by Kristin Marino
According to the Levin Institute at SUNY, globalization is …”a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology.” Students of globalization can study how the process affects culture, political systems, the environment, economies, and humankind all over the world.
The study of globalization is far-reaching, and many great teaching resources are available. Here we’ve compiled a list of 10 resources for teaching globalization, a list that includes videos, websites, lesson plans and much more.
10 Teacher Resources For Global Learning
Comprehensive websites
Globalization 101 is a project of the Levin Institute at SUNY that offers resources and tools on a wide variety of globalization topics and concerns, including culture, development, education, environment, health, human rights, law, technology, trade and women. Here you’ll find in-depth coverage of issues, videos, teaching tools and curriculum ideas. There’s a “what’s new” section and “most popular” section so visitors can see what some of the important globalization issues of the day are. Teaching tools include dozens of lesson plans on a variety of topics including foreign investments in Latin America, rights for indigenous peoples, and the conflict in Darfur.
The Center for Global Studies at Penn State offers video presentations, curriculum ideas, links to publications and more. Presentation titles include “Approaches to Cultural Competency” and “Discovering the Globe: Using Inquiry-Guided Learning to Teach Global Topics.” A “How to teach global issues” section offers additional content resources.
Videos
YouTube has a library of globalization-themed videos. Searching on terms such as “globalization for students” brings up several videos for younger audiences including “Crash Course World History: Globalization I and II” presented by John Green. In a down-to-earth, approachable way, Green uses a T-shirt and colorful graphics to discuss globalization. For a more in-depth analysis of globalization for older students, high school teachers and college professors can bring up videos of lectures from experts such as Niall Ferguson, Noam Chomsky and Richard Wolff by doing a search on “globalization lecture” and similar terms.
Ted.com offers the Ted Talks series, where experts lecture in a variety of subjects. “Teaching with the World Peace Game,” is presented by public school teacher and musician John Hunter. He is the inventor of the World Peace Game, which is a hands-on political simulation played on a four-tiered board in which 4th graders solve the problems of the world. He discusses the game in this talk and why the lessons the game offers go further than normal classroom discussions. Search on your specific topic (poverty, etc.), and find more lectures on your globalization subject.
Lesson Plans
PBS offers several globalization lesson plans. “Slums in the Spotlight: Will the Millennium Development Goals’ Target be Met?” is a detailed, multimedia lesson plan on slum conditions around the world offering exercises, activities, worksheets, videos and more for grade 7-12 students. Other teaching topics include global water supply, featured in the presentation “Water Fights Present Dangerous Challenges in Coming Decades.”
TeachUnicef offers comprehensive lesson plans for grades 6-12. This collection of teacher resources addresses the Millennium Development Goals. The units, lesson plans, videos, multimedia and stories in this collection are intended to raise students’ awareness of the problems facing children worldwide and how world leaders and governments have pledged to solve them by 2015 through eight goals. Other activities and lesson plans are available in a variety of topics for grades PK through 12.
Collaboration
Since 1988, iEARN has pioneered online school linkages to enable students to engage in meaningful educational projects with peers in their countries and around the world. iEarn offers exciting opportunities for collaboration and also a section on professional development in which teachers can find information on continuing education including development workshops and continuing education courses.
The U.S. Department of Education has developed “The Teacher’s Guide to International Collaboration” to help teachers use the Internet and other tools to facilitate cross-cultural interaction and project collaboration. The guide includes network resources, practical suggestions, tutorials, tips, project examples and more.
Activities
The UN offers far-reaching materials on teaching a wide variety of human rights global issues and more on its CyberSchoolBus site. The 84-page book “Teaching Human Rights,” offers a multitude of practical activities for primary and secondary schools, includes quizzes, games, exercises, activities and more.
OxFam Canada offers a package describing some unique trade and globalization workshops activities for the classroom and beyond. Activities encompass the topic of sweatshops, food security, and trade and include “Sweatshop Fashion Show,” “Transnational Capital Auction,” whiteboard flowcharting, and a supermarket field trip where student teams visit a supermarket, pick out some items, and discuss them in a trade context.
Kristin Marino writes about education and technology. She has an English degree from the University of Nevada, Reno; 10 Teacher Resources For Global Learning