Handouts for

Global Awareness for Educators

Cleveland State University

presented by

Dr. Denise R. Ames

Center for Global Awareness

14 Garden Park Circle NW Albuquerque, New Mexico USA

505.344.1892 cell 505.480.0271

drames@global-awareness.net www.global-awareness.net

Workshop Outcomes:

1. Understand and describe the definition of global awareness.

2. Evaluate the five dimensions of global awareness

3. Create ways to infuse global awareness into your teaching

4. Describe 3 important ideas that all high school students should know about global awareness

I. An Introduction to Global Awareness

A. What top 3 ideas about global awareness do you think high school students should leave with at the end of school?

B. Deconstruct term global awareness?

C. Definition Global Awareness

Global awareness is a multi-dimensional, holistic understanding of the world that promotes multiple perspectives, knowledge of global issues and cultural diversity, recognizes global interdependence and diverse worldviews, and encourages engagement with the global community and human choice. (Denise Ames)

1. Purpose of Global Awareness

The primary purpose for infusing a global perspective into the k-12 curriculum is to prepare students to responsibly and intelligently understand and actively participate in a rapidly changing, interconnected world.

D. Five Dimensions of Global Awareness: An Overview

Dimension 1: Understanding Multiple Worldviews

A consciousness of and appreciation for other views of the world. This dimension explores multiple ways of looking at people, events, history, and issues from a variety of perspectives or worldviews.

Dimension 2: The World is a System

An understanding of the interdependence and relationship of humans within the entire global community. Use systems thinking skills.

Dimension 3: Cross-Cultural Awareness

Enhancing awareness of the diversity of ideas, practices, customs, beliefs, and history found in human societies across time and space.

Dimension 4: Knowledge of Significant Global Issues

Learning about the way the world works through a study of critical global issues and their impact on our global community.

Dimension 5: Recognition of Human Choice

Recognition that as humans we have the capacity to choose our present direction and shape the future we wish to have.

A global perspective is …	A global perspective is not …
multiple perspectives	propaganda for a point of view
includes multiculturalism	another word for multiculturalism
global in scope	just national in scope
infused into the existing curricula	a separate course
sees the world as a system	sees the world as separate national parts
addresses issues that affect all nations of the world	issues that are particular to an individual nation
promotes global citizenship	promotes only national citizenship
looks at the world through multiple perspectives	looks at the world through particular religious or national perspective
inclusive	exclusive
includes attitudes, skills, and knowledge	a narrow curriculum
best understood by using global skills: critical thinking, project-based learning, collaboration	best understood by using traditional skills: reading textbooks, rote memorization, multiple choice tests
uses diverse readings and resources	textbook based
uses rubrics for grading	teaches to the standardized test
about the U.S. place within world history	about U.S. exceptionalism
needs to understand people from multiple perspectives	teaches moral or cultural relativism
describes the relationship of rich/poor, first/third world, north/south, oppressors/oppressed	divides the world into oppressors and oppressed
love of country and patriotism taught as cultural universal, can think globally and love country at the same time	unpatriotic
does not teach one world government	promotes one world government, a new world order, or that nation-states are obsolete

II. Dimension 2: Understanding Multiple Worldviews

A. Definition Worldview:

A worldview is an overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world; a set of simplifying assumptions about how the world works. A collection of beliefs, attitudes, and values held by an individual or a group that influences what we see and don’t see. A worldview is paradigm, a fundamental way of looking at reality that functions as a filter; it admits information consistent with our deeply held expectations about the world while guiding us to disregard information that challenges or disproves those expectations. It is a way of understanding or a lens through which one explains events, phenomena, and actions that happen in our everyday lives. (Denise Ames)

Worldviews are rarely brought out into the light of day, so people are not usually aware of them. They set down deep in human consciousness, quietly shaping reactions to new ideas and information, guiding decisions, and ordering expectations for the future. Often worldviews are internally inconsistent; in fact, they usually contain parts that are just plain false. Still, their historical and psychological roots are deep enough to prevent easy uprooting. Every book, policy statement, solution to a problem, method of teaching, or curriculum is shaped as much by a worldview as by any objective data or analysis.

B. Four Worldviews:

1. Traditional Worldview

2. Modern Worldview

3. Globalized Worldview

4. Transformative Worldview

Worldview Comparisons:

Education

Worldview	Key Characteristics/Values	Skills Needed	Approach to Education
Traditional	individual responsibility, faith, conservative, hold to customs & traditions of past, religious orthodoxy, adheres to authority, unquestioning, discipline, absolutes, family centered (often patriarchal) punishment for infractions, religious doctrines precedent over science, fundamentalist, continuity over change, traditional values
Modern	scientific method & principles, reason, Newtonian machine, order, analytical, cause & effect, dividing, sequence, chronological, stages, efficiency, authority, separate, competition, detached, tests, domination, autonomous, hierarchy, segmented, growth, classification, mass production, march of progress, individualism, conquest, force, technology, authority, reducible, predictable, struggle, building blocks
Globalized	technology celebrated, efficiency, consumerism, instant gratification, individualism, individual potential & responsibility, competition, debate, winning, productivity, growth, fast, specialization, anthropocentric, success, abundance, no limits, new, opportunity, market forces provide answers, pleasures, comforts, corporate, flux/uncertainty, multi-cultural, global perspective, interaction, exchange, speed, commodification, innovation, quantity, optimistic, future focus,
Transform- ative	holistic, systems, opportunities & limitations, ecological, sustainable, cooperation, community focus, global & local (glocal), wisdom, multi-cultural, simplicity, interaction, non-hierarchal, democracy, quality over quantity, technology, contemplative, creativity, justice, ethics/morality, comparative, synthesis, quality, interdisciplinary, collaborative, synergistic, experiential, responsible, diversity, multiple causation, slower, tolerance, cyclical, interdependence, negotiations, relationships, dialogue

WORLDVIEW ANALYSIS

describe the following in each of the worldviews	Traditional Worldview	Modern Worldview	Globalized Worldview	Transformative Worldview
values characteristics attitudes beliefs
economy
technology
political
environment
military/war
science
religion
social features
education
family
children
other category

