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GlobalEd 2 - National Social Studies Standards
National Standards by Content Area
Although not all teachers will participate in the GlobalEd 2 simulation during the coming academic year, they will nonetheless receive professional development in content and methods in line with all of the thematic goals set forth by the National Council for the Social Studies. For those that do participate in GlobalEd 2, all of these thematic goals will be met as seen below:
- Culture – students learn about other cultures in two ways through GlobalEd 2. First, they must research the foreign policy and cultural perspectives of a country other than their own and represent that country’s views as its policy-makers during the simulation. They learn that every culture perceives phenomena in different ways and that productive policy initiatives must account for such divergent perceptual lenses. Second, many are, for the first time, able to experience and evaluate American foreign policy from a “non-American” perspective, as they must respond to statements and actions made by a United States team in the simulation.
- Time, Continuity and Change - students must understand the historical background of the country they represent to operate effectively as decision-makers for that country in the simulation setting.
- People, Places and the Environment – students learn about world geography and its impact on global politics, and through the Internet-based negotiations, they also learn how technology is changing the way we view space, time, distance and access to information.
- Individual Development and Identity – related to the discussion of culture above, GlobalEd 2 provides a constructivist learning environment that allows students to develop and express their own conceptual frameworks and solutions to global problems.
- Individuals, Groups and Institutions – students learn about how bureaucracies, governments and international organizations function and make decisions, interfacing with each another in the contemporary world system.
- Power, Authority, and Governance – students learn about the decision-making process and develop methods for conflict resolution within their own teams. They also learn how to create solutions and structures for the international system by interacting with the other simulation teams in their efforts to resolve the situations developed in the simulation scenario.
- Production, Distribution, and Consumption – students experience the complexity of international political-economic relationships as they attempt to resolve conflicts across the simulation nations and derive opportunities for mutual gain. They encounter directly the mix of motives that exist in international interactions in the contemporary economy.
- Science, Technology and Society – the development of higher levels of technological self-efficacy among students and teachers is a central finding from previous GlobalEd program evaluations. In addition, at a substantive level, students learn the interplay of science and technology with politics in issue area negotiations over global warming and world health concerns. Students learn to interpret and present scientific information in their attempts to influence the decisions making of the other countries.
- Global Connections – students are linked to other students and a wealth of research resources through this simulated world. They become enmeshed in a world where both countries and issues are interdependent and their problems often defy simple solutions.
- Civic Ideals and Practices – the development of a sense of “global citizenship” is a core learning concept in GlobalEd. For the first time, most students are forced to consider not only the “rights” of citizenship and political involvement, but also what “responsibilities” must be borne at home and abroad if they are to remain secure and prosperous.
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University of Connecticut |