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One of the best ways to make global connections is through project-based learning, a term that gets used and confused often with problem-based learning.
What is PBL? Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects; these projects--like real-world tasks--often integrate subject areas that we keep separated in our schools. There aren't easy answers and solutions, and the learning can generate critical questions.
In our "factory-model" system of public education, PBL can initially seem daunting. How do I know that the kids are learning? How do I grade their efforts? How much time will it take away from what I need to cover for the looming Benchmark/Check-In/EOG/fill-in-the-blank? These are all great questions. I know because I've been there.
But I also know that well-crafted PBL experiences stick with kids longer than any worksheet or Google Slides project you will ever devise. Sometimes they require a lot of front-loading, but when the students take off with them, you'll remember why you went into teaching in the first place. If you can integrate your project with another teacher's curriculum, it works even better!
Finally, you won't teach 21st Century Skills or Global Competence with the old-school lessons of answering the questions from the chapter in the textbook. Take a chance! Here are a few places to start:
2023 Theme Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas
2023 Theme Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas
My students joke that this competition should be called INTERNATIONAL History Day because they create research-based projects on topics different time periods and around the globe. What I love best about NHD is that it is argument-based, it focuses on multiple perspectives, and it requires students to look at how a historical event impacts the world today. In Spring 2022, HMS had projects on child labor practices in Pakistan, human trafficking among cocoa producers, and an American military base in Greenland that has recently taken on major importance in the NATO-Russia showdown. At the national level, students from every state compete with kids from S. Korea, China, Guam, Singapore, American Samoa and Puerto Rico.
Their website contains every resource you need to get started, and the N.C. NHD page is helpful too.
PBLWorks
PBLWorks
What a fabulous resource! The Buck Institute's PBLWorks site also has everything you need to get started, including a free e-book, the rationale behind PBL, and many terrific projects that are ready for you to adapt in different subject areas and grade levels. Here are a few MS ones to consider:
6-8 Science: Grow It Green: How can we reduce the impact of our food-growing systems on the environment?
6-8 SS: Golden Ages: What lessons can we learn from golden age civilizations and/or from their falls, and why do those lessons matter to us today?
We could easily integrate lessons like these in math/science and SS/LA.
The Friday Institute/NC State Global Project-Based Inquiry
The Friday Institute/NC State Global Project-Based Inquiry
Even though this project was a collaboration among two NC universities and two Early College's ninth graders, it still has some amazing possibilities for HMS if we could create an integrated unit on water, looking at Sustainable Development Goals, access, solutions for people lacking clean water, and books like A Long Walk to Water. Water cleanliness and the environment are important topics in our area for industries like Sierra Nevada as well as tourism involving the French Broad River and Pisgah. With so many stakeholders, a project like this one has glocal implications.
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