Student Blogging Challenge Week 7: Think Globally

Week 7: Thinking globally

Have you heard of Mahika Halepete? Miss W hadn’t until she attended an online Global Education Conference last week. Who is she and why is Miss W mentioning her?

Look at this post about her as a grade 8 student. Her writing and singing skills have taken her a long way in just one year.

She presented a session at the conference about youth empowerment through design thinking. She has created her own Nonprofit organization to empower young people (ages 12 to 25) in developing countries to design and implement projects that solve problems affecting them and their communities.

All this before she turned 16 years old!

Think globally, act locally

Locally

  • Miss W’s recycling bin has more in it every week than my normal rubbish bin.
  • Miss W has a worm farm that chews up any extra fruit and vegetable rubbish she might have left over.
  • Whenever Miss W goes for a walk, she picks up any rubbish especially on the beach nearby.

Globally

  • Miss W sponsors a Panda with World Wildlife Fund
  • Miss W sponsor a child in Sri Lanka to improve the lifestyle of the child, their family, and community. Miss W has sponsored since she received her first paycheck as a teacher back in the 1970s.
  • Miss W donates to Kiva with micro loans of $25. Miss W has made 69 loans so far and 8 friends she has invited have also made loans

What could you do about some of these world problems?

Here is a great website with lots of information about many topics below.

There might be some that are more specific to your area of the world. But this week research one of the following topics:

  • hunger
  • water
  • racism
  • use of resources
  • global warming
  • specific aspects of the environment
  • unemployment
  • war and unrest
  • use of land
  • terrorism
  • child labour
  • women’s rights
  • education and literacy
  • another global issue of your choice

Activity 1: For this challenge, we are looking at research skills, attribution, links, and creativity in how you have presented the work.

For the topic you have chosen, write at least three paragraphs about what you found and any big-picture questions or interesting facts you discovered.  Break up your writing into easy-to-read paragraphs (are there any other ways of formatting your work?).  Whether paraphrasing or using direct quotes, be sure to cite properly.

Include at least two links to where you researched and at least one images with attribution. You should also include a poll or survey, a collage of images, or a slideshow you have created. You may have found a great video you should also include.

 

Still more time to spare?

Visit students and classes from the other countries involved in the challenge. Leave a comment or question relating to a global issue that might be affecting them.

Leave a comment on Miss W’s blog telling her the global issue you think is most important to be solved. It might not be one of those mentioned in the post. Give reasons why it should be the first issue solved and leave a link to one of your posts.

Visit at least ten other blogs not from your country. Ask questions about some of the issues they might have in their country. Make some comparisons between the countries taking part in the challenge. Write a post about your findings.

Be creative. Use a web 2.0 tool to be creative about global issues. This might be a poll or survey, a quiz, write a poem, create a poster, draw a picture, write a story or cartoon about a superhero saving the world – just be creative.

Do something about a global issue. Here are links to games and activities for kids about global issues. What did you choose to look at? Write a review of the websites you visited in your post. Be sure to include links to the websites!

 

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