Part I- Global Studies- Making Connections with the World Around Us

Originally appeared as Guest Blogger post on July 7th, 2008 on My Wonderful World Blog National Geographic Education Foundation

I am sure you have heard of the saying: Geography is all around us? When I first arrived in the United States, almost 20 years ago, I learned quickly that for many people that did not seem to be the case. I had the following kind of conversation more than once.

Where are you from? Argentina? Are there a lot kangaroos there? Ohh, that is Australia, Well I got the “A” right and it is down there, isn’t it?

Becoming a teacher later on, I knew it would be important for me to instill in my students a sense of “Where in the World” are we, in relationship to other countries, people, cultures, customs, and traditions.

I was instrumental in establishing a Global Studies program at San José  Episcopal Day School , a private elementary school that serves students from pre-kindergarten through 6th grade. Geography skills play a significant part in forming connections with a greater world: a world that is bigger than our own backyard in Jacksonville, Florida/USA. Our goal is to make geography real and tangible for the students by creating connections for and with them. Being or feeling isolated versus being connected to places around you makes a difference in the interest level of students.

Through a grant from the Jessie Ball duPond Fund, myself and another teacher were able to travel physically to China in 2006 and Egypt in 200.

Through the use of web 2.0 tools, we were able to take our students along virtually. Daily entries to the travel blogs kept the school and the travelers connected, while photos, video clips, audio files and video conferencing brought the experience to life. The school was transforming their traditional classroom, blurring the boundaries of space, time and closed walls. Opening these dimensions created opportunities for students and teachers alike to become engaged co-learners.

We took the school mascot José, the Bear, on the trip and reported the travel adventure back from the bear’s perspective. Each grade level spent a day in school, before the trip, bonding with the stuffed animal and sent him off with a special trinket, accessory or outfit to take on his journey. The desired connection was evident for the children, when they would see José wearing “their” present in a photo or video from the Great Wall of China or in front of the Pyramids in Giza.

Students were eager to follow José and us, the teachers, on our adventure. We mapped our trip on Google Earth and added screenshots to our blog entries.

Since our trip was in the winter holiday month of December, it was especially exciting for our elementary school students when they read on the blog :

The airplane flew an amazing route. Can you tell from the picture where we were flying over?

That is right…. THE NORTH POLE!!! WOW.

No, we could not see anything below, since it was dark. So we cannot claim a Santa Clause sighting. We are sorry…

The captain of the plane informed us that we flew over Newfoundland, Labrador, East of the North Pole, Siberia, Mongolia and then across China South to Hong Kong.”

Once José had returned from his travels, it was not long before students started asking, if they could take the Bear on a family vacation. The school received a donation from Build-a-Bear for 50 additional identical twin brothers, sisters and cousins of our school mascot. Students and their families are checking them out in record numbers and returning them with a souvenir from the country that they have visited, along with pictures of the student with the Bear or blog posts. The father of one of our school’s families has been deployed to Kuwait this past school year. He took a Travel Bear with him and has been communicating through a blog with our students.

Once the Teddy Bears return to Florida, the stuffed animals are placed on a shelf under the name of the country it has visited, the photo is added to a wall collage and a teddy-face sticker is placed on the location of their travels on a giant world map.

Students are mesmerized and linger for a long time in front of these items in our computer lab.This proved to us that personal connections, like a classmate’s picture, a story of a familiar character, or personal object will support sustained interest and enthusiasm in a subject.