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The World Issues Project benchmark is a shared English and Social Science curriculum focused on significant problems facing our global community today. It is designed to refine the research, writing, listening and speaking skills students learned during the Change Project and help them build their skills for future classes, QUEST, and life after high school.
Sophomores are randomly assigned one of 7 significant contemporary world issues. Each student will then work individually, with the support of both their English and History teachers, to become an expert on that assigned global issue, as well as the impact of that issue on the global community.
Students will begin by researching key facts about their assigned issue, including who is affected, where the issue is most prevalent, and the major causes and effects of the issue. Throughout semester one, students will develop their initial research with additional sources, culminating in a research paper which will prepare them for the Socratic seminar. The Socratic seminar is an opportunity for students to discuss their findings so far with others who have been assigned the same issue, and gain insight from others' research.
Armed with this knowledge, in semester two students will move to the final phase of the project. They will create a paper comparing two different approaches to improving the issue, backed by their research (including international sources). The project concludes with a second Socratic discussion, where students will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of different ways of addressing their assigned global issue.
To support students in planning their time throughout the year, the packet of all assignment instructions is available here and the timeline of assignments is below.
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