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Global Education Units, Lessons and Presentations
Global Education Units, Lessons and Presentations
Embedding global competencies into the classroom begins with what you know and are already doing- it's not an additional subject to teach, but rather a mindset and perspective shift for students and teachers to think and act differently, with an emphasis on action.
Dillard UbD template- Global Water Unit-2.docxHere's a fifth grade science unit on water that has been rewritten as a global education unit, with lots of community connections and student action. Students love taking on the role of a hydrologist and seeing the impact of multiple factors on both local and global watersheds.
This fifth grade math and science unit from PBL Works gets students thinking about how their daily activities impact the environment with lots of action steps and family and community involvement. I love the interdisciplinary approach with broad themes to engage all types of learners.
Life Below Water PBL.pdfFeatured PLB Unit:
Scenario: Adidas has made a commitment to selling shoes made of upcycled plastics — meaning plastic waste taken from the oceans is turned into yarn and used in shoes. More than 5 million pairs of shoes were produced with this recycled material in 2018, and clothes are also being produced. By 2024, the company plans to only use recycled plastics. You work for a company that manufactures board games — and many of the game pieces are plastic. You must design and manufacture a board game with pieces from a sustainable material (i.e., bamboo, metal, etc.) and/or from recycled plastic.
This 4 week PBL unit can serve students from upper elementary through high school and gives students an opportunity to dip their toes into the world of Sustainable Development Goals and take action alongside responsible companies using sustainable practices in their manufacturing. I believe it enables students to address each of the four elements of global competency. One aspect I like about the progression of this unit is the emphasis on multiple perspectives where students research the issue from both a local and global lens, and they discuss how manufacturing can be both supportive of and a hindrance to sustainability goals. I think it’s good for students to see that individuals, businesses, and countries are not just part of the problem, but can be a real part of the solution as well. One of the student constraints for the project is to ensure that any 3D printing filament used is plant-based or eco-friendly, and that all 3D printing waste is recycled. The question students are researching is both real and highly significant.
Need help convincing others that global education is a great next step for your classroom, school, or district? Use this presentation as an introduction to the what, the why, and the how of globalizing your classroom.
Featured Global Lesson:
If The World Were a Village- This lesson plan encourages students to be global thinkers as they explore the idea of what the world would be like if it were just one village with 100 people. After reading the book, one suggested activity/ discussion is to have 100 sticky notes on the wall to represent the people, then manipulate them to match the facts on the pages (looking at nationality, religion, etc.) Students could use the notes to create different types of graphs for math tie-ins, and could use the notes to represent their own answers to the questions in a version of “If the World Were Our Classroom.” There’s also a great multicultural literature/math resource called “Math by the Book” that has additional lesson plans that align with this picture book for deeper dives with math concepts such as decimals and equivalents while fostering discussions about the makeup of our world. I believe students would love to see the world boiled down to numbers they can relate to. There’s some interesting research about how the human brain, and children in particular, cannot properly conceptualize large numbers. So if we told them that 3.4 billion people are experiencing water scarcity, that might not have as big an impact as telling them how far the line would go if all the people who needed clean water lined up at our school’s drinking fountain.
Another suggestion in the lesson plan is to have students research a country from the book and explain how it’s different from their own country. There is a page of the book with suggested resources and websites for students to further their learning, including information from the UN. Students could use research from Culturegrams for Kids to do country comparisons, or use the website https://www.ifitweremyhome.com/ to compare what their lives would be like if they lived in that country. This is a very data-heavy site that allows users to compare living conditions on a variety of markers, as well as impacts of global disasters or events.
How do I become a global classroom?
How do I become a global classroom?
As with any new initiative in the classroom, begin with a first step. Try an activity or lesson from these resources with your students in a way that makes sense for you. In my classroom, I began by integrating these lessons into morning meetings where students were already familiar with greeting, sharing, and engaging in an activity that ties into our learning goals. I then found myself using global lessons or themes across all content areas.
International Learning Resources
International Learning Resources
My students LOVE Go Pangea! I am able to moderate all comments, and students are able to read/view/post about a common topic to kids around the world. Their favorite topic last year was what trends are popular in their culture right now.