WORLDVIEWS

list notable individuals as representative in each of the worldviews

worldview

individuals

Traditional

Worldview

Modern

Worldview

Globalized

Worldview

Transformative

Worldview

Religious

leader

Environmental leader

Human Rights leader

Business

leader

Family leader

Entertainment
person

Sports hero

Political

leader

Economic

leader

Diplomatic leader

Others

III. Dimension 2: The World is a System

A. What is a system?

A system is defined as something that maintains its existence and functions as a whole through the interaction of its parts. Put another way, a system is a collection of parts that interact with each other to function as a whole and continually affect each other over time. Systems are not only interconnected, they are logically organized around some purpose. For example, the human body is a system; each part of the body affects another. A school is a system as well. It is the relationships, and the mutual influence between the parts, that is important, rather than the number or size of the parts. These relationships and systems can be simple or complex.[1]

In a system…

· Parts are interconnected and function as a whole

· Complex web of relationships unifies the parts

· System is changed by addition or subtraction of parts

· Arrangement of the pieces is crucial

· Behavior depends on total structure: change the structure and the behavior changes

C. A systems thinking approach ….

is currently being applied to business, the sciences, health, medicine, and other fields. Systems thinking is looking beyond what appears to be isolated and independent events to recognize deeper structures within the system. The whole system and the interrelationship of the parts to the whole are the focus, not just the isolated basic building blocks. Seeing the connections between events is a basic principle of systems thinking, where connections and the larger, global context inform the subject. In other words as the saying goes: “see the forest, not just the trees.”

Systems thinking views issues and problems in the context of a larger whole; it is complementary to analytical thinking. Analysis means taking something apart in order to understand it and to see how the pieces work individually. But a system cannot be understood by analysis alone. The complement of analysis is synthesis, which means building the parts into a harmonious whole. Deeper understanding is gained through synthesis. [2]

D. Conventional Thinking

If systems thinking is so wonderful, why haven’t we been using this type of thinking all along? Good question. Changing the way we see the world or our worldview does not happen easily or quickly; conventional ways of thinking have deeply entrenched roots that resist change. When using conventional thinking, sometimes called traditional, linear or mechanistic thinking, people tend to see simple sequences of cause and effect that are limited in time and space, which assumes that cause and effect occur within a close time frame. But the causes and effects of an event may be far apart in time and space. For example, industrial pollutants have accumulated over a 200 year time period since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution around 1800, but the effects are only beginning to be felt today in the phenomenon known as global warming or climate change.

Conventional thinking segments issues, events, and even education into small divisible parts for careful analysis and scrutiny. The world is seen as a collection of separate objects while the relationships are secondary. In a systems view, networks of relationships are embedded in larger networks. Relationships are primary while the objects are secondary. An example of conventional thinking is when school officials administer standardized tests to our students, who receive a score that ranks them with other students. This isolated score does not take into consideration the whole student: his/her relationship to other students, teachers, or parents, his/her contribution to the community, or even the student’s ability to think about the subject beyond the questions in the test. The test score only represents one aspect of the student’s ability, yet is given undue significance in classifying a student’s abilities.

Conventional thinking continues to shape Western society in many ways. One example is the way that we arrange our schoolroom desks in linear straight rows; this arrangement represents linear or hierarchical thinking in which the teacher is given a position of authority. Individual housing patterns in suburbs that are separated into “little boxes” and unconnected to each other through community space signifies compartmentalized thinking. Medical treatment of a patient’s isolated symptoms with medications or surgery without recognizing the impact on the entire body is an example of conventional analytical thinking. The way the international political structure is organized into separate, autonomous nations exemplifies conventional ways of organizing the world. All these examples represent how conventional thinking is expressed in our daily lives. This way of thinking is habitual, familiar deeply embedded, and hard to change.

1. Conventional Thinking…

· Separates and divides people, nations, events, cultures and actions

· Sees simple sequences of cause and effect that are limited in time and space

· Uses only causes and effects to explain historical events.

· Zeroes in to fault and blame an individual or group

· Applies analysis not synthesis

E. Reasons to Use Systems Thinking

Tsunami-wave shifts are occurring in our world today. Our daily lives are changing dramatically, even though we might not want to acknowledge it, and our future looks uncertain, insecure and unpredictable. Although many of us wish to hide our heads in the sand and pay no attention to our critical situation, the reality is we urgently need to address crucial global issues that are adversely impacting all our lives and threatening our future well-being. But the complexity of the situation demands that a different way of learning, thinking, teaching, and communicating be used to even address, let alone solve, these urgent issues such as global warming and resource depletion. Although it can be argued that conventional thinking served us fairly well for centuries (if you overlook wars, genocide, species eradication, and environmental devastation) this type of thinking cannot cope with the monumental problem-solving challenges that face us in an interconnected world. Therefore it behooves us to be aware of a systems thinking approach and consider it as a viable alternative method that may be successful applied in many different areas, including education.

Secondly, a detailed analysis of any specific problem or issue in isolation limits understanding of its complexity and ramifications. We must look beyond individual issues towards a broader perspective, where an individual issue is seen as part of a coherent whole. Studying something in isolation separated from the context in which it exists restricts understanding because it does not include the effect one part has on another, or on the whole. But when systems thinking is used, the relationships among problems is primary and any proposed adjustment or correction to the system takes into consideration how all aspects affect the whole situation. For example, when planning for development and growth in cities and suburbs consideration as to the availability of or scarcity of fresh water should be given high priority.

Third, we can’t solve any of the problems on our own because only one perspective per problem is not enough to wholly understand it; we need to be aware of as many different perspectives as possible. Therefore, it is useful to have people from diverse ethnic, racial, class, and gender perspectives working together on an issue, as well as people of different personality types and worldviews. Those holding different perspectives provide unique angles for looking at problems and are instrumental in contributing to more effective solutions to problems.

Fourth, a systems thinking perspective enables us to understand why simply fault-finding is such a futile activity. Singling out the decisions or actions of participants to establish culpability for the cause of a problem is often limiting; most blame is misdirected. A problem is usually not one person’s fault, for most people are usually doing the best they can within the system they are working. The structure of the system, not the effort of the people, has created most of the problems and determines the outcome. Just listen to a television or radio newscast and recount how many times the interviewer asks someone, “And who is to blame for this or that failure?” Supporters using systems thinking principles progress beyond simply seeing the events and mishaps in isolation to seeing patterns of interaction and the underlying structures or worldviews that are accountable for the problems. Systems thinking is always process thinking; it explains things in terms of their context or situation.

