The Only Hope for Our Future

In the wake of yesterday's terroristic attack in Paris, I've been thinking a lot about our future as a global society.  There's a whole lot of hate in the world. People seem to be more and more polarized in their political, religious, and philosophical points of view. Compromise, open-mindedness, and empathy seem to be hard to find. Ignorance and bias has too often replaced enlightenment and truth.

Image Credit - Wikipedia

Yet, there is much hope.  And, it lies in education. After all, isn't education always the answer to ignorance?

But, our focus in education must change with the time in which we live.  Much of the polarization and ignorance we face is the result of a society living hyper-connected lives in a time of information overload without having prepared for it. We surround ourselves with others who agree with us and points of view that match our own. So rare is the intellectual, unemotional exchange of differing ideas. Having instant access to all the knowledge of the human race in one's pocket makes it easy to find justification for whatever makes us feel better - truth be damned.

The internet and all its positive and negative aspects came upon us suddenly. We were unprepared. We are still unprepared a generation later. I could write another dozen posts on the way fear keeps us from teaching students to navigate the bias that is so heavily embedded in the information that bombards them. Instead of preparing students for the world they will inherit, we have made schools into institutions of content delivery.

We strive to teach mathematics in school.  Yet, mathematics can be used to help engineer a manned mission to Mars, or mathematics can be used to engineer a more effective bomb.

We strive to teach writing in school.  Yet, writing can be used to persuade others to help their fellow man, or writing can be used to create propaganda designed to recruit more to a campaign of hate.

We strive to teach science.  Yet, science can be used to find a cure for the world's diseases or science can be used to turn those diseases into the next biological weapon.

It's time, in this time of information abundance, to switch our focus in education from learning content to using content to make the world a better place. Empathy, not the 3 Rs, needs to be the focus of education.  Content needs to become the means to the end, not the end itself.

Because children who learn the joy of doing good for others at a young age and are given opportunities to make a real difference in the world grow to be the positive change makers of tomorrow.  The only way to extinguish darkness is to spread light.

This is not idealogical wishful thinking.  It is because I see so many examples of cultural understanding through global collaboration and student service learning that I remain optimistic for the future. Being hyper-connected doesn't have to be negative. It is through my global network of inspiring educators that I see the amazing stories of what is possible.  We need to teach our students the power of using ubiquitous, instant information for good instead of evil. Whether we like it or not, a hyper-connected world is the one we are sending them into.

Our only hope for our future is education being used to teach understanding, appreciation of differences, and empathy.  I've always loved to travel because it has made me a better person.  Each new culture I have encountered has allowed me the opportunity to look inward and assimilate the best parts of that culture into myself.  This has made me more well rounded.  At a time when virtual travel is free and easy to do in our classrooms, we owe our students that same opportunity.

I am thankful to those who inspire me with the work they are doing to make these positive changes in our education system.  This morning in our Skype Master Teacher group I posted the following:

I appreciate being a part of a group that is working toward the only viable solution to the hatred we see in this world. I am thankful to be surrounded (virtually, and on a few spectacular occasions physically) by the two dozen or so of you who are making it your life's work to spread understanding of others and appreciation of differences to the students of the world. The only way to combat hate is love, and the work you all do to expose students to the power of global collaboration over individual competition, the power of celebrating cultural diversity instead of mistrusting those different from ourselves, the power of seeing a global society instead of maps with human created arbitrary lines is modeling the greatest hope we have as a planet.

To all of the educators that I know, and to those I haven't met yet, who are doing this important work, you have my admiration and thanks.  To those who haven't started yet, we await you with open arms.

Skype in the Classroom Lessons Inspire Global Citizens

After two years of working as a curriculum coach, helping teachers and students find really incredible learning experiences, I have switched roles this year.  For the first time in my 19 year career I am teaching 3rd-5th grade science.  In many ways this is a dream job for me. My philosophy that learners should be encouraged to wonder, experiment, learn from failure, and connect with others around the world fit perfectly in an elementary science lab.  Since I am in the same school, I have the added benefit of working with students who have learned with me for the past two years.  They know the power of using their learning to do good for others, and they feel empowered that they can make a positive change in this world through their actions.  They know they don't have to wait until they are adults to make a difference.

It is this culture of service and student empowerment that led to the post I am writing today. Two recent Skype in the Classroom lessons were such powerful learning experiences that they inspired my students to take action to make the world better. I am so proud of my students, and so convinced that these type of global videoconferences with passionate experts are vital to 21st Century learning environments that I had to share. 

Earlier this year I was searching on Skype in the Classroom for lessons that fit our state science standards.  I saw that SANCCOB, a sea bird rehabilitation facility in South Africa, offered a lesson that showed students the effects of plastic pollution on penguins with a live penguin on the Skype call. I booked this virtual field trip to help my 4th graders learn about the way animals interact with their environment. I also came across a lesson from the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher that showed students the effects of ocean acidification on sea creatures.  This fit right along with our 5th grade studies of human impact on the environment and wildlife.

Both calls were amazing experiences for my students. Student engagement was off the charts, and the kids learned the exact concepts that I was hoping they'd learn. The aquarium actually did demonstrations with sea shells and vinegar to show how acid affects ocean animals, and showed live echinoderms and shelled mollusks on a document camera so kids could learn about them.

 Tamyln from SANCCOB was equally amazing and along with Princess, a live penguin who helped out, she shared pictures and examples of sea birds who have been harmed by plastics in the ocean.

As incredible as those calls were, it was my students' reaction to the learning that made me happiest. After students have a Skype experience, I always ask them to share their learning in some way with other classes who didn't get the same opportunity. My 5th grade students decided to create posters for my science classroom sharing ways to reduce factory production of carbon dioxide, which leads to ocean acidification. As they were making their posters, they started talking about ways to reuse materials in school. 

At the same time, my 4th graders were so inspired by their call with SANCCOB that they were seeking ways to solve the plastic pollution problem outside of science class. In between our Skype call and their next science class, several of the students got together and requested a meeting with my principal to demand we start a school recycling program. He told them that we would start a program if they planned it and agreed to run it.

When those 4th grade students came to their next class, they saw the posters from our 5th graders and saw that a "reusing" program would do even more good than a "recycling" program.  Together, the two classes began collecting water bottles at home and at school, and they began to look at ways that the bottles could be reused instead of discarded or recycled. 

The 5th graders are in the process of using many of those bottles to build a walk-in cell museum for their parents during parent-teacher conferences in an empty classroom.  Most of the organelles are being built by students out of materials that otherwise would have been thrown away. The 4th graders have begun planning ways to use bottles as planters and to build a drip irrigation system for the vegetable plants that will be planted in our school gardens in the spring as part of the Global Garden Project. 

One of the concerns I had when I switched roles this year was that the culture of student empowerment and service that I had helped develop in our school during my time as a curriculum coach would start to fade. I'm so proud of my students for showing me that my fears were baseless, and that they are continuing to look for ways to take action to make the world a better place.