My 5th grade teammates and I did Global Read Aloud last year and are enthusiastically doing it again this year. This organization chooses one book that connects the world, and classrooms follow a suggested schedule so you're all reading it at the same time. There are several levels to choose from based on the age of the reader and so many teacher-created resources on their Facebook page. Last year's book (A Rover's Story) was beloved by our kids, and teachers loved all the curricular tie ins and supplemental materials. The author, Jasmine Warga, interacted with readers throughout the process.
The Smithsonian created these amazing modules that align with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and they are jam packed with the four domains of global competency. They are rolling out new modules every year. You can use the Community Research Guides (up to 16 weeks of intensive work) or the Community Resource Guides (8-10 hours.)
This Padlet was shared by a presenter during the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms course when our focus was on climate action. It includes a variety of topics such as professional development, investigation examples, and sustainability frameworks.
Geo Inquiry Process Teacher's Guide.pdfEverything from Nat Geo is great, and this teacher's guide to geo-inquiry is no exception. This type of teaching and learning aligns perfectly with global education and is so engaging for students. This guide leads you through all the phases of the geo-inquiry process (create and act are my favorites!)
Local Resources
Local Resources
Are you in Colorado? Check out these local resources for connections and inspirations how our fellow Coloradoans are thinking locally and acting globally.
The BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at CU Boulder- Located in the School of Education at the University of Colorado, Boulder, The BUENO Center is recognized nationally for its work with culturally and linguistically diverse students and their teachers. Through a comprehensive range of research, training, and service projects, the BUENO Center strongly promotes quality education with an emphasis on cultural pluralism.
Global MindED Inclusive Success Network- Global MindED is an inclusive success network powered with a technology platform that connects the least economically resourced students to role models, mentors, internships, experiences, and jobs.
World Denver- World Denver is a nonprofit organization fostering a greater understanding of world affairs and cultures in the Denver Metro area through unique programs connecting Coloradans with worldwide experts, leaders, and ideas.
Global Health Connections- GHC's vision is a world where health, equity, and prosperity empower every community. Their mission is to connect communities to innovative health initiatives and economic sustainability programs, aiming to create lasting and measurable change. Established in 2004 in Colorado, GHC began as an educational outreach organization that focused on water, sanitation and women around the world.
Aurora Sister Cities- A sister city relationship establishes a long-term, cooperative relationship with a city in another country with similar demographics as well as cultural, educational, business and technical characteristics and opportunities for alignment.
Arapahoe Library District Immigrant and Language Services- These local library resources foster a sense of belonging, build a strong community, provide language learning services and community resources, grant access to legal and immigration assistance, and help individuals studying for the citizenship test.
Global Standards
Global Standards
The UN's Sustainable Development Goals are a great place to begin your journey to globalize your classroom!
Here's a lesson to get you started with the SDGs:
ACTIVITY: Exploring connections between the SDGs (Ages 7+)
What to do
• Organize participants into groups of three or four. Ask each group to choose between five and eight of the 17 SDGs (depending on their ability) and to write these spaced out on a large sheet of paper.
• Participants should now work together in their groups to link each of the goals to each of the others through an issue or theme (which can be of global, national and/or local significance) to create a web of links. For example, linking SDG 1 (No poverty) to SDG 3 (Good health and well-being) might result in considering how one benefit of reducing poverty would be an improvement in people’s health and well-being.
• Encourage participants to share their reflections using the following prompts: Which of your SDGs do you think are the most important, and why? Do you think this will be true in all countries and communities? Do you think any of the goals can be achieved on their own without the other SDGs?
• Participants could then work together in their groups to rank the selected SDGs in order of importance. Allow time at the end for participants to share their rankings and the reasons for these with other groups.
Further ideas
• Choose one of the SDGs, such as Quality education (SDG 4) or Gender equality (SDG 5). Support learners to identify ways in which this goal links to all of the other SDGs.
• As an extension activity, participants could focus on the SDG they deemed to be the most important and find out about its associated targets. Which of these targets do you think are most relevant to your local community and why?
• Use Practical Action’s Global Goals string and Who’s responsible activities to help learners make connections between the SDGs and think critically about the relationship between personal action and action relating to wider society.
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