F. Benefits of Systems Thinking[3]…

· Recognizes events that underlie patterns; sees underlying structures that are responsible for the patterns

· Learns from history by discerning patterns so that we are not doomed to repeat the same problem.

· Predicts events and prepares for them , rather than being helpless in their wake.

· Appreciates how our thinking is inseparable from the problems we encounter.

· Understands obvious explanations and majority views are not always right.

· Goes beyond blaming others or self.

· Challenges, probes, and clarifies our own habitual ways of thinking.

· Encourages long term thinking.

· Predicts unintended consequences.

G. Ways to Use System Thinking:

· Look at the whole system, not just its parts.

· Appreciate how our thinking is inseparable from the problems we encounter.

· Eliminate the thinking that led to the problem in the first place.

· Scan the big picture context.

· Challenge the idea that you can judge a person’s behavior/actions independent of the system he is in.

· Use circular or cyclical and deep thinking, more than just nonlinear, vertical, horizontal thinking.

· Apply maps, models, and visual images that make it easier to see connections, relationships, and patterns.

· Draw on diverse perspective when viewing chaotic events.

· Apply systems thinking to your own way of thinking because our beliefs are themselves a system.

H. Seven Principles of Systems Thinking:

1. Look at the whole system, not just their parts.

2. Look at the big picture, the context. Look at the forest not just the trees.

3. A small event in one sector can cause tremendous turbulence in another. The butterfly effect.

4. Maps, models, and visual images make it easier to see connections, relationships, and patterns of interaction.

5. When we step back over time and look at the big picture we can see patterns.

6. Scanning across disciplines, industries, and events is the key to see emerging conditions, paradigm shifts, and opportunities for innovation.

7. Need more than linear thinking, need nonlinear, non sequential, deep and circular, thinking to recognize reoccurring patterns.

I. Suggestions for Using Systems Thinking in the Classroom

“All persons are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. What affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

1. There are a number of ways that systems thinking can be used in the classroom. One way is to use “question stems” that promote systems thinking in answers. A few of the words that can promote systems thinking are connections, connect, interdependent, link, interact, relationship, etc.

2. The following are a few examples of systems thinking question stems. Perhaps you can think of more.

· How are all these …….. connected?

· What are the connections?

· What interrelated factors contribute to ………..?

· Describe the interdependence of ……..?

· Link …….. with ………

3. Look at an issue such as global warming.

· What are the events surrounding this issue?

· What are the patterns?

· What are the underlying structures or worldview that give rise to this issue?

4. Use mind maps to look at an issue:

A mind is often created around a single word or concept, placed in the center, to which associated words and concepts are added.

5. Systems Thinking Activities:

Web of Life Yarn Exercise

group of individuals (8-12)

approximately 10-15 minutes

ball of yarn or string that will unravel easily

Give someone in the group the large ball of yarn

a. Select an issue or specific problem that students are studying

b. The student holding the ball of yarn starts by stating a variable that connect with the issue or problem under study.

c. S/he passes the yarn ball to another student who also states a variable connected to the one stated by the first student and to the issue/problem under study.

d. Repeat the exercise until all students have stated a variable that links to the issue.

e. The yarn web grows in complexity.

f. Discuss the variables you have identified in the web.

IV. Dimension 3: Cross-Cultural Awareness

Enhancing awareness of the diversity of ideas, practices, customs, beliefs, and history found in human societies across time and space.

· Gaining cross-cultural awareness involves perspective-taking, seeing through the eyes, minds, and hearts of others; “standing in another person’s shoes.” By recognizing deep cultural awareness one needs to experience another perspective for a comparison to one’s own. With this more inclusive understanding we can gain tolerance for others and a sense of responsible global citizenship.

A. Awareness of Cultural Diversity

1. Culture definition:

Culture includes the shared assumptions, values, and beliefs of a group of people that shape their norms of behavior, worldviews, and use of technology: Culture is dynamic and constantly changing. (Merry Merryfield, Social Studies and the World: Teaching Global Perspectives)

2. Substantive Culture Learning (summarized from the above publication)

Substantive culture learning includes knowledge of both internal and surface culture. The analogy of an iceberg helps to explain the significance of surface versus internal culture. The small tip of the iceberg represents surface culture, those things we notice when we visit a village in southern France or a city in Mexico: way people behave in public, body language, their music, food, dress, architecture, and the arrangement of homes farms, markets, and towns. The attributes of surface culture have long been popular topics in regional geography or world cultures courses. But surface culture by itself is not inadequate for understanding other cultures; it may actually constrain students’ ability to develop global understanding.

Students also need to study internal culture if they are to understand their world today. When used exclusively, the surface approach to culture denies students the opportunity to acquire cross-cultural understanding, practice perspective-taking and develop skills in communicating and working with people from other cultures.

Below the surface of the iceberg is internal culture. It acts as a lens through which people perceive and interpret information, people, events, and experiences. Internal culture includes the values, beliefs, and tacit assumptions that cause people to behave, speak, think, and interact the way they do. To get beyond people such as Korean, Japanese, Hmong, etc. we have to get beyond their dress, food, or architecture and study their beliefs, values, patterns of thinking, and norms of behavior. Cultures are not defined by national borders.

The foundation of substantive culture learning is knowledge of internal culture. As students learn about people’s values and beliefs, their norms of behavior, and their interaction and communication styles, they begin to understand their perspectives and worldviews.

Often a first step is helping students recognize and appreciate the power of internal culture by having them identify their own assumptions about some fundamental aspects of human interaction and then compare them with those of people in another culture.

3. Teaching Activity: Internal Culture: Behavioral Norms

(taken from Merry Merryfield Social Studies and the World: Teaching Global Perspectives)

Goal: Student will be able to identify how cultural patterns of thinking affect behavioral norms.

