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The UN have been publishing the Human Development Report for 20 years on subjects such as the wealth of nations, climate change, aid and security, the Millennium Development Goals, the concept and measurement of human development and human rights. Their website offers a very practical search engine to search the entire HDR database by year, report and theme in order to access background information on certain subjects quite easily. There is also a facility to search for regional and national human development reports using thematic maps. Basic information is all very readily available on the site. It is very easy to access and find and is a great tool, not necessarily to be used in the classroom, but in order to find up to date and correct information on development issues. It also keeps up to date news on related issues on the site also. There is also a UN website designed specifically to be used in schools, which is referenced below.
United Nations Cyber School Bus describes itself as a global teaching and learning project. It covers issues such as peace education, poverty, human rights, cities of the world and ethical and racial discrimination. Each section is divided between materials for teachers to learn and familiarise themselves with the theory of a subject. And then there are also materials to be used in the classroom which are based on the theory section. These sub-sections are then divided again to suit certain age groups (from 8 years old to 14+) focusing on specific issues within the broader subject area.
There are also modules on the website to teach about issues outside of the curriculum, such as the Millennium Development Goals. Quizzes and games are also available which involve role playing, fact finding and identifying flags from all over the world. This website has been selected as one of the best web sites for teachers on the internet by ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) publications.
The aim of Global dimension is to do exactly that, to add a global dimension to teaching in your classroom. It is designed to allow teachers to introduce global issues to their pupils learning and to explore links with their lives and the lives of others around the world. Although the website is made to suit the UK curriculum, the site is designed so teachers can browse and use the documents provided by subject to fit an individual school’s curriculum. It covers everything from geography, politics, global citizenship and science to art, drama and music.
The site offers a variety of options in order to search for materials. You can search by topic, subject, age range, price range (ranging from free to £ST10+) or just by using key words. The Global dimensions blog is very useful in that it covers current affairs/issues in the news such as how to teach about the earthquake in Japan, what new resources have been added to the site (done by age range).
It also offers ideas for fundraising initiatives, if you should choose to involve your class in some fundraising activities that could possibly involve the whole school, while creating awareness on the issue at the same time. There is also a background material section that provides publications that are not necessarily designed to be used by teachers directly in the classroom, but have a wealth of useful information for teaching about global issues. They are categorised by assemblies, audits, awards, background information, management issues, professional development and whole school.
The BBC schools website is designed for easy access to any information you may be looking for. It is divided into different sections such as: school students, teachers, parents, learning. It is also divided into primary and secondary level, by subject (primary: art, citizenship, geography, History, languages, literacy, music, maths, PSHE, Science and others). You can search for content by subject (see previous list), or by site (what’s available in each section on the site, listed by section).
There are more than 7,500 video clips to be used by teachers in the classroom on different subjects to create a more interactive learning environment. The browser for the video can be used to select primary, then by subject, then by topic.
Pl@net.com is an interactive section of the Channel 4 learning website created for teachers. The main issues covered on the site are water, biodiversity, natural resources, energy, food and farming, cars and rich world/poor world using examples and case studies the UK as well as the rest of the world. The website has its own teachers guide on how to begin teaching these issues. There are also videos on the same issues available to purchase through the website. There is also a basic guide in assisting your pupils in campaigning if they wish to become more involved or inform their fellow pupils too.
The schools section of the ‘We Are What We Do’ website is a very useful tool for a teacher or teachers to get their classes and possibly the school involved in making a change in the world using simple every day activities. Schools or teachers can create a profile on the website and update the progress made by the pupils. There is a start up guide available for teachers on the site to get pupils involved and interested with a schools tool-kit supplied also. There is an action tracker, where you can keep note of actions taken by your pupils. The suggested actions are anything from using energy saving light bulbs to shutting down your computer properly, with a range of categories to choose from also and an option to suggest actions for other pupils to try as well. There are also guides to creating posters or videos to promote your school’s campaign.
The ‘Learning Zone’ in the Ask About Ireland website has a section dedicated to primary school students of all ages. The section on the environment covers a wide range of issues such as climate change, bio-diversity, the importance of animals, flowers and insects and is presented in a very accessible manner. There is a huge number of posters, videos and fact sheets that can be downloaded to be used in the classroom, including a facility that allows you to search for information on your local area by using Google maps. You can search in your own location to find out information on anything from flora and fauna to water – a very practical tool which could be used for field trips or to plan nature walks etc.
In this section of the Trocaire website, there is a wide range of resources for teachers to use within the classroom covering the early years, primary level and secondary level, gradually introducing global issues to your students. Their resource catalogue is very accessible as it can be searched by age, resource type (case studies, fact sheets, photo packs etc), curriculum area (geography, history, maths etc), theme (children’s rights, fair trade, gender etc) and country. Some resources are to provide information only. But the majority of resources available come with photos and posters to encourage discussion, activities and quizzes to have fun while learning and worksheets for children to do themselves or in groups. Also available on the website is the Trocaire lent campaign resources, which are updated each year. There is a very wide variety of useful resources available for teachers to use in class to gradually introduce development issues to their students in an accessible manner
The resource section of the Concern website has a very comprehensive collection of reports, publications and research which could be very useful for gathering background information on various subject areas. Most publications are country specific, which could be useful for class projects based on different countries around the world. It is categorised chronologically and also by region and resource type, which makes it very accessible.
The DICE (Development and Intercultural Education) website aims to provide teachers with materials to integrate development education and intercultural education into primary education. It provides material, free to download on issues such as how to teach about sustainable development, homes around the world, teaching about natural disasters and introducing global films to students also. There is also a useful ‘Incorporating a global dimension into primary education’ download available. The ‘useful documents’ section offers a wide range of background information to be used by teachers on everything from statistics to world music to the Millennium Development Goals.
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