This presentation will highlight the use of digital learning circles and global collaboration on major world issues. Using a Wiki as a space to collaborate, students from around the world work in learning circles to, pose questions, investigate and publish answers at a global scale. The Global Teenager Project allows for highly engaging lessons that will link to the curriculum as well as the students own community. This session will provide examples of thematic learning circles grade 6- 12 and particularly highlight the journey a class of Senior students have taken. Participants will learn how to connect and start the program in their own class or school. The wiki will be shared, the research process and clips from web conferences made between a Toronto based school and a global partner from Kenya.

1. Global Teenager
Project
"Today's learners are Tomorrow's leaders"
ECOO 2012
Anita Townsend
Coordinator GTP
Brandon Zoras
Teacher TDSB
www.globalteenager.org

2. VISION OF THE 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM
Connected, collaborative, contribution, cooperative,
creative, communication ……………… CHANGE
Integrated and interdisciplinary
Project-based & research driven
Relevant, rigorous and real-world curriculum
Student-centred
Technologies & multimedia
21st Century skills

3. Global Thinking
 What does a Global thinker do?
 What are your challenges to developing
Global Thinkers?

4. Structure of GTP
 The Round Table Foundation in the Netherlands
owns and coordinates the project globally
 GTP Country Coordinators, support GTP schools
and teachers in each country with organizational
support
 GTP is a partner with iEARN, the International
Education and Resource Network

5. Goals of GTP
 To support the transformation of education to
an environment which supports 21 Century
competencies; and
 To promote intercultural awareness and
sensitivity by opening up regular, lively
classroom debates in a safe and structured
environment

6. How does GTP
achieve its goals?
 Through the well-known and proven concept
of Learning Circles.
 A Learning Circle is a teaching methodology
that supports inquiry based learning and
collaborative process that groups an average
of 12 classes in thematic learning.
 Classes involved in Learning Circles sponsor
a question and contribute to the project by
doing research and answering questions of
others

7. Partners
 TC2 – Thinking Skills Consortium
 OISE / University of Toronto
 Garfield Gini-Newman
 40+ Countries
 Toronto, York, Ottawa, Halton, Simcoe
County, Grand Erie School Boards

8. Examples of Learning Circles
English Themes
Age level: 9-12 Age level 15-18 Communication based
Communication based  Education in our country
 Family Stories
 Our Health
 Games and Sports
 Nature and World around us  Our Community
 History through Folklore and Myths  Teen life
 Cultures of the World (*)  Travelling
 Our Environment  Research-based
 Adventures  HIV/AIDS
Age level 12-15
 Gender Equality
Communication based  Cultures of the World
 Education in our country  Environmental Sustainability
 Games and Sports  Migration
 History through Folklore& Myths  Poverty and Hunger
 Our Health
 Politics in my Country
 Teenlife (*)
 Traveling  Cultures of the World > Wiki Learning Circle
 Life values
Research-based The themes marked with a “*” are conducted on a
 Environmental issues wiki
 Children Rights and Responsibilities CC should have those printed on paper or point at
 Life values them on the screen

9. Specific Objectives
of Learning Circles
The objectives of the Learning Circles are for students to:
• Search, analyze and evaluate information
• Organize the information
• Find collaborative solutions
• Enhance their collaborative skills
• Acquire self-confidence
• Develop individual and collaborative responsibility skills
• Effectively use of ICT in collaborative projects

10. Learning Circle Overview
After an introduction and
preparation phase, every
participating class:
 Sponsors a project idea and
presents it to the other members of
the circle.
 The learning circle participants
research and answer every project
proposed in the circle. This is
followed by discussions amongst
participants
 Participants compile and analyze
responses received and produce a
final online summary.
 The circle comes to an end and
closes

11. Cedarbrae C.I. TDSB
 Urban Diversity School
 Population ~ 1400
 Diverse school 54% primary language other
than English

12. Benefits
 Engaging
 Fulfills the STSE (Science, Technology,
Society and Environment) Component
 Nature of Science
 Inquiry
 ICT Standards
 Teachers Guide
 Support from GTP Coordinators

13. Ontario Curriculum
 Relating Science to Technology,
Society, and the Environment
 Cover multiple units over the 11 week
Global Teenager Session

