An Exciting Place to Think about the World

Looking East - Looking West
Addressing Global Issues In 2009
Global Issues Conference for K-12 Teachers

Recently the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University held the Global Treads 2025 Conference. Brent Scowcroft, former assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commented that such a conference is an exciting place to think about the world. That is our goal for the January Global Issues Conference for teachers.

In the key note address, Scowcroft pointed out that the ending of the Cold War started the transformational process that is globalizing society in the 21st century. Changes that Scowcroft addressed are discussed in the Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World Report by the National Intelligence Council which is available on-line in pdf format and serves as a good guide to thinking about our changing world along with other Internet resources listed below.

· Eroded borders make state control difficult.
· Distribution of power: Power is diffused, not absolute.
· Communication: Knowledge politicizes. People connect and react.
· Financial crisis: A global economy with no global structures to deal with crisis.
· Outmoded institutions that were designed for the Cold War don’t work anymore.
· War: Less about armed conflict between major powers, more about civil war & non- state actors.

Global Treads 2025: A Transformed World
National Intelligence Council
http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_2025_project.html

Global Issues website
http://www.globalissues.org/

Globalizing Pre-Service Teachers Education http://illinois.edu/goto/globalizing_education

Merry Merryfield’s World 727 from Ohio State UniversityTeachers on Dr. Merryfield’s listserv share and discuss resources, pedagogy, and issues in teaching world cultures, global events, world history, and related topics. To join, email merryfield.1@osu.edu

Globalization101.org: Provides updates of the newest resources, including lesson plans, news analyses, and more. http://www.globalization101.org/index.php?file=newsletter

Showing Rising Powers: The New Global Reality
http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/now-showingrising-powers-the-new-global-reality.cfm

Building Bridges: A Peace Corps Classroom Guide to Cross-Cultural Understanding
http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/publications/bridges/index.cfm

The Cyber School Bus: United Nations
http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/

A Global Issues Toolbox for Educators
http://www.rpcv.org/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=219#Health

US State Department: America.gov
http://usinfo.state.gov/pub/ejournalusa/global_issues.html

Global Issues Gateway website
http://www.gig.org/