Activities and insights to support student learning about globalization. The driving question of our globalization unit asks students, “is the world shrinking or expanding?”

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Students articulate their thoughts about the ethical issues related to population reaching seven billion and consider the opinions of their classmates.

Indigenous communities in coastal Alaska are facing the impacts of climate change as rising sea levels and changing weather patterns threaten to disrupt and destroy entire villages. If coordinated relocation efforts are not successful, residents risk losing their community and their traditional lifestyle. Lesson plan with photo essay.

This civics resource was developed by US and Japanese teachers to support student problem solving. The focus is solving global issues in their local communities by creating classroom and community connections. (English/Japanese)

This unit was created by Dr. Matthew Wynne, a 7th grade Social Studies teacher in Fayetteville, NC, as part of the spring 2021 Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellowship program on Stories of Migration. It is designed for facilitation across approximately three or four 60-minute in-person or virtual class periods.
The purpose of this unit is for students to investigate migration and immigration policies across the globe using current events articles from the Pulitzer Center. Students in this unit will read, comprehend, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate these articles. From these articles students will discover issues and trends of migration and immigration from an international perspective, and will compare and contrast the policies they learn about. It is important for students in the 21st century to view reality from outside of their individual context.

Cultural or spatial diffusion is the process of the spread of an idea or innovation from one culture to another. This process is more likely to occur from cultural hearths, or centers of culture that are closer in proximity to each other. With the rise of globalization and technology the spread of culture is more prevalent than ever before. Barriers to cultural diffusion include time and distance it takes for the ideas to travel, known as time distance decay, as well as the prevailing attitudes and taboos which might hinder the adoption of new culture. South Korea is an ideal case study to examine both elements of unique culture and cultural diffusion. Sometimes described as the “shrimp between two whales,” and a dominant economic power in Asia, South Korea is no stranger to the forces of foreign influence and cultural diffusion. Yet as a modern industrialized country who has embraced globalization, they have also maintained many elements of vibrant and unique culture. In examining South Korean culture, both of these trends can be readily observed.

This lesson introduces the idea of culture to middle school ELL students, from the perspective of self and society, and aims to get students to consider how culture shapes their ideas, beliefs and identity.

This ESRI StoryMap examines 2020 Census data using a variety of scales, examples, maps, and data

Civil war in Syria has contributed to an unprecedented global refugee crisis. The response from varying countries has been inconsistent, calling into question how our world community responds to the most basic human needs for safety, shelter, and security. Lesson plan with a short documentary film. (English and Spanish)

Students will distinguish between what constitutes culture and what makes up personal individuality. This activity invites students to identify aspects of culture that influence our own behavior and sometimes make it difficult to understand the behavior of other people. Culture is a complex idea, and teachers should be prepared to offer students many examples of cultural features.

This is an extensive and very detailed chartmaker that allows students to create custom graphs/charts to analyze a variety of data. The default link compares life expectancy with average GDP per capita. There are educator resources with available lessons or use the tool in ways that work for your classroom instruction. This is one of the most detailed and extensive data tools available.

Gapminder Bubble Graph is a website with an interactive spatial and temporal datasets related to development, economics, demographics. These materials can work equally well for teacher-led or student-led activities.

Gapminder Dollar Street is a website with an interactive image set that depicts the reality of different development levels for families around the world. Divided by 4 basic income levels as well as by region. These materials can work equally well for teacher-led or student-led activities.

GeoCivics seeks to engage teachers, students, and citizens in redistricting processes and outcomes. The program ask users to inquire across different places and scales using state-specific case studies and web-based interactives.

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of global citizenship, global cooperation, as well as how local solutions have been used to solve shared global issues. The inquiry is designed to open students’ eyes to their role as global citizens. It is also designed for students to uncover the similarities in issues faced by rural American citizens and citizens of developing countries. Students investigate glocal problems, issues demonstrating global interconnectedness. They examine local solutions that have been applied globally and consider the role of global cooperation in bringing solutions to those problems. Finally, students assess the effectiveness of global cooperation in solving shared issues. These tasks prepare students to write an evidence-based argument that addresses the compelling question: How do local communities solve global problems?

The growing interconnectedness of the world has both benefits and drawbacks. These Lessons and resources provide a variety of ways for students to learn about the impact of globalization.

This Smithsonian Labs student activity focuses on the concepts of globalization and cultural diffusion. Students will look at a variety of artifacts and explain how they illustrate the two concepts and/or help answer the guiding questions: What is globalization and how does it affect people and places? What leads to cultural diffusion?

This lesson from the anti-defamation league explores the definition of different types of governments; Monarchy, Oligarchy, Totalitarianism, Democracy, Dictatorship, Authoritarianism.

A collaborative the shares creates news and analysis about how to solve the issues facing the Great Salt Lake and the populations the live around it. Readings can be used for teacher background knowledge or as assigned readings for student learning.

This ESRI StoryMap showcases large wetland ecosysystems across the globe through maps and satellite imagery. Benefits of the wetland ecosystem are highlighted.