Overview: Students compare what is perceived to be proper behavior in individualistic and collevist cultures

Procedure: After a description of the concept of internal culture and the “iceberg” model, students are asked to circle which of the choices below they themselves have been taught is the right thing to do in each of the situations:

#1 You have been nominated for an award for work that you did on your debate team. Should you (a) agree and hope you win the award or (b) feel embarrassed and turn down the nominate because you don’t want other team members to feel bad?

#2 Your uncle’s business has a job opening. Should he (a) give the job to the most qualified applicant or (b) to you, his niece, who he knows needs a job?

#3 A new person at school who you met running track wants to be friends with you. He recently moved from another city and wears different clothes than you do and speaks with an accent. (a) Should you stick with your own friends or (b) get to know him better?

Share with students that 1a, 2a, 3b are answers frequently given in individualist cultures; the others would be preferred by people in collectivist cultures where children are taught that harmony of the group is more important than other considerations. They would not want to stand out from the group. They would favor people in their own group over others.

As students what they think might happen when a person from an individualist culture goes to school in a collectivist culture?

B. Stages in Culture Learning

(Summary of Social Studies and the World: Teaching Global Perspective by Merry Merryfield and Angene Wilson, p. 43-49)

Students come to the classroom at different stages in culture learning. There has been extensive research on how young people develop understanding of cultures different from their own. Milton Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity is particularly relevant to help individuals overcome ethnocentrism and develop intercultural competence.

From his research on how students move from one stage to the next, he recommends using experiential learning such as simulations and shared experiences with people from other cultures for the last three stages. Cross-cultural experiential learning reinforces students’ recognition of profound cultural differences as it helps them acquire cross-cultural interaction skills to mediate differences.

1. Stage of Lack of Awareness of Cultural Differences

Students in this stage may be genuinely unaware of cultural differences due to the cultural homogeneity of their environment (either from accidental isolation or deliberate separation)

· Are students isolated physically or psychologically from interacting with people different from themselves as equals?

· Are students unaware that people in the U.S. and world have different norms of behavior, different values, and different lifestyles?

When teachers recognize this stage, they can provide students with readings, videos, websites, and other visuals that introduce them to some easily understood cultural differences in a developmentally appropriate way.

2. Stage of Denigration of Cultural Differences

Students in this stage often criticize people different from themselves. They may make derogatory remarks, refer to stereotypes as knowledge, or exhibit over hostility. Students may openly demonstrate their feelings of superiority with other whom they view as inferior. Some students in this stage may have a reversal of attitudes and denigrate their own culture or express feelings that the other culture is superior.

· Do your students demean people different from themselves?

· Do they believe stereotypes of Asians, Africans, Arabs or others?

· Do they act as though they are superior to people of other cultures or other world regions?

· Are they hostile towards people based on their race, ethnicity, language, religion, or national origin?

· Do they assume people in other countries would be better if they were “more like us”?

3. Stage of Minimizing Differences

Students in the minimization stage play down cultural differences. They may focus on physical similarities (all people have the same physical needs) or transcendence (we are all God’s children). The stage of universalism usually develops when people become comfortable in recognizing differences across and within cultures but they do not yet appreciate the significance of those differences or they are not yet comfortable in dealing with such differences.

· Do your students want to ignore cultural differences?

· Do they lack appreciation of the depth of cultural differences?

· Can the students explain how cultural differences can lead to important misunderstandings and conflicts?

Activities that show cultural differences include scenarios, case students, and cultural assimilators can provide students with real-life instances of misunderstandings that arise when cultural, religious, or linguistic differences are not taken into account.

4. Stage of Acceptance of Cultural Differences

Students in the acceptance stage recognize and respect behavioral and value differences. They acknowledge that across cultures people have different ways of thinking about the group versus the individual, privacy, male/female interactions, showing respect or resolving conflicts as well as the more obvious differences in dress, food, housing, music, body language, etc.

· Do your students accept cultural differences as real and important?

· Do they know that people from different cultures will interpret events or issues based on their own cultural norms and perspectives?

· When they interact with people from other cultures, do they try to understand the others’ point of view?

At this stage most of the students’ knowledge is academic, and they need interaction with people different from themselves to develop intercultural skills in applying what they have learned to real-life situations. Activities such as on-line projects and opportunities (although mixed reviews from researchers.)

5. Stage of Adaptation

Students in the adaptation stage developed some skills in interacting and communicating across cultures. Their affective skills – such as empathy or an understanding of pluralism through multiple cultural frames of reference – are enhanced and expanded in frequent cross-cultural interaction.

· Are your students able to put themselves into the position of another person in a different cultural context and begin to see events and issue through that person’s eyes?

· Can they get beyond their own cultural norms and envision events or issues through another set of cultural norms?

· Do students have the knowledge and skills to switch back and forth to examine the realities of an event or issues from two or three cultures’ norms?

Empathy is the ability to leave one’s own cultural baggage behind and mentally walk a few steps in another person’s shoes. Empathizing involves knowing enough about another person’s values and thought patterns to be able to imagine what that person is thinking or feeling as she or he experiences an event, makes a decision or considers an issue.

Empathy is a high level intercultural skill because what it requires goes beyond perspective taking. In global education, we refer to perspective consciousness as the ability to recognize that each of us has a culturally-based view of the world that is not universally shared. To feel empathy students must learn about other peoples’ situations , their beliefs and values, and their norms of behavior, and then try to think about what the other person would feel in a particular situation. They key attribute of empathy with someone of another culture is the ability to put one’s own cultural lenses aside and for a few minutes to try to see the world through the other person’s cultural lenses.

The second element in this stage is an understanding that people need to be within a culture in order to understand its cultural frames of reference. The cultural pluralism that comes from developing multiple cultural frames of reference has two effects: people internalize two or more different cultural worldviews and they are able to switch back and forth as the situation requires.

