2019 Global Classrooms

• 10:10 am – 11:00 am – Global Collaboration in the K-12 Classroom: How Virtual Exchange Can Mobilize Educators and Youth to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals – Rachel Manley, iEARN-USA

What if every student – regardless of age, geography, and socio-economic status – had a meaningful cross-cultural experience as a part of their education? What if every student had the opportunity to take action on our world’s most pressing issues? This interactive presentation will explore the opportunities, classroom practices and resources for virtual exchange and global collaborative projects that foster cross-cultural understanding and mobilize youth to take action on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

• 11:10 am – 12:00 pm – Building Robots, Building Success – Nancy McIntyre, Robotics Education & Competition Foundation

The session will open with an introduction to competitive robotics. The participants will then have an opportunity to construct a quick build robot and operate the robot using the remote control until through a maze type course in a competitive format. We will then work in small groups to learn about the design process in relations to a competitive game. The session will include a presentation on the use of this type of program in a classroom setting, or in an out of school setting. We will look at ways to involve girls, underserved students and even look at ways of including students who have not demonstrated an interest in the mechanics and programming used in robotics.

• 1:10 pm – 2:00 pm Building Global Competence Through Case Study – Dr. Erica Ahlgren, World Savvy

In this interactive session, participants will explore global competence and how to create meaningful, student driven learning experiences using World Savvy’s Case Study approach. World Savvy’s Case Studies highlight global issues with local significance and include a variety of curated resources to ensure access points for all learners. Participants will actively engage in the World Savvy Case Study approach as learners, acquiring background knowledge while building empathy, investigating multiple perspectives and deepening their understanding through inquiry. The session will also include discussion about how students have engaged in this approach in middle and high schools in Oakland, CA and Minneapolis, MN.

• 2:10 pm – 3:00 pm -Genesis of a New Education System – Mike Miles, Third Future Schools

Piecemeal, incremental reforms are unlikely to transform public education enough to prepare students for a Year 2030 world and workplace. Instead, we need to transform the system and the underlying principles upon which education is founded. In this thought-provoking session, the presenter will identify eight principles of a new education system and specific innovations related to differentiated compensation, modified personalized learning, a Year 2030 curriculum, checks-and-balances governance model, and staffing redesign. He will also describe a successful network of schools that is using the principles of this new system to narrow achievement gaps and prepare students for the future.