Zooming Out for a Global View
Over the last several weeks, I have received many phone calls and e-mails from teachers and students about the Global Issues Conference for students in grades 6-12. Our office is excited about the level of interest and participation from schools all over Texas.
The main question that I am getting: “What project topics are acceptable for the conference?”
Just to clarify…Any topic that relates to a global issue is just fine, and the focus of the project can address the issue from a local, regional, national or global perspective. Projects can be multimedia or text- based, but the submission form must include a clear discussion of how the project ties to a global issue. Information about the conference and the submission form are on the World Room website:
To help you locate information about global topics, I have listed below some Internet links to global topics such as Internet safety, poverty, the AIDS epidemic, and climate change. Also included are links to social studies resources, maps, and a few media project tools. The short video on Internet social networking is a clever way to get your students into a discussion about Internet safety on social networking sites.
The Global Issues Conference is a joint project of the Office of International Outreach and the Academy for Future Global Leaders at Texas A&M University. Academy conference leaders are Alek Schmidt and Harrison Yat. They are happy to respond to student question by e-mail. zoomout2008@gmail.com
If you have questions about conference, contact me a call at 979-862-6700 or mgreen@ipomail.tamu.edu.
1. Internet safety on social networking video
http://www.auntlee.com/kids/public_service_announcement.html
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School recently announced that it will head a newly formed Internet Safety Technical Task Force. The Task Force, comprised of leading Internet businesses and organizations, will focus on identifying effective online safety tools and technologies that can be used by many companies across multiple platforms.
This Task Force has been established by MySpace in cooperation with the Attorneys General.
Read about the Berkman Centertask force: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/
Read about Internet Predators: http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2008/feb/lw18internet.cfm
2. Global Issues articles from http://www.globalissues.org/
Poverty facts and stats updated
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp
World military spending: it keeps going up
http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp
Updated AIDS statistics
http://www.globalissues.org/health/aids/
3. FREE Climate Change Curriculum and Cameras Available to Document Climate Change Solutions. Through a generous grant from Hewlett-Packard Company, Facing the Future also invites you to apply for a Climate Change Camera Grant. You have the opportunity to collaborate with other educators and give your students a chance to document climate change and the positive actions that they are taking in their communities. You could receive a classroom set of digital cameras to use in conjunction with Facing the Future’s Climate Change: Connections and Solutions units.
4. Google Earth *PRO* is FREE for Educators!
http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=783
5. Spice It up a Notch with Nutmeg
http://www.sblceastconn.org/nutmegbooks2009.htm
Spice It Up a Notch with Nutmeg is a collaborative, authentic, engaging, book project for students in grades 4 through 8. In this project, students read and discuss the Nutmeg Book Award nominees online and contribute to an online encyclopedia (wiki) for each individual book. Students participate in the experience of collaborate writing. They edit, enhance and revise each other’s content, contributing to a published online resource for anyone to read and use. The web site also includes good lesson plan ideas and resources for teaching about literature.
6. Awesome Stories web site
http://www.awesomestories.com/
7. Paint.Net: Free photo editing software for Windows
http://www.getpaint.net/
Google:Sketch Up 6(free) 3D modeling software
http://www.sketchup.com/?sid=369
8. Moodle.org: Set up a Moodle for your classroom to share project information.
http://moodle.org/
9. Second Life Sites for Teens
Quest Atlantis: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/
This site has many of the features and learning affordances of Teen Second Life, but the site is completely free and doesn't have some of the challenges that TSL users face.
For more about Second Life: Voicethread
http://voicethread.com/share/8878/.
Information about Second Life in Education:
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/.
Article on Second Life by Catherine Parsons (SL: Victoria Gloucester).
Teaching the Virtual Generation
http://tinyurl.com/3aubc5
If you're interested in Teen Second Life, create an avatar for yourself on the "main grid" of Second Life (secondlife.com) and then go to ISTE Island (use the Search feature). For more about ISTE in SL, visit: http://www.iste.org/secondlife.
10. Secondary Education - Social Studies: Geography Resources
http://www.pitt.edu/~poole/secedSSgeog.html
11. Good Map Resources
Best of History Web Sites: Contains an annotated list of excellent map and geography resources.
http://besthistorysites.net/Maps.shtml
National Geographic: Map Machine.
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/
Road maps, geographic map and satellite map that you can zoom in on and see details.
U.S. Geological Survey website: National Atlas
The site lets you build your own maps.
http://nationalatlas.gov/
Google Earth: Rumsey Historical Map Collection
http://www.davidrumsey.com/
Lite Version of Google Earth: http://indexmundi.com/
All named population centers by country & by world region