The Stages of Intercultural Development and Knowledge

Stage	Examples of Developmentally Appropriate Strategies
1. Lack of awareness of cultural differences	Demonstrate cultural differences that are obvious but not threatening · a guest speaker shares her video of Gaborone where she lived and taught as a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana
2. Denigration of cultural differences	Focus on commonalities and contributions · Demonstration of how the Yoruba show respect to their parents and older people in the community. · Instruction on how Arabs have contributed to scientific achievement
3. Minimalization of differences	Illustrate how ignore of differences have profound effects · Body language acceptable in one culture can be insulting or forbidden in another (for example, passing food with the left hand or direct eye contract with a superior)
4. Acceptance of behavioral and value difference	Teach cultural complexity · Case studies of how people within a culture can differ based on their social class, gender, age, etc.
5. Adaptation of skills for interacting and communicating	Focus on real-life interaction and skill development across cultures · Cooperative learning through shared tasks and goals · Experiences where people have more/less power
6. Integration of intercultural competence	Experiences with different cultures, social classes, etc. · Sustained intercultural experiences with different groups · Academic student of cultural hybridity and change

6. Stage of Integration across Cultures

Students in the integration stage are able to evaluate new cultural contexts, learn how to interact within them, and deal with constructive marginality, a state in which a person is “always in the process of becoming a part of and apart from a given cultural context.”

· Have your students integrated themselves within more than one culture (i.e. learned norms and language so they can act, think and feel as do people in that culture)?

· Can the students evaluate the cultural contexts of new situations?

· Can the students appreciate the perspectives, knowledge, and skills that come from being on the margins of a culture?

In integration, people develop skills in contextual evaluation, the ability to analyze and evaluate situations from more than one cultural context.

In contextual evaluation people are conscious of how everyday interactions, events, and decisions are dependent upon a specific context. The ability to evaluate cultural contexts is a critical skill fro young people growing up in a multicultural society as it teaches them to stop and consider the cultural context of situations before proceeding to act from their own cultural norms or make assumptions about other people’s motives. Contextual evaluation rests upon the assumption that people want to appreciate the significance of cultural differences and want to work effectively with others who are different from themselves. It builds upon previous stages and it takes practice.

V. Dimension 4: Knowledge of Significant Global Issues

Learning about the way the world works through a study of critical global issues and their impact on our global community.

· In order to intelligently participate in actively creating a prosperous, sustainable, and joyful future for all the world’s citizens, a wide-ranging knowledge of critical global issues, problems, conditions, and developments that transcend local and national boundaries and are confronting humans and the planet is crucial.

A. 10 Significant Global Issues: A Brief Description

1. Conflict, War, Terrorism and Peace

Issues relative to subnational and national conflicts, which may lead to violence. Weapons proliferation, the arms race, terrorism, and cross-border conflicts. Conflict over scarce resources, i.e. oil and water. Understanding the nature of conflicts and their impact the world community. Peace movements, non-violent approaches to conflict, and their impact

2. Globalization and Economic Globalization

Globalization – increasing world interdependence. Economic globalization – expansion of capitalist economic system around the world. Comparative economic systems, trade issues, developing and developed world, global corporations. Dependency theory issues, foreign debt, role of World Bank, WTO.

3. Global Belief Systems

Comparative ideologies, major world religions, free market ideologies, secular beliefs, consumerism, indigenous worldviews, Eurocentricism, multiculturalism, worldviews, alternative movement, international human rights.

4. Social Justice

International human rights, race and ethnicity, gender and equity issues, rights of children, growing social gap, economic and digital divide, immigration and emigration issues.

5. Environmental Protection

Conscious sensitivity to the planet’s health; resource depletion and environmental degradation or pollution; energy sources, production, and consumption; resource dependence or stockpiling; recycling; global warming and cooling; ozone depletion; toxic and nuclear wastes; acid rain; erosion, deforestation, drought, or desertification; and reductions in genetic, biotic, and species variety. Decline in agricultural productivity and Carrying capacity

6. Urbanization, Population, and Health

Population growth, changes, patterns, and trends; immigration and emigration; aging; urbanization; refugees; family planning, contraception, and abortion or sterilization. Immigration to cities from rural. Disparities between city and countryside. World health issues. Food and hunger; disease; drug use; inadequate sanitation, shelter, or housing; education and illiteracy.

7. Governing Systems

Governmental philosophies: liberalism, communism, socialism, fascism, monarchies, dictatorships, etc.. Political systems and ideologies. United Nations, role of NGO’s, alliances and treaties, regional integration, democratization, role of international law. Alternative governmental models. Nation states, role of lone superpower United States.

8. Consumerism

Role of advertising, business issues, homogenization of culture, children and advertising, epidemics of obesity, effect of advertising on values, cultural imperialism, exporting consumer model. Growth.

9. Technology Revolution

Role of science, technology, and communications play in our lives. Effects of technology on daily lives.

10. Sustainable Development

Understanding the need to maintain and improve the quality of planetary life now without damaging the planet for future generations. Ecological footprint, overshoot, carrying capacity.

VI. Dimension 5: Recognition of Human Choice

Recognition that as humans we have the capacity to choose our present direction and shape the future we wish to have.

· Through attitudes of responsibility and shared decision making students can be empowered to recognize that their personal choices and actions can make a difference in their local community and through collective action in the global community. By using strategies for participation and involvement, students can be concerned global citizens, aware of global issues, informed by a global perspective, and committed to exercising their rights and choices for the collective well-being of humanity and the earth. By realizing their intergenerational responsibility, a new direction for future conscientiousness becomes a priority.

A. Ways to infuse Dimension 5 into your curriculum

1. Service Learning Projects

Learning by doing. Service learning involves direct volunteer efforts by students with various community organizations and linking the service with learning in some meaningful way.

VII. What Skills to Enhance Global Awareness

A. Critical Thinking

1. What is critical thinking?

Simply put critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it.

2. A well-cultivated critical thinker:

a. raises vital questions and problems

b. gathers and assesses relevant information

c. comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards

d. thinks open-mindedly (but don’t let your brain fall out)

e. communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.

3. Circle of Learning (by Dr. Denise R. Ames)

As educators we understand that good teaching requires that we present our subject matter so that our students will be challenged to master different skill levels. To help develop and identify these diverse skills for our students I have created a Circle of Learning plan that identifies six different skills or competencies. I have called this plan a Circle of Learning. I use the circle as a way to organize this learning plan in order to get away from the ranking of the skills from lower to higher in hierarchical fashion. All the skills are necessary, despite their ranking in importance, and need to be incorporated. In the Circle of Learning plan I provide definitions of each skill, descriptive action verbs, attitudes, suggested questions, recommended activities, and assessment ideas. I have included a general Circle of Learning chart applicable to general education.

