Transcript Support for a global curriculum

Social sciences through a globalized
perspective
Creating a global curriculum
By
Athena Smith, Ph.D.
Photos from www.burningwell.org (repository for public domain )
What are social sciences?
Academic
disciplines dealing
with the study of
the social life of
groups and
individuals
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Anthropology
Communications
Economics/Business
History
Political Sciences
International Relations
Psychology
Sociology
What is a global curriculum?
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Two meanings:
1.National curriculums
adopt a global
dimension
2. Common courses,
with common content
taught in various
countries.
Global ethics
curriculum
Why do we need a global
curriculum?
To become world
citizens.
 To reduce conflict.
 To improve by
learning through
watching others
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The need is urgent because conflict
also spreads through globalization
Europeans think Islam is
dangerous
BBC NEWS | UK | Survey
reveals Muslim attitudes
The Pew Global Attitudes (IHT,
6/29/06)
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Westerners and Muslims around the world have radically different
views of world events, and each group tends to view the other as
violent, intolerant, and lacking respect for women
Exceptions: Two-thirds of the French public expressed positive
views of Muslims, and even larger majorities of French Muslims felt
favorable to Christians and Jews.
Majorities in every country except Pakistan expressed pessimism
about Muslim-Western relations (Germany 70%, France 66%,
Turkey 64%, Spain and Britain 61% and Egypt 58%.)
How Indonesians stereotype the
Chinese
Chinese are rich
 Chinese keep to
themselves
 Chinese are
arrogant
 Chinese think that
money can buy
anything
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How we stereotype Arabs
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The three B syndrome:
bombers, belly dancers,
or billionaires.
21 major movies in the
last ten years show our
military killing Arabs.
Russell Baker: "Arabs
are the last people
except Episcopalians
whom Hollywood feels
free to offend en
masse."
Three steps
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Overcome the “who
cares” attitude
What to do and how
to do it
Choose whom you can
reach
First step: Overcome the “who cares”
attitude
Environmental
degradation
 The story of a
pencil
 The Second Auto
Industry
 Security concerns
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Global interdependencies
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12 million American
jobs depend on trade,
including 1 in 5
factory jobs.
One in 3 acres of U.S.
farmland is planted for
export
Many of the nation's
biggest corporations,
from Coca-Cola to
Microsoft and Google,
depend on substantial
revenues from
overseas.
Second Step (What to do and how to do it)
Different perspectives of the world
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We have entered a new global
order based on cultural
comparative advantage.
Japanese social discipline.
Indian intellectual rigor
Korean loyalty to superiors
Cantonese
entrepreneurship
YouTube - Traffic Chaos
India
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Enhance the courses
with online materials
from sources like
Globalization 101 or
international news
sites
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Advantages of
Globalization 101
materials
Encompassing social
sciences
Frequently updated
Free (Can reach the
poorest)
Specifically…
Add the global
dimension to your
courses
 Enrich the text
with current events
 Assign projects to
investigate which
global forces
shaped the
particular event
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From primary school to college: Social
development
Use pictures
 to show people’s
happiness and
sorrow-role playing
 To show common
needs and
practices
 To exchange travel
experiences
Communication and language
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Discuss stories with
common justice messages
(Indian Fairy Tales )
Learn anti-discriminatory
language
Role-playing teaches
respect
Different religions
Different foods
Different family settings
Different customs and art
(dances, theatre, music,
humor)
One story may apply to a multitude of
disciplines (history/business/economics)
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From Dan Griswold’s
Trading Tyranny for
Freedom: How Open
Markets Till the Soil for
Democracy. “Economic
integration promotes civil
and political freedoms
directly by opening a
society to new technology,
communications, and
democratic ideas... By
promoting faster growth,
free trade promotes
political freedom indirectly
by creating an
economically independent
and politically aware
middle class."
College sample lectures: A globalized
approach
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Life in Rural China
NPR: Rural China in
Transition
Job Losses Explode in
Rural America
India's Farming
'Revolution' Heading
For Collapse
Similarities in rural development among
countries
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1960’s-1980’s rapid
industrialization
Companies found
cheaper land, cheaper
labor and less
regulation
Industrial recruitment
shifted local
populations from the
primary to secondary
sectors
Commonalities: Use of short
multimedia
Building a Prison
Economy in Rural
America
 Cities sell garbage
to rural areas
 Playing with waste
in India
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From 1980’s to now
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Spread of
biotechnology
Revised GATT and
NAFTA
EU-India: Free Trade
Agreement
Globalized approach to world history
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1. Help students to
understand that their
country never existed
in a vacuum and that
events occurring
within their borders
affect other peoples.
2. Help students to
recognize that
historical
interpretations are
colored by national
interests.
Re-writing texts
Cyprus history
book rewrites
spark outcry
 To avoid 'us vs.
them' in Balkans,
rewrite history
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Include the positive….
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Grameen Bank
Credit is treated as a
human right and a costeffective weapon to fight
poverty
In Bangladesh 80% of poor
families have been reached
through microcredit
The idea has become
global and includes
Lending
Investment
Social Guarantees of Loans
and the negative…
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Human trafficking is
facilitated by increased
international mobility,
transparent borders,
broadband communication,
and political and economic
upheaval.
The displaced persons, the
war victims, the poor, and
those seeking the
opportunities of the West,
turned trafficking into a
booming business.
Not For Sale: Slavery map
Third step: Choose whom you can
reach
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International
collaboration
– Educational
tourism
– Global classroom
– Reaching the
poor
Sierra Leone
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Pupils from Dorton
House in Kent, and
Milton Margai School
for the blind in wartorn Freetown, Sierra
Leone, have visited
each other and
worked together on
disability rights and
conflict resolution
projects.
Here is the story from
BBC NEWS
Possible set-ups for a global
classroom among countries
Synchronous
distance learning
 Asynchronous
distance learning
 Correspondence
courses
 Exchange programs
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One Laptop per Child
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Donate one
Participating countries:
Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia,
Colombia, Haiti, Mexico,
Peru, Uruguay,
Afghanistan, Cambodia,
Mongolia, Kiribati, Nauru,
New Caledonia, Niue,
Papua New Guinea,
Solomon Islands, Tuvalu,
Vanuatu.