The links to the Global projects (roll cursor over) are now being added.
The projects include a selection fr
om by Flat Connections, iEARN, Microsoft Education, Global Education, Deforest Action, Natural Disaster Youth Summit, and Kids Can Make a Difference. Thank you to all these organisations for laying the groundwork for teachers and students to become global citizens by communicating, collaborating, and creating new ideas and concepts using digital technology.
“If we do not change the way we teach, 30 years later we’re in trouble.”
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, questions the knowledge based education system of the last 200 years. With the onset of robots, he says humans cannot compete when it comes to knowledge output. He wants to see an education direction that allows humans to be smarter, by teaching sport, art and music to hone the soft skills- values, believing, independent thinking, teamwork and caring for each other.
In the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning Competencies, Citizenship, Collaboration and Character correspond to Ma’s call and in the International Bacclaureatte Primary Years Program Learner Profile, Caring, being Principled and Open Mindedness answer the same call. Both of these programs pay attention to the personal attributes that enable learners to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people-skills that robots cannot emulate. In the Victorian and Australian Curricula, the Personal and Social Capability emphasises these soft skills.
Please excuse my excitement as I share something that I’m proud of.
The global economy and technology are transforming the Australian economy and society. The work people do is changing and in order to prosper, skills need to be adapted.
Our workforce is going global and the global workforce is coming to us. Young Australians need global competencies to live and work all over the world in global teams with global clients.
Global Projects help teachers to plan for meaningful deep learning experiences that develop global competencies. They enable the investigation of global events, with many referring to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, answering the call for global citizens who can make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.
Global projects allow teachers to incorporate multiple learning areas, teach the Victorian Capabilities in an authentic context and provide opportunities for students to have agency over their learning.
These projects have been sourced from across the globe and will shortly be published with alignment to the Victorian Curriculum. The work has been done for you. Keep a watch out!
For more information about Global Projects and the implementation in your classroom
contact marilyn@bethinkglobal.com.au
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….the rise of political parties whose platforms thrive on nationalism, protectionism and xenophobia, strayi further & further away from traditions of tolerance & inclusiveness in democratic societies….
The requirement for global citizenship to be part of the education system is an imperative in a changing world. Our young ones deserve our thoughtful preparation for the issues set up on our watch.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/blog2017/week19_2030agenda
You’ve got to love what digital connection and social tools can do.
I recently reached out on LinkedIn to broaden my professional learning network and connected with Ciarra Greene at Portland University, Oregon. I asked Ciarra about global education and her reply set me thinking. I had an ‘aha’ moment. She gave me the missing dots to connect so many ideas rushing about in my head. Ciarra mentioned place-based learning and whilst I understood the concept I had not heard that name.
Place-based learning immerses students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences, using these as a foundation for the study of other learning areas across the curriculum.
I immediately thought of My Place by Nadine Wheatley and the wonderful offerings for learners relating to PLACE. I’ve wandered from my original pathway!
Ciarra is connected to the Nez Perce tribe, who are an Indigenous people of the plateau, living in the Pacific northwest region of the United States.
Indigenous tribes in the USA are in the news right now, battling Trump’s directive to the Army to continue laying the Dakota Access pipeline across sacred sites with the threat of contaminating drinking water.
What if learners in the United States exchanged their understandings of the traditional cultures of indigenous tribes with learners in Australia and their understandings of the traditional cultures of our First People, the Aborigines? What if the identity and indeed existence of these indigenous tribes was being threatened? What if environmental issues are being exploited?
I think Ciarra and I are learning just in the same way we want our young learners to learn-through collaboration, communication and deep thinking. Through technology, our learning has shot past the four walls of the classroom and entered the biggest ‘classroom’ that is our world.
How amazing!
More people are on the same page and acknowledge climate change is real. Climate change is not some mythical creature flying over rainbows.
It’s real.
Education is going to be part of climate action so that every person on the planet is aware of what climate change is and what needs to be done to achieve quality air, water and land across the planet.
We are hearing much about STEM but I’m advocating for the rightful inclusion of the Arts and a place for STEAM.
I am wanting to hear from schools where leadership and educators have supported their learners to respond artistically to the issues surrounding climate change. This may be in the form of the visual arts, music, theatre, dance, literature and or cinema.
Hoping to be proven wrong, it is my feeling that educators do not highlight climate change in the curriculum. It’s not a hot topic (pardon the pun). Traditionally slotted into the curriculum under Science and Geography, many educators are insufficiently informed, too fearful of tackling what they see as a controversial topic or both. The links to many issues of global significance can be traced to the warming of the planet.
In the sphere beyond the classroom I’ve come across a group called CLIMARTE and a theatre troupe called ClimActs.
CLIMARTE’S mission is to harness the creative power of the arts to inform, engage and inspire action on climate change. Climarte will present their ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE 2017 festival which will run from 19 April to 14 May 2017.
ClimActs is an Australian theatre troupe playing a role of peaceful protest to support demands for social justice and human rights. Using striking spectacle as well as satire to communicate and educate on the urgency of climate change, each act has been carefully created to address an aspect of the climate debate. For instance, the Climate Guardians represent selfless and fearless care and guardianship, the Coal Diggers epitomise the recklessness and insatiable greed of vested interests.
The Climate Guardian Angels in peaceful protest at the COP21 talks in Paris 2015
School leaders and educators, don’t forget the A in STEAM and broaden the opportunities for young people to find their voice and respond to the concerns of their generation.
Don’t forget to contact me if your school is already taking this approach.
Marilyn Snider is an Australian global education activist who promotes a dynamic, self-directed approach where learners explore real world issues and challenges whilst delving into deeper and more satisfying conceptual understandings. Creativity, critical analysis and action are hallmarks of her work. www.bethinkglobal.com.au
I had the privilege of writing the teacher notes for Guarding Eden by Deborah Hart. Deb is climate campaigner and brings together the stories of twelve passionate Australian activists from all walks of life. Willing to deal with fall-out served up by the government, the courts and the media, these advocates inspire us to follow their lead.
This book would be a fine addition to the Senior Secondary Curriculum. It heightens persuasive writing, analysis, critical thinking, moral and ethical understanding, and enriches English, Earth and Environment Science, Humanities and Social Sciences.
You’ll be surprised!
Those teachers who implement wide ranging global programmes are not influenced by their formal teaching programmes and curriculum influences but rather by these factors
Bethink Global offers a deeper understanding of global education through professional learning and is a support system in the amplification of teachers’ global perspective.
Research and experience tell me that parents, government leaders and business want young people to become active and responsible citizens of the world and to obtain jobs where interaction with people in other countries and from other cultures is productive and economically rewarding. Continue reading
