Initiatives (CGI).
Use computer bookmarks that link to newspapers in other world languages.
Ask students questions about the supply and consumption of water in their own lives. They should then imagine that when they go home, they find that the water supply has been shut off with no prospect of it being restored soon. How would being without water affect them and those around them?
Teach students to play a "count-and-capture" game, or mancala. Mancala games play a role in many African and some Asian societies comparable to that of chess in the West. Wikipedia: "There is no one game with the name mancala; instead mancala is a type, or designation, of game. This word is used in Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, but is not consistently applied to any one game."
Use videos to promote cultural awareness. Check out 100 Video Sites Every Educator Should Bookmark.
Encourage Music and Physical Education classes to work together to learn a Japanese folk dance first performed in the Japanese rice fields about 1000 years ago.
Chalk the globe or a world map on concrete.
Display flags of other nations.
Use clocks show the time locally and in other world cities.
Find opportunities to create classroom experiences centered around:
- Fairness between groups
- Causes and effects of inequality
- Similarities and differences between people
- Contributions of different cultures, values and beliefs to our lives
- Nature of prejudice and ways to combat it
- Sense of the wider world
- Links and connections to different places
- Trade between countries
- Our impact on the environment
- Awareness of the past and the future
- Relationship between the people and the environment
- Our potential to change things
- Conflicts past and present in our society and others
- Causes of conflict, conflict resolution, impact of conflict
Information found on: http://www.podls.com/strategies/view/?ID=1332768080

Research 3

Building Global Awareness in the Classroom!

Build thematic units

Teaching students about our global community through a curriculum is one practice that I can identify with as a leader in my own elementary classroom. States, such as Tennessee, have revamped their previous academic standards into standards that provide rigorous instruction, critical thinking, and more complex text that increase student global awareness. The third grade Tennessee social studies standards cover the geography of the world. They include analyzing the globe, locating major countries, continents, and oceans, and identifying physical features of the world. I have been able to teach in themes, such as global poverty, global advocacy, and global citizenship.

Use high-quality online resources

There are many websites available with a plethora of lesson plans, videos, activities, and texts. There are two sites, World’s Largest Lesson and Newsela, that help me build global awareness in my classroom. I use the resources from these sites to teach students about classrooms around the world, problems our world faces, and all sorts of news and events from across the globe. A global collaboration website called iEARN allows students to learn through global projects and learning circles with participants in 140 countries. This year, the students in my class used iEARN to participate in a project that required them to research and discuss the causes of hunger in the world and brainstorm ways to solve the global issue.

Use technology to connect with others

Skype can be used to connect with other classrooms, authors, and experts from around the world. It is a free service that allows your students to interact with others through video chat. This year, my goal is to use the service to organize book clubs with other third grade classrooms across the globe. Another way to connect with different classrooms is by assigning students to e-pals at other schools. Epals is a platform where students can make meaningful connections with other learners from across the country and the world. Teachers can even assign students to online projects to work on with their e-pals. This year, my third graders are participating in a class-to-class recipe exchange to build cultural awareness. So far, students have shared their favorite recipes with their e-pals and engaged in an online discussion about how geography shapes culture. Merging these two forms of 21st-century communication can open up doors in our global society and break down global barriers in education, as well as address the standards that many United States classrooms teach.

Information found on:

http://tnclassroomchronicles.org/building-global-awareness-classroom/

Research 2

What are some creative ways to teach Global Awareness?

Become consultants.

Encourage students to learn about ecotourism. How and why are countries turning to ecotourism? What are some of the most effective business models that hotels and tourist attractions use? What could be done to make ecotourism even less harmful to the environment? Which places in the world are ripe for ecotourism but haven’t shifted in that direction? Why not? Connect your students with companies or tourism bureaus across the world. Let students collect background information from these organizations, and then offer the organizations free consulting. Task your students with improving and increasing ecotourism by coming up with concrete ideas for the organizations to implement. Use Google Drive or other collaboration tools to get students brainstorming and creating together.

Connect with new people.

