CCSS: They come to understand other
perspectives and cultures.
There has been no other time in history, when our students
have had easy access to opinions from around the world. With easy access comes
the need for critical thinking. Take a look at this recent commercial as evidence:
We can bring experts into the classroom with ease through
video conferencing, webinars, and Skype. An international student living in
Philadelphia can interact with students in rural Lehighton who are studying her
homeland of Columbia. When they ask about travel in the country, she can
spontaneously show them a picture of parents riding down a windy mountainous
road on a motorcycle with a baby strapped to the mother’s back. Kids studying
the natural disasters were able to follow the Twitter hashtag during the tsunami in Japan to see what kids their own age were experiencing through pictures,
quotes, and video.
Point of view on a news story varies depending upon where
you live. Wondering what people think about an international news story? How
are newspapers treating a particular piece of political news? Is there evidence
of bias? Newspapers around the world/country are available and easily
translated with a click: http://newspapermap.com
If a student has never lived in a city and is reading about
an urban location, Google Maps and a simple image search can provide a look
into that world. So, when a student from central PA is reading The Cricket in Times Square, a visit to Google Maps Street View shows them this. (If you are new to Google Maps, use your mouse to explore Times Square.)
View Larger Map
Global perspective goes well beyond Social Studies.
Collaborative projects are going on around the world. Students are gathering
data and sharing it globally, so that students can analyze, evaluate, and
synthesize the data. Authentic math and science projects like this give clarity
to the question, “Why do I need to learn this?”
The reality of our world is that it is getting smaller and
smaller. A global perspective is essential to success.
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