Why are people starting wars and building walls? Why are women not treated the same as men? What can we do to overcome the challenges some differences bring to our lives and our communities? How can we build bridges instead of invisible and literal walls between us?
In order to be better global citizens, students need to tackle big questions. Real world problem-solving and innovation skills are vital for being an active participant in the 21st Century. The goal of this student-centered global project is to provide an opportunity for students from 10+ countries in over six continents to construct their own knowledge about differences between people and to create a growth mindset about overcoming and most of all accepting those differences. Students will be encouraged to use their critical-thinking and reasoning skills to build deep knowledge about why differences exist, what effect they have on our lives and which criteria should be used to determine the value of things that separate us. Students will present their findings each week in the digital format of their choice (Office Mix, Sway, Video, etc.) on the "Human Differences" website so they can both learn from each other and set the stage for actual interaction in the final week.
"What’s better than learning about global issues directly from each other?"
At the end of this project, the hope is that all participating students will take their newly self-constructed knowledge and transfer it to new situations in the future to help build bridges instead of walls and make our world a better place.