We know there is more than one type of learning. In 1956 Benjamin Bloom and others identified three domains of educational activities: cognitive or mental skills (knowledge); affective, growth in feelings or emotional areas (attitude); and psychomotor, manual or physical skills. For a holistic approach to learning and teaching all three domains are important, but for purposes of brevity I will emphasize the cognitive domain, mention the affective domain, and ignore the psychomotor domain. I will leave it to individual educators to explore the psychomotor domain if they feel it will enhance their teaching.

The cognitive domain involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. Bloom originally identified six major categories and ranked them accordingly—knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and the highest skill level, evaluation. Anderson and Krathwohl (2001)[4] revised and updated Bloom’s taxonomy and changed evaluation from the highest level to the second highest level. They also changed the skills from nouns to verbs, and modified and integrated synthesis into the sixth level that they labeled creating, but they kept the ranking schema of the skills as Bloom had done years earlier. I have drawn from the exemplary work of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning and Anderson and Krathwohl’s revised taxonomy, and adapted their competency levels into a holistic model, but did away with their ranking categories, and have called my taxonomy a Circle of Learning. I believe these different competencies are necessary for holistic student learning.

Along with the cognitive domain, I have included in the Circle of Learning the affective domain (attitude). This domain includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasm, mood, motivation, attitude, and our ability to feel another living being’s pain or joy. The word is often used as the opposite of cognitive. Attitudes are expected to change as a function of one’s learning experiences. Some verbs that describe emotions, feelings, or attitudes are: accepts, attempts, challenging, defends, disputes, joins, judges, contributes, praises, questions, shares, supports, and volunteers. The following are the five categories of the affective domain as outlined by Anderson and Krathwohl: receiving phenomena, responding to phenomena, valuing, organization, and internalizing values. I have interwoven the five affective or attitude categories into the Circle of Learning.

This Circle of Learning has been devised to help you as educators build fundamental as well as advanced skill levels for your students. I have called the taxonomy Circle of Learning because using the term higher and lower to describe these skills levels is troubling to me. We often assume students need to progress from lower to higher skills levels, building on the preceding skill as they go along. But apparently this is not always the way students learn. Students can, for example, demonstrate the creative skill without necessarily mastering the remember skill. In fact, embarking upon a creative project is one way to enhance the remember skill, drawing on and remembering information as needed. A way to get around the ranking of these skills is to use the circle motif. Using colors, animal names, or other recognition identification for the skill rather than referring to some as higher and others as lower is another way to avoid ranking the skills and is also a way for students to remember and apply the skills. For example, brown can be the remember competence, since brown is the color of the earth, the foundation of our life and the foundation of learning. Purple can be the creative competence, since purple is often regarded as the color of passion and creativity.

As mentioned, the Circle of Learning taxonomy is for general education purposes. The following is an outline of the six Circles of Learning for general education:

I. Competence: Remember

1. Definition of the Remember competence: Retrieving, recalling and recognizing appropriate previously learned information and relevant knowledge from long-term memory.

2. Key verbs: (for writing objectives)[5] for the Remember competence: acquire, arrange, ask, attend, collect, define, describe, duplicate, enumerate, identify, know, label, list, listen, match, memorize, name, order, quote, read, recall, read, recognize, record, relate, remember, repeat, reproduce, select, show, state, tabulate, tell, view.

3. Skills Demonstrated: Observation and recall of information; knowledge of dates, events; know who, what, where, when, how, and why; remember places and ideas; and informational mastery of subject matters.

4. Question Stems for the knowledge competence:

· How many …?

· Who was it that …?

· Match the following …

· Describe what happened …?

· Can you tell why …?

· Collect information about …

· Arrange information in order of importance.

· Find the meaning of …?

· Can you name the …?

5. Attitude for the Remember competence: receiving phenomena in passive manner. Listens to others with respect; takes notes; participates passively; acknowledges differences in world history. Without this level no learning can occur.

Key words in the attitude (affective) domain: asks, chooses, concentrates, describes, erects, follows, gives, holds, identifies, listens, locates, names, observes, points to, replies, selects, sits, uses.

6. Activities for the Remember competence:
Resource Materials: audio recordings, films, DVDs/videos, models, diagrams, books, media, guest speaker, etc.

Make a chart showing

· List all the …… in a story.

· Locate all the names on the facts chart

· Make a recipe and list all ingredients.

· Make a coloring book of the information.

· Sit and listen to this poem, story, or fairy tale.

· Make a timeline of events.

· Write an acrostic poem or other writing.[6]

7. Assessment for the Remember competence: I would venture to say that all educators are familiar with

traditional forms of assessment such as multiple choice, true/false, short answer, fill-in-the-blank,

matching, and essays in varying lengths. These forms of assessment are appropriate for testing factual information and skills at the foundational level, which is needed as a basis for more complex learning acquisition and to perform critical and creative analysis.

II. Competence: Understand

1. Definition of the Understand competence: Grasping and understanding the meaning of information. Constructing meaning from instructional messages that include oral, written and graphic communication.

2. Key verbs (for writing objectives) of the Understand competence: associate, classify, compare, conclude, contrast, convert, describe discuss, distinguish, draw, estimate, explain, express, find meaning, generalize, give examples, group, identify, indicate, locate, make sense out of, outline, paraphrase, predict, recognize, report, represent, restate (in own words), review, select, summarize, trace, translate, understand.

3. Skills Demonstrated in the Understand competence: Understanding the meaning of information; grasp relationship between key words and concepts; translate knowledge into new context; interpret facts; compare and contrast information; infer causes and predict consequences.

4. Question Stems for comprehension competence:

· Can you write in your own words …?

· Paraphrase what the author said?

· What do you think could of happened next …?

· What was the main idea …?

· What generalization can you make about …?

· Can you draw conclusions about …?

· Who was the key character …?

· What meaning do you find in …?

· How can you make sense out of the following …?

· Can you distinguish between …?

· What differences exist between …?

· Can you provide an example of what you mean …?

· Can you provide a definition of …?

· Can you write a brief outline …?

5. Attitudes for the Understand competence: This attitude includes passively paying attention and responding. The student actively participates in the learning process and reacts in some way. For example, a student participates in classroom discussion, makes a presentation, and questions and probes new ideas in order to understand them; suggests interpretations; provides references and examples; becomes animated or excited about learning; helps team members.

