Developing International Connections

Developing International Connections

Heather Sanderson

Eastern Connecticut State University

Dr. David Stoloff

January 27, 2018

The online resources available to expand our knowledge of other countries and cultures are immense. I appreciated reading the websites, envisioning how I can apply these resources in my own middle school science classroom. As I researched, I focused on two aspects: One, how can these sites help my students excel in Science and connect to other students and classrooms, and two, how can these sites help my students become better global citizens.

It is widely known that U.S. students’ science test scores are lagging behind other countries. On The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Science, the United States scored 24^th of 71 countries tested in 2015 (Desilver, 2017). Shockingly, only 2% of eighth grade students scored Advanced in Science on the 2015 NEAP assessment in Connecticut (The Nation’s Report Card, 2015). As a science teacher, I know we need to do better in this area, and I am looking to advance my students’ knowledge and skills.

The ePALS site was one I could envision using in my classroom to enrich my students’ scientific education (ePals.com, 2014). The site allows students to pick online pen-pals from multiple countries to discuss various school subjects. My students would have to choose “Science” from the dropdown menu and use the site’s built-in language translator in order to communicate effectively. Our Earthquakes and Volcanoes Unit would offer a perfect opportunity for my students to connect with kids from Japan or Indonesia, helping them to understand what it is like to live under the threat of such natural disasters each day. Additionally, the challenge section on ePALS has engaging contests. For example, a contest called The Invent It Challenge, which opens this month and closes in March, would be ideal for my classroom. The challenge asks students to “think about a new and innovative way to provide natural disaster preparation or relief” (ePals.com, 2014). Engineering is a major part of our new NGSS Curriculum, and this particular challenge ties in nicely with the problem solving piece in our Earth Science curriculum.

Another site that can help my students excel is The World & I Online. This site is a “monthly online publication as well as a database which presents thought-provoking readings in politics, science, culture, and more in sections on Current Issues, Life, Book World, The Arts, Natural Science, Culture, Modern Thought, and Civil War” (The World & I, 2015). The science section of this site offers a variety of recent science news articles to explore, allowing a user to choose specific topics, such as astronomy, which I have the pleasure of teaching each year. Science is an ever-changing subject, and textbooks can be out-of-date. I often use current articles in my classroom to teach about new discoveries and explorations, so this site will allow me to supplement my curriculum with the latest scientific knowledge. One drawback to this site is the $36 yearly fee, but with the extensive, up-to-date science articles, the fee might be worth it.

I especially appreciate the Teaching Tolerance site. I teach in an affluent, predominantly white suburban school district where teachers have had to address an uptick in students using racially insensitive language within the past year. As I was researching the sites, I noticed many that would help my middle schoolers to become more culturally sensitive, including Teaching Tolerance, which was created to provide resources to educators that are designed to “spur much-needed discussion around implicit bias and systemic racism” and to “empower…students to enact the changes that will create a more just society” (Teaching Tolerance, 2018). One article in particular, written by Jamilah Pitts, caught my attention; it was called Don’t Say Nothing. Silence Speaks Volumes. Our Students are Listening. In this article Pitts implores white teachers teaching in white school districts to learn about and to discuss the difficult news stories that deal with racial discrimination (Pitts, 2016). Considering the noticeable rise in racial incidents across the country and in my own school, we can no longer shield students from the horrible consequences of this ignorant and hateful behavior. Minority students in predominately white districts should not feel isolated or intimidated, especially when at school. It is up to teachers to put a stop to it, and the Teaching Tolerance site is a great resource.

Two more fascinating websites for teaching diversity are the Good Planet Foundation and the Kids in Other Countries site. The Good Planet Foundation website allows users to click on one of the thousands of pictures of people from various countries. The pictures contain short videos in which the people offer testimony about their lives and their beliefs. The site also translates for those who do not speak English (Good Planet Foundation, n.d.). This site is a great tool for teaching about cultural differences and to help students gain a better understanding of how people in other countries live their lives. The other site, Kids in Other Countries, would definitely appeal to my middle school students as well. The videos on this site are approximately 20 minutes long, and they focus on children’s lives from different countries. The actual children narrate their own stories, explaining how they live their daily lives. As the child narrates his or her story, the video shows images of houses, schools, bathrooms, play time, and daily chores (Kids in Other Countries, 2017). The intent is to show living conditions that are very different from the comforts the children in the United States enjoy. Clearly, students in an affluent suburban community would benefit from seeing how other children live around the world, perhaps even inspiring them to make a difference in their own communities, or eventually, in the world.

A final helpful website that makes it possible to connect with other students around the world is called Classroom Bridges. On this site teachers can use the menu to select a country they would like to connect classrooms with. There is a large selection, Russia and China being two notable options (Siemer, 2017). Students at my school have the opportunity to take Russian or Mandarin in addition to their French or Spanish classes and connecting with another classroom in one of those two countries would be great way to deepen their understanding of those languages and cultures.

References

Desilver, D. (2017). U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peers in many other countries. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s- students-internationally-math-science/

ePals.com. (2014). ePals.com. Retrieved from http://epals.com

GoodPlanet Foundation. (n.d.). 7 billion others. http://www.7billionothers.org/testimonies

Kids in Other Countries. (2017). KIDS IN OTHER COUNTRIES. Retrieved from http://kidsinothercountries.org/

Pitts, J. (2016). Don’t Say Nothing. Silence Speaks Volumes. Our Students are Listening. Retrieved from https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2016/dont-say-nothing

Siemer, Katie. (2017). Classroom Bridges. Retrieved from http://www.classroombridges.com/

The Nation’s Report card. (2015). How Did US Student’s Perform on Most Recent Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/

Teaching Tolerance. (2018). Teaching About Race, Racism, and Police Violence. Retrieved from https://www.tolerance.org/moment/racism-and-police-violence

The World & I Online. (2015). Diversity in America. Retrieved from http://worldandi.com/special collections/special-collection-diversity.asp