Education as a Vital Global Marketplace Represents the Future
Explore the many ways students are taught around the world.
by Owen Edwards
Austria | Bulgaria | Canada | Chile | India | Japan | New Zealand | Pakistan | Room to Read | Russia | Sweden | Uganda | More Edutopia Resources
Much is made of the idea of the global marketplace, and few of us are unaffected by it. But the expansion of trade between the world's nations, for all its far-reaching effects, is a phenomenon involving commodities, products, and money. In other words, stuff, and the prices paid for it.
Another vitally important global marketplace exists, however, in which ideas rather than things are what count: the great international bazaar of education, a flourishing and bustling agora occupied by thousands of notions, traditions, theories, and practices devoted to the universal need to teach successive generations of the human race. Education is not oil, or electricity, or soy beans, or gold, but it represents something more important than any of those: the future.
For our second annual window on the world of education, we have gone looking for examples of how students are taught in places as different as Austria and Uganda, Chile and Pakistan. In some cases, our writers have found ideas that offer innovations to American educators; in other stories, they show us unique situations that may not hold out practical solutions to teachers in Cheyenne or Chicago, but still serve to broaden and deepen our knowledge of what works best a world away from our schools. Always, we are reminded that in the end all humans are connected through the global, and noble, act of passing along knowledge.
Join us on a world tour:
- Higher Education: Intimate Learning in a Remote Austrian Village: A mile high in the Tyrolean Alps, a tiny school uses technology to reach out to the wider world -- and sheer pluck to keep teaching alive.
- Bloc Busters: Teaching Active Learning and Critical Thinking in Bulgaria's Public Schools: A university in this formerly Communist nation endeavors to update the educational system's Soviet-era pedagogy.
- The Media and the Message: Media Literacy as Life Skill in Canada: Canadian students are taught to look for the real meanings in the daily barrage of information.
- A Chilean Challenge: Focusing on the Individual to Confront Educational Inequality: In Chile, where education resists innovation, a small, determined charter school is going mano a mano with the status quo.
- Digital Equality: Empowering Underprivileged Youth in India with Information and Technology: A nonprofit organization helps children in the Mumbai slums and other impoverished areas improve their futures by training them to use computers.
- Child's Play: Japan's Groundbreaking Child-Development Web Site: When the conformist Land of the Rising Sun forges ahead in education innovation, we'd better pay attention.
- Reading, Writing, and Family: Generations Learn Together: New Zealand's Manukau Family Literacy Program shows that parents and children can help educate each other.
- Telling Tales: Pakistani Students Share Their Culture's Lore Online: Students create a collaborative, international network of fables and folktales that celebrates and shares cultural heritage.
- Room to Read: Building Libraries, Schools, and Computer Labs in Developing Countries: One man's simple plan to expand worldwide literacy, thousands of libraries at a time.
- From Russia, with Learning: Redefining Education in the Former Soviet Union: Project-based learning has replaced grim Communist Party pronouncements at the core of the Russian schoolroom.
- How Swede It Is: Are Practical (and Affordable) Swedish Preschools Better?: For an American mother living in Stockholm, innovative preschool education makes the long, dark winters tolerable.
- It Takes a Village -- and a Library: Developing a Reading Culture in Uganda: In the Ugandan countryside, dedicated educators bring the printed word to students desperate for access to the wider world.
- Go Global Online 2008: More Resources on Educating the Children of the World: Feature articles and video documentaries on the international-education scene.
Owen Edwards is a contributing editor for Edutopia and Smithsonian magazines.
This article was also published in the February 2008 issue of Edutopia magazine as "As the World Learns".
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The Global Education Collaborative
Wow, this article is a tremendous resource! I am looking forward to exploring all the links offered here.
About a year ago, I started a ning social networking site for educators and students interested in working on global projects. We'd love to expand our network, so I hope others will take a look at the Global Education Collaborative. We're particularly interested in attracting more teachers from Africa and South America.
Some current projects include one on whaling sponsored by a school on Martha's Vineyard, another on food around the world, and another involving language exchange partners. We also have uploaded pictures, videos and links to resources that may be of interest to Edutopia readers.
Thanks again for another great issues of Edutopia!
Where Have I Been?
I've been teaching children for over 34 years... and I just found you. This is my first visit to Edutopia and I am sooo impressed. Thank You. Thank You.
Marianne
What are US students learning about the world?
Thank you for posting these wonderful articles about the educational landscapes in other countries. I work for a non-profit called Primary Source, whose mission is to provide K-12 students with a more global perspective. For 20 years, we have offered professional development courses and resources to K-12 teachers about diverse world histories and cultures. We also conduct international study tours for educators every year. If anyone is looking for global education resources for their classrooms, please visit our website, http://www.primarysource.org
What a great resource for educators!
This information regarding the way students are taught around the world will be a great resource that I plan to share with educators participating in my program.
I am the director of a free classroom pen-pal service, administered by People to People International. Our mission is "peace through understanding" - through education, travel and humanitarian initiatives, we truly believe we can bring peace, one person at a time. Global education in the classroom is the first step!
Hopefully teachers participating in the School & Classroom Program will use this to learn more about the countries they are partnering with.
Thank you,
Paige Leitnaker
classroom@ptpi.org
Great resources for a Global Society
The articles listed are great resources for teachers. Currently in our district we are initiating a program centered around global connections. Our school came up with the concept of "World Day". Each grade level is assigned a country to study and present their findings at the end of the year. You could make your presentation in the areas of food, clothing, music,etc. The children come up with a plan they see fit to present. The grades meet at least once a month to work on their research. When you get closer to the end of the year, meetings could be once a week to finalize the project. The goal is for each student to learn about the different cultures and customs from around the world.
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