Hi everyone. I have spoken at two of the Global Education Conferences and also to students and faculty around the world (most recently: Ashoka University new New Delhi, India). Years ago, I created and produced Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? for PBS. More recently, I started traveling from one country to another, interviewing children and teenagers about life in the 21st century.
The project is called Kids on Earth. If you visit www.kidsonearth.org, you'll find some sample videos and some background information. If you visit www.vimeo.com/kidsonearth, you'll find more than 60 video interview segments with students in Brazil, Ghana, Slovenia, England, Chile, Kosovo, Paraguay, Kentucky, West Virginia, and many other places. Everything is completely free (and always will be free): this is my contribution to global understanding.
I am a Senior Scholar at The University of Pennsylvania in the USA. I'm part of the Positive Psychology Center. I am keenly interested in human progress, especially ideas from children and teenagers who will live their lives in the 21st century. I mention this in connection three project suggestions, below:
Project 1: Simply watch the videos, then find the places on the map, research the references to dance, foods, and so on. Find a recipe for Brazil feijoada, and make it at home. In other words, make connections.
Project 2: Participate more directly. I regularly interview children and teenagers, everyone, via Zoom. And now that so many households are familiar with Zoom, we can include many more interviews. Please use the contact form on www.kidsonearth.org to let me know that you're interested, and we can make plans via email.
Project 3 (related to my work at The University of Pennsylvania): The world is changing, and in 2020, it seems to be changing faster than ever. Write about, talk about, draw about your vision of our global life in the future in 2030, 2050, and 2100. For example, where will people live (the population projections are widely available on the web, and fascinating)? And, which global issues must become our focus? -- the next global pandemic? clean food and water? eradicating poverty? educating everyone so they can make smarter decisions? (some of this ties back into the UN SDGs).
Happy to talk further. Feel free to contact me about your specific project ideas.
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