Content Area: Social Studies

 

Index: 6.2E Grade 12 CPI 7

 

Standard: 6.2 - Civics

 

Strand: E - International Education: Global Challenges, Cultures, and Connections

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 7 -  The student will participate in events to acquire understanding of complex global problems (e.g., Model United Nations, international simulations, field trips to government sites).

 

Grade: 12

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        Worldwide industrialization and technological progress, increases in world population, and the development of a world economy have resulted in a new focus on global environmental issues. More than any other historical era, the 20th century has had environmental issues extending beyond national boundaries. Acid rain, ozone depletion, global warming, deforestation, desertification, and the decline in biodiversity are global concerns that will face us in the 21st century as well. The 1997 treaty signed by the United States and other nations in Kyoto, Japan, is an example of the global impact of human modification of the environment. Students examine the issues to determine both the science and the politics of the agreement to set standards in the United States for voluntary reduction of greenhouse gases produced by Americans.

 

·        Economic Priorities and the Global Environment. Obtain a copy of Choices for the 21st Century, a unit on Global Environmental Problems developed by the Brown University Center for Foreign Policy Development. Prepare excerpts for study from this publication and empower students to explore the major global environmental problems and evaluate alternatives for U.S. foreign policy through role-play. Students then develop their own options for U.S. policy. In the process, they learn the distinctions between the industrialized, or developed, world and the nonindustrialized, or developing, world. (These comparisons can be obtained through other sources such as the World Bank, computer software, atlases, and the Population Reference Bureau). In the process, students develop an understanding of the effects of competition in the global economy and the relationship between national economic priorities and global environmental problems.

 

·        At any grade level, students can select a local problem that has global implications, such as availability of clean water and air, land availability and use, pesticide use, solid waste disposal, species endangerment/extinction, wetlands issues, flooding, effects of seasonal population changes, or farmland preservation. With the help of the library media specialist, students obtain information and multiple perspectives on the problem by contacting city, county, and state government officials; local business and industry representatives; and local environmental groups. Students should examine the causes of the problem, weigh differing points of view, and propose solutions.