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Monday, November 14, 2011

Global Education and other favorite blog sites

As I begin to develop my new education blog about connecting students to career information and options in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), I realize there's so much to share, so little time...

From time to time I'll share some of my favorite blogs,  and on the day I post a new link in the sidebar here, I'll share in a post a little about the blog and why I like that one over all the others. Not that I've read all the others, because who can keep up? Networking in this way might help some of us slog our way through it all.

The first blog site I'd like to pass along is Dr. Laurence Peters' "Global Education." I happen to believe that global awareness is an important element of career awareness for K-12 students. I believe most scientists, for example, would agree that research and development is in fact not so much of a race as it once was. In order to deal with the world's problems--communicable and degenerative diseases, global warming and the array of environmental issues that threaten our health and safety,  the energy crisis--STEM professionals around the world  have to work together. We can no longer isolate our classrooms from cultural differences, engage students in superficial examinations of histories and cultures of people with whom they will one day need to collaborate.

Dr. Peters was born in the UK and has lived and worked in the U.S. throughout his adult life. His enthusiasm for Global Education in  K-12 classrooms culminated in a book published by I.S.T.E., Global Education,  and on his blog: Global Education.

I like this blog because it's filled with well-written briefs on a wide range of global issues of which students and teachers should be aware and might incorporate into a cross-curricular global education strategy.

3 comments:

  1. Imagine 2nd grade students in rural Arkansas (it's 8:00 CST) face to face with student in Birmingham UK (it's 15:00 GMT). The silence is broken by a timid voice with a strange accent "Hey they look just like us." The next statement a question "Why is it so dark there?" The instructor now discusses time zones have the students just learned math in their Spanish class? Did they realize they were learning math and social studies or just talking to new friends and classmates? This is global education at the highest level. This is being done daily by a dedicated group of educators in Hot Springs, AR.
    We all speak of "global education" as if it were some magic bullet why don't we just do it. ODE has been doing this for 13 years from a little town in Arkansas to the world.

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    Replies
    1. Ralph: I'm so sorry I didn't notice this post! These are really interesting and important observations! I would love to hear more about what your group is doing! I am working with a school district in rural Alaska and they are interested in cultural partnerships with classrooms in places they could only imagine.

      Global education is certainly no magic bullet, but it does open the world to students in ways never before possbile. We might hope that it also opens their minds.

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  2. @Ralph: I do think that one day soon the idea of collaborating with a classroom on the other side of the world will be as ubiquitous as computers in the classroom are today.

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I appreciate your input and will review your post promptly.