Sample Lessons

Glocal Solutions – Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

Overview:  Students identify a global issue that is of interest to them.  After selecting an issue, students conduct research about the problem, its implications, and potential solutions.  The group then develops and implements a plan of action for how the issue can be addressed in their local community.

Sample Project:

In the summer of 2012, a class of 8^th graders decided to initiate a project to address the global issue of energy conservation.  This was especially relevant because the students’ community was facing an energy crisis at the time.  The national and local governments had issued directives for cutting energy consumption, something which affected the students directly, as they sat in an uncomfortably hot, stuffy classroom during the hottest part of the summer, because the school was unable to run the air conditioner.

The class split up into several groups and spent three days researching the problem.  Each group focused on a different aspect of the issue.  The groups then presented their findings to the rest of the their class.  

Next, the students developed a three-pronged plan of action:

l   The students undertook a review of their own school’s energy policy and drafted a letter to the principal outlining specific ways in which the school might reduce energy use (such as switching to LED lightbulbs and improving insulation).

l   The students produced informational pamphlets in two languages which outlined ways to reduce energy consumption at home.  These pamphlets were then distributed in their community.

l   The students took the streets to raise awareness and raise money for a national non-profit organization that was investing in the research and development of clean, renewable energy technology.  

Skills addressed in this project:

l   Students utilized background scientific knowledge as well as new learning in order to understand the problem and develop solutions.

l   Students undertook independent research to better understand the issue.

l   Students utilized skills related to persuasive writing and speaking.

l   Artistic creativity was employed in designing the pamphlets that were distributed in the community. 

l   This project was undertaken as part of a foreign-language program.  Students’ discussions and presentations were conducted in the targeted foreign language.  Additionally, foreign language skills were employed in creating the bilingual pamphlets.

l   Throughout the process, the students employed skills related to team-based problem solving.

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Society-Centered Lesson Plan

School:  Secondary School Level

Discipline:  English and History (cross-curricular)

Time:  Span of six weeks

Objectives:

• To gain understanding of The Holocaust through the non-fiction book, Night, by Elie Wiesel
• To find parallels between the victims and victims’ families of The Holocaust to The Boston Marathon Bombing victims and victims’ families through real-life interviews
• To employ sound syntax, grammar, and clarity in the creation of a journal of the accounts of both atrocities
• To ignite once-a-week group talks within the community about empathy, acceptance, and discrimination (community-based and global)

Essential Questions:  

• What human flaws caused The Holocaust and The Boston Marathon Bombing?
• What can humanity do to ensure more acts like this do not happen--on a large and small scale?

Activities:

• Teacher will host a socratic seminar based on the reading of Night
• Teacher will show Nazi propaganda and facilitate discussions based on them
• Teacher will share articles based on the Boston Marathon Bombing with students
• Students will begin to collaborate in groups of four and find parallels between both events
• Students will then begin to reach out to victims and victims’ families of both events to set up interviews (via skype, face-to-face, email, etc.). Research is required for this.
• Students will begin documenting their findings (in groups)
• Students will then collaborate to make one journal per group based on thDoeir findings
• These journals may or may not be shared with the community (decision will based on the self-evaluations by the students)
• Students will then holistically analyze everything they have learned in the six weeks and then begin to reach out to local libraries and community centers to possibly start “group-talks” based on these events and the prevalent human flaws

Assessment:

• Students will self-evaluate their findings based on their interviews and research
• Students will collaborate on creating a class rubric to assess
• Students will also self-evaluate the journals they created, asking themselves:
• Did we tell their accounts objectively?
• Were we successful in capturing this person or persons in the light they want to be captured in?
• Was my writing fluid, clear, and moving?
• Was my message clear in my “group-talks” of how we can stop these atrocities from happening?