14. Gr 11 Chemistry
 B1.1 analyse, on the basis of research, the properties of
a commonly used but potentially harmful chemical
substance
 (e.g., fertilizer, pesticide, a household cleaning product,
materials used in electronics and batteries)
 and how that substance affects the environment, and
propose ways to lessen the harmfulness of the
substance
 (e.g., by reducing the amount used, by modifying one of
its chemical components)
 or identify alternative substances

15. Gr 11 Chemistry
 B1.2 evaluate the risks and benefits to
human health of some commonly used
chemical substances (e.g., chemical
additives in foods; pharmaceuticals;
cosmetics and perfumes; household cleaning
products)

16. Gr 11 Chemistry
 C1.1 analyse, on the basis of research,
chemical reactions used in various industrial
processes (e.g., pulp and paper production,
mining, chemical manufacturing) that can
have an impact on the health and safety of
local populations [IP, PR, AI, C]

17. Gr 11 Chemistry
 D1.2 assess, on the basis of research, the
importance of quantitative accuracy in
industrial chemical processes and the
potential impact on the environment if
quantitative accuracy is not observed

18. Gr 11 Chemistry
 E1.1 analyse the origins and cumulative
effects of pollutants that enter our water
systems (e.g.,landfill leachates, agricultural
run-off, industrial effluents, chemical spills),
and explain how these pollutants affect water
quality [AI, C]

19. Gr 11 Chemistry
 E1.2 analyse economic, social, and
environmental issues related to the
distribution, purification, or use of drinking
water (e.g., the impact on the environment of
the use of bottled water)

20. Gr 11 Chemistry
 F1.1 analyse the effects on air quality of
some technologies and human activities
(e.g., smelting; driving gas-powered
vehicles), including their own activities, and
propose actions to reduce their personal
carbon footprint

21. Gr 11 Biology
 B1.1 analyse some of the risks and benefits
of human intervention (e.g., tree plantations;
monoculture of livestock or agricultural crops;
overharvesting of wild plants for medicinal
purposes; using pesticides to control pests;
suppression of wild fires) to the biodiversity of
aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems

22. Gr 11 Biology
 B1.2 analyse the impact that climate change
might have on the diversity of living things
(e.g., rising temperatures can result in habitat
loss or expansion; changing rainfall levels
can cause drought or flooding of habitats) [AI,
C]

23. Gr 9 Science
 B1.1 assess, on the basis of research, the
impact of a factor related to human activity
(e.g., urban sprawl, introduction of invasive
species, overhunting/overfishing) that
threatens the sustainability of a terrestrial or
aquatic ecosystem
 C1.2 assess social, environmental, and
economic impacts of the use of common
elements or compounds

24. Gr 9 Science
 E1.3 produce a plan of action to reduce
electrical energy consumption at home (e.g.,
using EnerGuide information when
purchasing appliances), and outline the roles
and responsibilities of various groups (e.g.,
government, business, family members) in
this endeavour

25. Gr 10 Science
 B1.3 describe public health strategies related
to systems biology (e.g., cancer screening
and prevention programs; AIDS education),
and assess their impact on society
 C1.2 analyse how an understanding of the
properties of chemical substances and their
reactions can be applied to solve
environmental challenges (e.g., renewing the
Great Lakes, neutralizing acid spills,
scrubbing smokestack emissions)

26. Gr 10 Science
 D1.2 assess, on the basis of research, the
effectiveness of some current individual,
regional, national, or international initiatives
that address the issue of climate change (e.g.
…carbon offset programs, community tree-
planting programs, municipal recycling
programs, Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change [IPCC]), and propose a
further course of action related to one of
these initiatives

27. Africentric Program
 Leonard Braithwaite Program
 Global Teenager Program written into the
science curriculum
 Connections to the world
 Collaboration with Kenya
and Ghana

28. Social Justice
 TDSB Social Justice Action Plan
 “Social justice is a specific habit of justice that
is based on concepts of human rights, equity,
fairness, and economic egalitarianism …the
movement towards a more socially just world
through the actions of a group of individuals
working together to achieve its goals.”

29. Process
 Introductions
 Questioning
 Research
 Answering
 Summary
 Closing

30. PB Works
 Collaboration
 https://gtpenvironmentalsustainabilityfeb2012
.pbworks.com/w/page/50830328/FrontPage

31. Social Media Integration

32. Skype Session Example

33. Connect
Anita Townsend
@at1411
anita@globalteenager.org
Brandon Zoras
@brandonzoras
MrZoras.wordpress.com