Key words for the Understand competence include: aids, answers, assists, complies, conforms, discusses, greets, helps, labels, performs, practices, presents, reads, recites, reports, selects, tells, and writes.

6. Activities for the Understand competence:
Resources Materials: cause and consequence charts, tables, cartoons, charts, reports

· Cut out or draw pictures to show a particular event.

· Make a cartoon strip showing the sequence of events.

· Write a short story and perform a play based on the story.

· Tell a story in your own words.

· Paint a picture of some aspect you like.

· Make a coloring book, poster, or collage.

· Write a summary report.

· Illustrate what you think are the main ideas.

· Prepare a flow chart to illustrate the sequent of events.

· Compare and contrast using charts and other forms.

7. Assessment of the Understand competence: Along with assessment suggestions in the remember competence, the activities listed above can be projects that are assessed. Please see the rubric for ideas on how the activities can be assessed.

III. Competence: Apply

1. Definition of the Apply competence: The use of previously learned information in new situations to solve problems that have single or best answers. Carry out or use a procedure through executing or implementing.

2. Key verbs (for writing objectives) in the Apply competence: administer, articulate, apply, assess, chart, choose, collect, communicate, compute, construct, contribute, control, demonstrate, determine, develop, discover, dramatize, employ, exhibit, establish, execute, extend, implement, illustrate, infer, interpret, manipulate, modify, operate, organize, participate, predict, prepare, practice, prioritize, produce, project, provide, relate, report, restructure, schedule, show, sketch, solve, teach, transfer, use, utilize, write.

3. Skills Demonstrated in the Apply competence: Use information learned in classroom and apply in novel situations; construct own knowledge base from variety of primary and secondary sources; solve problems using required skills or knowledge.

4. Question stems in the application competence:

· Do you know another instance where …?

· What factors would you change if…?

· Could this have happened in …?

· Can you apply the method used to some experience of your own …?

· What questions would you ask of …?

· Would this information be useful if you had a …?

· Can you group by characteristics such as …?

· Can you organize …. to show ….?

· From the information given, can you develop a set of instructions about …?

5. Attitudes in the Apply competence: Valuing. The worth or value a students attaches to a particular object, phenomenon, or behavior. Valuing is based on the internalization of a set of specific values, while clues to these values are expressed in the learner’s overt behavior and are often identifiable. The student forms own personal opinions and shares them with others.

The key words are: completes, demonstrates, differentiates, explains, follows, forms, initiates, invites, joins, justifies, proposes, reads, reports, selects, shares, studies, works.[7]

6. Activities in the Apply competence:
Resource Materials: collections, diaries, photographs, sculpture, illustration

· Construct a model to demonstrate how it will work.

· Make a paper-mache map to include relevant information.

· Make up a puzzle game suiting the ideas from the subject matter.

· Make a diorama to illustrate an important event.

· Make a scrapbook about the areas of study.

· Paint a mural about the area of study.

· Write a textbook about … for others.

· Make a song or story that reflects a particular area of study.

· Teach the subject matter to students in lower grades

· Tutor other students in …

· Take a collection of photographs to demonstrate a particular point.

· Develop a lesson plan for students in lower grades.

· Dramatize the information through a mixed media presentation

7. Assessment: Apply competence: Along with assessment suggestions in the remember competence, the activities listed above can be projects that are assessed. Please see the rubric for ideas on how the activities can be assessed.

IV. Competence: Analyze

1. Definition of the Analyze competence: The breaking down of informational materials into their component parts; taking apart the known; examining and trying to understand the organizational structure; making inferences, and or finding evidence to support generalization; recognize and explain patterns and meaning; see parts and wholes.

2. Key verbs (for objectives) for the Analyze competence: analyze, appraise, arrange, break down, calculate, categorize, classify, compare, connect, contrast, correlate, criticize, deconstruct, deduce, detect, diagram, differentiate, discover, discriminate, dissect, distinguish, divide, examine, experiment, explain, focus, illustrate, infer, inspect, investigate, limit, order, organize, outline, point out, prioritize, probe, question, recognize, select, separate, subdivide, survey, test.

3. Skills Demonstrated in the Analyze competence: Seeing patterns; label, classify or group information; organization of parts; recognize hidden meanings; identify component parts; test information; differentiate cause and effect relationships.

4. Question stems in the Analyze competence:

· If ….. happened, what might the ending have been?

· How was this similar to ……?

· Why did … changes occur?

· Can you distinguish between … and …?

· Can you compare your …with that presented in …?

· What do you see as other possible outcomes?

· What was the problem with …?

· What were some of the motives behind …?

· Can you explain what must have happened when …?

· How is … similar to …?

· What are some of the problems of …?

· What was the turning point in this historical era?

· What was the underlying theme of …?

· Which events could have happened …?

5. Attitudes in the Analyze competence: I have found that a description of the values found in the application

competence to be appropriate for the analysis competence as well.
Key words: argue, challenge, confront, debate, refute.

6. Activities in Analyze competence:

Resource Materials: graphs, surveys, diagrams, charts, feedback systems, questionnaires, reports, scientific experiments

· Design a questionnaire to gather information.

· Conduct an investigation to produce information to support a view.

· Make a jigsaw puzzle and label all the parts.

· Make a family tree showing relationships.

· Make a flow chart to show the critical stages.

· Arrange a party, make all the arrangements and record all the steps needed.

· Put on a play about the study area.

· Construct a graph to illustrate selected information.

· Write a biography of a person in world history.

· Review a work of art in terms of form, color, and texture.

· Analyze point of view in a primary source document.

· Deconstruct a book or article for bias.

· Critique a secondary source for point of view.

· Classify commonalities in a culture.

7. Assessment of the Analyze competence: Along with assessment suggestions in the remember competence, the activities listed above can be projects that are assessed. Please see the rubric for ideas on how the activities can be assessed.

V. Competence: Evaluate

1. Definition of the Evaluate competence: Make judgments based on criteria and standards; judge the value of material based on personal values/opinions, without real right or wrong answers. Judging outcomes; make recommendations; assess value and make choices; critique ideas.

