Module 3: How can global learning be infused into PK-12 classrooms and schools?

Module 3: How can global learning be infused into PK-12 classrooms and schools?

At the conclusion of this module, Fellows will be able to: 

• identify skills and dispositions to develop in their students for building global competence in their particular subject/content area,
• adopt concrete teaching strategies for incorporating global learning into their classroom and school,
• reflect on global competence assessments that align with teaching strategies for their classroom and school, and
• develop further knowledge of South Africa's cultural and historical context.

In the texts below, you will find concrete examples of how you can comprehensively integrate global learning into your classroom. While global learning can start with just one lesson plan or activity, we actively invite you to consider how global learning can be infused into your classroom and school in an ongoing manner.

Before starting this module, take a moment to identify one idea or strategy you have for integrating global learning into your classroom instruction. This might be the topic of your capstone project or it may be something different, but keep this specific strategy in mind as you read - and consider:

1. What skills and dispositions you want your students to develop,
2. How you will support their learning, and
3. How you will assess it.   

Read: The Asia Society's/OECD's Teaching for Global Competence in a Rapidly Changing World

• Book pages: 12-16 ('What Is Global Competence?') and 20-27 ('Implications for Educators' to 'Teaching for Global Competence')
• OPTIONAL: Video interview with Kathy Bosiak (GLF 2025) about her solar oven activity & partnership with iEARN, as highlighted on page 21 [click on the first item in 'Optional Readings and Resources' to the left]

Reflect: Consider the skills and dispositions you want to develop in your students by incorporating global learning into your classroom instruction. Which of the instructional approaches identified in the text might you use with your students? 

[Estimated read time: 30 minutes]

Review the corresponding Main Global Competence Matrix and the Content-Area Matrices from the Asia Society, CCSSO, and EdSteps. Select the content-area matrix relevant to the subject(s) you currently teach. Consider how the objectives from the matrix intersect with your specific grade level and content-area standards.  

[Estimated read time: 15 minutes]

Read: Expanding Approaches to Teaching for Diversity and Justice in K-12 Education: Fostering Global Citizenship Across the Content Areas

• Book pages: 12-25, starting with the section titled 'Findings: Signature Pedagogies for Globally Competent Teaching across Subject Areas'

Published by Arizona State University's Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA), this study "explores the signature pedagogies of 10 in-service teachers in one southeastern state who teach for global competence in math, music, science, English, social studies, and language classes across elementary, middle, and high schools...These signature pedagogies provide visions of possibility for concrete practices teachers can adapt to infuse global citizenship education into their own contexts..."

Reflect: What example(s) stood out to you? How might you utilize these pedagogies in your classroom? 

[Estimated read time: 30 minutes] 

Read: How to Assess Global Competence, by Darla Deardorff (published in Education Week)

Reflect: When infusing global learning into the classroom, it is equally important to include global competence assessments in one's teaching. Consider how you can assess your students’ global competence in your classroom, including the prospect of developing new assessments and/or adapting some of your past or current assessments accordingly.

[Estimated read time: 5 minutes]

Identify one content standard you are working on, or plan to work on, with your students. Then, in the Module 3: Apply and Share discussion board, write about how you might incorporate global learning into your instruction related to that standard. (Again, this might be related to your capstone project, or it could be a new idea.)

Here are some questions to guide your post:

• What global competency skills will you seek to develop in your students through your instruction?
• Which concrete teaching strategies will you incorporate into your instruction?
• What types of global competence assessments will you incorporate into your instruction?

After you have posted, please comment on at least one other person’s post.

During your South Africa field study, you'll have the opportunity to immerse yourself into the cultural and historical context of the country. After your Fellowship year, you'll then have the opportunity to incorporate your learnings and experiences from South Africa's culture and history into your classroom and school.

For our pre-field study learnings, the articles below explore key elements of South Africa's history and culture.

The Black Consciousness Movement & Steve Biko

First read: Steve Biko Calls for Black Consciousness, from Facing History & Ourselves

Next, for the first of two deeper dives, read Soweto Student Uprising from Michigan State University's 'South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid, Building Democracy'. Click 'Next Page' at the top of each page in order to read the full essay. Exploring the 'Media for this essay' on the lefthand side of each page is optional.

Then, for the second of two deeper dives, read The Death of Stephen Biko, also from Michigan State University's 'South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid, Building Democracy'. Click 'Next Page' at the top of each page in order to read the full essay. Exploring the 'Media for this essay' on the lefthand side of each page is optional.

OPTIONAL: Multimedia page on the Black Consciousness Movement, from Michigan State University's 'South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid, Building Democracy'

OPTIONAL: Multimedia in the 'BIKO - The Quest for a True Humanity' exhibition from the Apartheid Museum (view or download parts 1, 2, and 3)

The role of music in the anti-apartheid struggle

Read & Listen: Freedom Songs: the role of music in the anti-apartheid struggle - PART A & Freedom Songs: the role of music in the anti-apartheid struggle - PART B, from The Anti-Apartheid Legacy: Centre of Memory and Learning

OPTIONAL: Singing Freedom Catalogue from Brown University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (CSSJ) and the Iziko Museums of South Africa [click the yellow button on the site to view it]

[Estimated total read time: 55 minutes]

Module 2 discusses the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). As a reminder, PISA measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading, mathematics, and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges. The most recent assessment was completed in 2022.

The previous PISA round was in 2018, and a special optional aspect of the test included measures related to global competency! To learn more, here are resources to explore:

• The website of the PISA 2018 Global Competence findings
• The video of the Global Release of the OECD PISA Global Competence Assessment Results,presented by Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills (08:50-56:33, or 32 minutes at x1.5 speed). 

While the United States did not participate in the global competency portion of the 2018 PISA, consider how your students might perform on the assessment. Where do you think your students would do well, and where could they improve the most? What are your takeaways from the findings and/or the presentation on what you might do differently in your classroom to support your students' global competency?