Do you want your students to interact with others across the globe and share their knowledge and learning with others? Skype in the Classroom lets you connect with classrooms around the world for free. There are tons of experts in a variety of fields who are willing to spend time talking to students. One of Skype in the Classroom’s most popular features, Mystery Skype, allows classes to play a guessing game with each other to try and figure out where each of the schools are located. You'll be surprised by how many other teachers are interested in collaborating and by how many specialists are so generous with their time and knowledge. It's also worth noting that Skype in the Classroom has become a convenient resource for finding virtual field trips.

Explore a new place.

With the Google Field Trip app, students can use the map feature or search by area of interest to find great places to explore. Let’s say your students are reading a novel and you want them to learn about its setting in present day. Have students use the map feature to zoom in on the location, and information "cards" will appear describing a variety of interesting sites, ranging from museums and monuments to theme parks and "haunted" hotels. Structure this activity by setting parameters for your students: Give them a geographical area you'd like them to search, the number and types of places you’d like them to find, and how in-depth you'd like their knowledge to be of each place.

Information for this blog found on:

https://www.commonsense.org/education/blog/3-creative-ways-to-teach-global-awareness

Research 1

So what is Global Awareness, and what does that look like in the classroom?

At the root of it, being globally aware means building a value system that is flexible and open to other people’s cultures. It recognizes and respects that there can be more than one way to do something. At an altruistic level, teaching our kids to be globally aware can help make them better understand those who are different. The ability to work collaboratively amid diversity can help build a more peaceful and civil society.

As the world continues to become more interconnected, students are expected to work well with others. In fact, a 2011 study of 500 senior business leaders in the U.K. showed that 79 percent of employers felt that “knowledge and awareness of the wider world” was critical. The importance given to global awareness in the study outranked the value put on high school grades (68 percent found it important) and high school subjects (63 percent).

The report also said that businesses that do a majority of their trade globally find it much harder to find employees with the right set of skills. So, to compete effectively in a global business environment, then our children should have such skills and awareness to succeed.

We can show global awareness through:

Geographical Knowledge: The awareness that there are so many different countries in the world, each with its own language and flag, can be quite fascinating to younger kids. Start by buying toys and accessories that expose children to other areas of the world. My six-year-old spends a lot of time staring at her map placemat, which shows all the countries and continents. Finding a country on the map has become a favorite game during dinner time.

International Sports: Exposure to international sporting events, such as the Olympics or the World Cup, is a great way for kids to appreciate the different ways games are played globally. For instance, my son and his dad have talked about the European style of playing soccer versus the South American style.

Potlucks and Festivals: Food is often one of the first cultural experiences that children encounter. Kids tend to be less sensitive when exploring foods that look or smell different. Exposing kids to new types of cuisine, through school or club-scout potlucks, can be an opportunity to teach them about cultural sensitivity. Religious festivals or holidays, such as Thanksgiving, are also perfect opportunities for cultural exchange.

Books and Music: You can always get books about other regions from the library to read to your children. If they are past that stage, then series, such as the “Magic Tree House” or “The Royal Diaries,” weave journeys to different places and time periods effectively into their narratives. If your child loves music, songs are a great way to expose her to the sounds of new parts of the world. You can start by exploring local libraries, which often have “world music” CD sections.

Travel: If possible, traveling with kids and exposing them to different cultures is the best way to make them global citizens. Now that our kids are slightly older, we take trips to places where we can step out of the resort to get a flavor of the local food and culture. If traveling isn’t a possibility, a field trip to a nearby heritage museum or ethnic restaurant can provide your children with an affordable experience of encountering a new culture.

Learning a Language: Exposing kids to a different language will demonstrate cultural nuances. Consider sending your child to a language class, or hiring a babysitter or caregiver who speaks a different language. That global awareness makes the list of educational standards shows how schools' focus has expanded to a more international picture. Working on these skills as early as elementary school will have a profound effect later. The ability to navigate and embrace cultural differences can lead to academic, social, and professional success.

Information from research from:
https://www.noodle.com/articles/why-you-should-teach-your-kids-about-global-awareness