2. Key verbs (for writing objectives) in the Evaluate competence: appraise, argue, assess, attach, check, choose, compare and contrast, conclude, convince, criticize, critique, decide, deduce, defend, discriminate, estimate, evaluate, explain, grade, interpret, judge, justify, measure, predict, rank, rate, recommend, reframe, relative, select, summarize, support, test, validate, value, verify.

3. Skills demonstrated in the Evaluate competence: Compare and discriminate between ideas; assess value of theories; make choices and recommendations based on reasoned argument; verify value of evidence; recognize subjectivity; assess arguments and evidence; critique ideas and theories.

4. Question stems for the Evaluate competence:

· Is there a better solution to …

· How effective are …?

· Judge the value of …?

· How would you feel if …?

· Can you defend your position about …?

· Are you a …. person?

· Do you believe in …?

· Do you think … is a good or a bad thing?

· How would you have handled …?

· What changes to … would you recommend?

· What do you think about …?

5. Attitudes in the Evaluate competence: Develops an internalized value system that guides one’s

behavior; adopts a belief system and philosophy that is pervasive, consistent, predictable, and

characteristic of the learner. Instructional objectives are mostly concerned with the student’s general

pattern of personal, social, and emotional adjustment.

Key words: act, display, influence, practice, solve

6. Activities for the Evaluate competence:

Resource Materials: letters, group with discussion panel, dialogue circle, court trial, survey, self-evaluation

· Write a letter to … advising on changes needed at …

· Prepare a list of criteria to judge a … show. Indicate priority and ratings.

· Form a panel to discuss views on a controversial topic.

· Make a booklet about five rules you see as important. Convince others.

· Create a dialogue in a circle about an issue of special interest to classmates.

· Write an editorial to your school or community newspaper about an issue you feel strongly about.

· Recommend five rules for the classroom.

· Debate a controversial topic.

· Organize a mock United Nations debate.

7. Assessment for the Evaluate competence: Along with assessment suggestions in the Remember competence, the activities listed above can be projects that are assessed. Please see the rubric for ideas on how the activities can be assessed.

VI. Competence: Create

1. Definition of the Create competence: Creatively applies prior knowledge and skills to produce a new or original whole; builds a structure or pattern from diverse elements; puts parts together to form a whole, with an emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure.

2. Key verbs (for writing objectives) in the Create competence: adapt, alter, anticipate, arrange, assemble, categorize, collaborate, collect, combine, communicate, compare, compile, compose, contrast, construct, create, dialogue, design, develop, devise, discover, explore, express, facilitate, formulate, generate, generalize, hypothesize, incorporate, individualize, initiate, integrate, intervene, invent, manage, model, modify, negotiate, organize, plan, prepare, progress, produce, propose, rearrange, reconstruct, reinforce, reorganize, request, revise, rewrite, search, seek, set up, structure, substitute, validate, write.

3. Skills Demonstrated in the Create competence: Use old ideas to create new ones; generalize from given facts; relate knowledge from several areas; predict and draw conclusions; discuss “what if” situations; devise a procedure for accomplishing a task; invent a product

4. Questions stems for the Create competence:

· Can you write a recipe for a tasty dish?

· Can you design a … to …?

· Can you create new and unusual uses for …?

· Why not compose a song about …?

· Can you see possible solutions to …?

· How many ways can you …?

· If you had access to all resources how would you deal with …?

· Why don’t you devise your own way to deal with …?

· What would happen if …?

· Can you develop a proposal which would …?

· Write a letter to … advising on changes needed.

· Form a panel to dialogue about interesting topics.

· Convince others.

· Can you create new and unusual uses for …?

· Why don’t you devise your own way to …?

· Can you find the cycles or repeating patterns in ... event?

5. Attitude in the Create competence: Organize values into priorities by contrasting different values; resolving conflicts between disparities; creating a unique value system.

Key words: comparing, reconciling, relating, synthesizing.

6. Activities in the Create competence.
Resource Materials: articles, radio show, video/DVD, puppet show, inventions, poetry, short story,

· Invent a machine to do a specific task.

· Design a building that represents ...

· Create a new product that would be useful in ...

· Compose a rhythm or put new words to a known melody

· Plan a marketing campaign to explain ..

· Devise a way to …

· Formulate a new idea and then sell it.

· Write about your feelings in relation to …

· Make up a new language code.

· Design a record/DVD, book, or magazine cover for …

· Produce a TV or radio show that …

· Write a play that …

· Perform a puppet show that …

· Perform role playing exercises that …

· Write an advertising spot to highlight an issue of concern.

· Compose a song about … then pantomime.

· Write about your feelings in relation to …

· Dialogue with others about ….

7. Assessment for the Create competence. Along with assessment suggestions in the Remember competence, the activities listed above can be projects that are assessed. Please see the rubric for ideas on how the activities can be assessed.

B. Collaboration Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is about learning with a different group of people who share common passions and interests. It's about being able to form safe, effective networks and communities that work together to create a project built around deep inquiry into the group’s essential questions. It's about solving problems together and sharing the knowledge gained with wide audiences such as fellow classmates, the school, or larger community.

C. Technology as a Tool

Our countless number of technological applications that are available to some of us today are a handy tool for researching, connecting with others, and problem solving. However, it is important to remember that technology should not be the focus of a project, but rather the tool by which a targeted goal is reached. Don't get so caught up in the flash of these tools that you stray from your goal. Throughout the project, keep a keen eye on the learning you want to achieve. For example, establishing communications with a group of fellow students in Pakistan is to learn more about their culture, not necessarily to show off your newest communication technologies.

D. Project Based Learning (PBL)

PBL is a strategy for classroom activity that shifts away from isolated, teacher-centered, textbook-directed lessons and instead highlights activities that are student-centered, relevant, and that investigate real-world problems and issues. Ideally, students direct their own learning and research design. They may work in collaborative teams to create presentations to share what they have learned with others in their school or community. Compared with textbook-based learning, this approach has many benefits: provides deeper knowledge of subject matter, stimulates motivation and self-direction, establishes connection to life outside the classroom, provides opportunities to work with others, and improves research and problem-solving skills.

Additional Resources: see website: www.global-awareness.net/resources.htm

Endnotes