Posts In:
Educators and parents often tout the importance of global citizenship. And today’s technology makes it easier than ever before to connect students from around the world. But why is so important to give students these opportunities? Here are three benefits to facilitating global conversations between students:
Guest post by Margaret Ann Minihan at Louise S. McGehee School
At Louise S. McGehee School, an all-girls school in New Orleans, Louisiana, we know about teaching girls. Research tells us that girls learn differently and are motivated differently than male students. Girls learn best through hands-on activities that give them the opportunity to help others and make a difference in the world. In light of this research, McGehee offers its students several service learning opportunities in the regular curriculum.
This year, we’re trying a new program that is further inspiring our girls’ passion for STEAM (STEM + arts). Our students are learning hands-on Science and Engineering skills, while collaborating one-on-one with partners in developing countries. This innovative program, provided by Level Up Village (LUV), is a welcome addition to our afterschool enrichment program.
Level Up Village (LUV) is growing rapidly in New Jersey, where it is running courses at eight schools across the state this fall, including Rutgers Preparatory School, Kent Place School and Delbarton School. A pioneer in Global STEAM (STEM + arts) enrichment, Level Up Village promotes design thinking and one-to-one collaboration on real-world problems between K-9 students in the U.S. and partner students in the developing world.
Guest post by Caroline Chamberlain at Delbarton School
Today’s classes were very excited to see they had videos from their global partners waiting for them. One young man announced, “I am so cool!” The classes are starting to get the hang of using SketchUp to create items in 3D. But as amazing as that is, they are all much more interested in their video mail!
