Your Name and Title: Alexandra Mooskin, Science Teacher & MS Sustainability Coordinator
School or Organization Name: Saint Stephen's & Saint Agnes School
Co-Presenter Name(s): None
Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Washington, DC
Language in Which You Will Present: English
Target Audience(s): Middle School and Elementary School Teachers, especially science!
Short Session Description (one line): This session explores the development of globally-minded citizens through curriculum design, so that global citizenship skills can still be developed in students that are unable to leave the classroom for travel opportunities.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
This session is specifically tailored for middle and elementary-age teachers. The development of Global Citizens and globally-minded students is increasingly important, and a task best started when students are young. Over the coming years, more schools and teachers will recognize the value of a global curriculum. However, not all students are able to travel - whether this is because they lack the means or due to uncontrollable factors such as age. This presentation explores methods of developing these skills in students that cannot travel abroad by using dynamic, project-based curriculum design with a strong global component. The best curriculums encourage collaboration, creativity, and resilience, and a positive growth mindset while exposing students to real global issues. This presentation will utilize an award-winning science curriculum which has been expanded to Slovenian schools (“The Green City Design Challenge”) as a tool to explore different curriculum structures, and shows that it is possible and meaningful to create and implement long-term collaborative learning into science curriculums.
This presentation fills a need that many teachers of younger students have expressed interest in. Too often elementary and middle-school aged classrooms are unable to participate in global-skill development programs, since many include a travel component as part of the eventual curriculum. Because travel is so difficult with this age group, this presentation is specifically tailored to curriculum development for classrooms that do not have the ability to travel for whatever reason. Although middle school teachers will get the most of this session, teachers of any course that do not intend to pursue travel opportunities will benefit.
This presentation will begin by reviewing the basic tenets of what skills or traits a “globally competent” student possesses (collaboration, open minded-ness, resilience, and a positive growth mindset). Next, I will review the obvious benefits of including a global component in any curriculum, with particular focus on science subjects, since that is what I teach. Then I will review the fact that although many older students and teachers and encouraged to explore opportunities traveling abroad, that there are many groups of students who lack that opportunity.
We will explore the curricular frame work of the “Green City Design Challenge” and how it helps to develop the global skills we seek in students, even though we are staying within the classroom. We will also review the world-wide connections that this curriculum and others like it allow, such as Skype conferences and collaborative mini-projects with Slovenian students who are working on the same project, made possible by an outreach program with the US Embassy in Slovenia. We will end with a quick brainstorm session of ideas that teachers can immediately and seamlessly integrate into their existing curricula.
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: None
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