What is Global Education?
Global education carries many meanings, routes to success, and interpretations. But it always has one magnificent outcome: preparing students to be citizens of the world. Here are just a few reasons educators have taken up the challenge to make their classrooms globally competent.
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to foster awareness of the world through the global lens
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to encourage students to look both beyond and within themselves
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to provide opportunities for students to connect their learning to the real world
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to showcase local connections to the world at large
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to share the transformative power of sharing stories
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to integrate all subjects
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to connect "here" with "there" in order to empower citizens young and old
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to empower students to be agents of change now
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to introduce the world, its perspectives, and its people to students
Global Competence
The key components of global competence can be integrated into every discipline and grade, and provide a framework for all manner of lessons.
Investigate the World: Students look beyond their immediate surroundings to investigate issues of local, global, and cultural importance.
Appreciate Perspectives Students recognize their own voice comes from a certain place, and can take into consideration the multiple viewpoints and voices of others.
Communicate to Diverse Audiences Students are able to communicate their ideas to a diverse audience, and understand that people from different background may react in different ways.
Take Action Students are able to translate their ideas and learning into appropriate action to improve conditions
Appreciation of Culture: Students see their own cultures as strengths, seek to understand the cultures of others, are aware of similarities and differences among
cultures and understand that behaviors and values are often tied to cultures.
Evaluation of Information: Students regularly question easily accessible information to seek deeper understanding and thoughtfully evaluate materials and
perspectives, rather than accepting things at face value.
Cross-cultural Communication Skills: Students effectively exchange ideas with peers and adults from different backgrounds — either virtually or in person — and
have the skills to enter new communities and spaces.
Perspective Taking Skills: Students demonstrate curiosity and empathy and may show compassion for the perspectives of others.
Intelligence Humility: Students understand that their knowledge is not finite and appreciate how much more there is to learn about the world. Students understand
the grandiosity of the world and its complexities.
Divergent Thinking: Students see alternative or original solutions to existing problems and can envision the world differently from how it currently exists.
Technology Literacy: Students utilize and explore existing technologies to communicate and collaborate with others, and to learn and share new ideas and information. Students create new technologies or discover new uses for technologies that help them and others navigate their worlds
-Tom Vander Ark & Emily Leibtag
Educating for Global Competence
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
17 interlinked goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” They are comprised of a combination of health, education, and living standards. If the whole world strives to improve each of these conditions in ways big and small, the overall quality of life will improve for all humans. That's quite the big task isn't it? Watch these videos to familiarize yourself with the SDGs, then choose a link to read about incorporating them into the classroom.
Sustainable development goals can and should be interdisciplinary.
This is not just a Social Studies issue.
This is not just a ME issue.
This is not just a U.S. issue.
This is an US issue.
UNSDG Videos
UNSDG Videos
simpleshow explains: Understanding the Dimensions of Sustainable Development
UN Sustainable Development Goals - Overview
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Explained in 10 minutes or less
Going Glocal
Being tasked with changing the world can be daunting for even the most veteran of change-makers. When starting to take action in your own classroom, remember that your local community is an important part of the global community. Things don't just need to be changed "out there," but "here" as well. Start with a Local-Global perspective, and your students will focus learning on issues close to home before understanding them on a bigger scale.
To get your students thinking glocally try using Project Zero's 3 Y's thinking routine. In this routine students are asked to determine why an issue matters to them personally then to their community, their nation, and their world. This allows them to choose the scope of the issue and to find common ground. The routine can be used in either direction, either starting with the personal and ending globally or vice versa depending on the size of the issue or goal.
For further reading on the impact of local-global thinking:
Let Students Lead: Why are local ivestigations important to student learning?
Place-based Education: Think Global, Teach Local
