Projects are a great way to make learning active, fun, relative, and now...global! Global projects provide students with the opportunity to engage in cross-cultural learning, investigate the world, gain cultural perspectives, communicate across cultures, and take action to better the world....Wait! Didn't I just name all the global competencies? Yes, I did! Project-based activities put the global competencies into practice. They are accessible, practical, and easy to assess. Global-based projects are an ideal way to apply newly learned skills and knowledge. Below, I have included a variety of interdisciplinary, global-based learning opportunities that can be used in specific content areas, across disciplines, and across the curriculum continuum as a whole. I have also included other classroom and school-based ideas to help further support and develop global awareness.
International Project-Based Learning Opportunities:
Click on any of these programs to learn more!
1. People to People International's School and Classroom Program People to People's International's School and Classroom Program is a free service that links middle and high school classrooms around the world to support pen-pal relationships among schools. They also emphasize peace and community service, which tie into a curriculum aimed at developing students as global citizens.
2. iEARN iEARN is a non-profit online learning community that connects students and classrooms around the world to connect and work together on learning projects. There are over 30,000 schools in more than 140 countries that work together on about 150 different projects to meet all age groups and curricula. They also offer extensive professional development for educators online. iEARN is facilitating the 2015 Global Education Conference online this upcoming November! It's FREE to attend!
3. Around the World with 80 Schools This is a great forum for connecting teachers and students internationally. The site shows you how to use Skype to connect globally and can be used as a venue for your students to blog with students from other countries on a variety of topics.
4. Omprakash Foundation The Omprakash Foundation connects volunteers with opportunities abroad. They also can connect teachers to volunteers that can assist schools in enhancing their curriculum and service-learning projects. Connecting students with volunteers in the field will bring an unique dynamic to any lesson and give students first-person insight into a myriad of topics surrounding the work the volunteer is doing. In class, students could also engage in a project aligned with the volunteer's work and stay in contact with that volunteer during and after their program.
5.Globaled.org This website has a ton of globally-based resources, including lesson plans, projects teaching units, primary documents and book reviews. It also has links to what is going on in the world of global education. They provide ample material to keep you up to date on current trends in global education.
6. WorldWise Schools WorldWise Schools is a program through the Peace Corps that offers a host of resources and activities to teachers and students. Activities are focused on global learning and are drawn from the volunteers' personal experiences. These activities often form the base of unique project ideas on global issues that are both authentic and timely. All project ideas are created by Peace Corps volunteers in the field. Like in the Omprakash Foundation, contact could be made with an "in the field" volunteer for students to follow.
7. ePals This online global community allows teachers and students to connect directly through online delivery and share inter-culturally. It is essentially an online version of the old-fashioned pen pal idea. Students can connect safely and learn about each other and work on projects together. There are also lesson plans and other activities for teachers and students to utilize. ePals facilitates school-to-school partnerships that can be used for engagement and project-based learning. This media is an excellent venue for meeting all the global competencies.
8. United Nations Cyber School Bus This website is perfect for learning about the UN. The site offers great resources for teachers and activity ideas to incorporate in the classroom. There are games, lesson plans, skill set projects, webcasts, and publications. There is a wide-range of globally important topics that are covered. By exploring the site and utilizing their ideas, all the global competencies can be met in a few activities. Students are able to learn about the role of the UN in their country of choice, the political leanings of their country's government, and what is going on socially, economically, and politically in their country.
My Experience with Project-Based Learning:
This is an area that I am currently exploring and will expand upon. I see these projects as valuable learning opportunities for my language students. This past year I worked predominately with a self-initiated project-based learning opportunity rather than the aforementioned opportunities. I have made it my goal to explore more of the project activities above. My experience in project-based learning revolves chiefly around the project that I developed with a former student, turned teacher who was teaching English in Madrid, Spain for the semester. We linked our classes together via email, not too different than the "ePals" idea and had our students write back and forth on different topics i.e.: music, sports, food, pastimes. An email exchange took place every two weeks. My students had to introduce their new Spanish amigo to the class and talk about their lives, interests, hobbies, etc in the target language. Aligned with specific topics, both American and Spanish students wrote in their target languages sharing their insight into the respective topic. We then looked for themes and trends for comparison and contrast. The funny thing was that a lot of their interests were the same which actually turned out to be a valuable lesson in that my students learned that students 3,000 miles away were more similar rather than dissimilar. I'd like to expand this pen pal idea further and have my students dive into deeper topics like important topics in world affairs, history, pop culture, and society.
Other Ideas to get Globalized!
What can we do to support and bring about global competence?
In General:
Connect globally through social media
Participation in Academic World Quest (World Affairs Council )
Participation in Model UN
Partnerships with state and international organizations
Globally-oriented guest speakers/presenters
Hold globally focused movie nights/events
Create an International Week
Global Current Event Trivia
Curriculum:
Establish a global competency committee (PLC)
Modify the curriculum, globalize courses
Establish a global studies diploma (GSD) program
Encourage interdisciplinary courses with global focus
Encourage independent study for students in global-based issues/subjects/topics
For Students:
Develop student exchange programs
Create student travel opportunities
International service trips and programs
Participate in local, globally-focused service projects
Participate in/Attend local cultural activities
For Teachers:
Teacher Exchange/Education programs
Professional Partnerships with state and international organizations
Decorate globally…maps/flags/posters
Encourage the establishment of globally-focused extra-curricular activities and clubs i.e. International Club
NOTE: This TGC Capstone Project is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the grantee's own and do not represent the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, IREX, or the U.S. Department of State.