Global PBL (Project-Based Learning)

1. Fortuna High School's Change the World Project has succeeded in bringing global ideas home by engaging students in local service-learning projects.  High school seniors spend the entire year researching, planning, problem-solving, and executing projects of their own design, many of which address global issues on the local level.  Check out the following videos to get inspired by global-local PBL!

2. iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) is a "non-profit organization made up of over 30,000 schools and youth organizations in more than 140 countries. iEARN empowers teachers and young people to work together online using the Internet and other new communications technologies. Over 2,000,000 students each day are engaged in collaborative project work worldwide." There are countless ways teachers can engage their students in project-based, global collaboration, and iEarn works hard to make it easy! Check out this video to catch a glimpse of what they do.

3. Cross-Cultural Blogs
My students blog regularly with a class in Morocco using Blogger. My partner teacher in Tangier and I built the program from the bottom up. We design the writing prompts to which our classes respond, and then students comment on each others' ideas and writing. Connecting my students in rural America with mostly Muslim kids in Morocco is one of the most important things that I do as a teacher to promote tolerance and respect. When they talk to each other, animosities melt away and trust develops. See an extended discussion of this project here on my Teaching Globally in the Boondocks Blog. Even though we built our blog project from the bottom up on our own, there are myriad organizations out there who could help you on your journey of connecting your classroom with another in the world.  Check out iEarn.org, epals.com, connectallschools.org, and Face to Faith.

 

4. Global PBL 101

Buck Institute for Education National Faculty member, Tim Kubik, Ph.D., uses a project based learning approach to designing global education projects that explore the disruptive effects of globalization and how they create new opportunities for learning in a classroom. He focuses on elements of PBL that are essential to successful global learning experiences for your students, including In-Depth Inquiry and the 21st Century Skills of Communication.

5.  International Project-Based Learning Opportunities

This is a comprehensive list of online resources for global education curriculum and for connecting classrooms around the world through projects.