Respect for all: The world as a global community

This activity was used with pupils in key stage 3, year 7.

Aim

• To develop understanding of the world as a global community and to consider some of the implications of this.

Activity objectives

• To realise how we are connected as individuals, as communities and as a nation to the rest of the world.
• To develop pupils' concept of the world as an integrated community of people, cultures, ideas and beliefs.

This activity relates to the following components in the key stage 3 citizenship programme of study: 1a, 1b, 1f, 1h, 1i, 2a, 2c.

Activity description

The pupils were divided into groups of four. Each was given an A3 outline world map, an atlas and five different coloured pencils.

First, the teacher asked each group to colour in countries on their map (all in the same colour) with which they had family ties. The teacher then marked down all the countries that the pupils had identified on an overhead-projection image of a world map.

The same process was repeated, using a different colour each time, for the following countries:

• where they have spent holidays or lived;
• where somebody they know has lived;
• that produce food they had eaten in the last week;
• that produce the clothes they were wearing (pupils looked at labels of their own and each other's clothes. This was fun but the teacher needed to be in control).

The teacher emphasised the connections between countries at each stage, especially in terms of culture, travel and global trade. In some instances extra maps were needed when the maps filled up with colours.

As a result, the class discussed how people depend on each other all over the world: cultures influence each other. The teacher asked questions such as:

If we did not import food from other countries, what might our typical daily diet look like?
Why are designer-label clothes affordable to us in the UK?

Commentary

The pupils were surprised at the high number of direct links discovered with other countries and by the extent we are dependent on other countries. This is a good activity for encouraging pupils to think about their own roles as global citizens. For example, the teacher could suggest ways in which we directly affect the lives of people in other countries when we buy an overseas product.

This activity does not address racism head on. Instead, it focuses on the positive aspects of the world as a community, which, in turn, help to develop an anti-racist world view that leads pupils away from an isolationist view of Britain.

Follow-up activities

Pupils could:

• look at different map projections (eg Mercator, Peters) and compare how they depict the British Isles;
• research their favourite designer label and investigate, for example, where clothes are made and who owns the company;
• use news clippings from demonstrations at World Trade Organisation (WTO) meetings to find out more about this organisation and its role in the economies of the world.

Resources

The citizenship schemes of work can be found at www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes
The online national curriculum can be found at www.nc.uk.net