Why Teach Global Issues?
The integration of global education is essential for K-12 students to develop the skills, knowledge, and dispositions needed for responsible participation in a democratic society and in a twenty-first century global community. The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) believes that an effective school curriculum must include global and international education. Global education is important because the day-to-day lives of average citizens around the world are influenced by burgeoning international connections. The human experience is an increasingly globalized phenomenon in which people are constantly being influenced by transnational, cross-cultural, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic interactions.
Therefore, in accordance with state and national teaching standards, this page will provide teachers with strategies for engaging students with the following goals:
- Gaining knowledge of world cultures;
- Understanding the historical, geographic, economic, political, cultural, and environmental relationships among world regions and peoples;
- Examining the nature of cultural differences and national or regional conflicts and problems; and
- Acting to influence public policy and private behavior on behalf of international understanding, tolerance and empathy.
How do I Navigate the CGS’s Teacher Resources?
We are happy to offer curricular resources (lesson plans, unit plans, accompanying materials) and professional development resources (workshop materials and videos) for educators across all grade levels. You can explore our resources in three ways:
- Search curricular materials by grade level (K-12 Curricular Materials)
- Browse our thematic workshops (CGS Professional Development Workshops)
- Click on resource pages developed by the CGS
- Click on links to additional Penn State and external resources for global studies education
CGS K-12 Curricular Materials
CGS Professional Development Workshops
- Preparing for a Culturally Diverse Classroom: Intersections of Culture, Language, and Student Performance
- Food and Sustainability: Solving Real World Problems in the Classroom
- Teaching the Middle East
- Discovering the Globe
- Lesson Planet: Teaching Sustainability Educator’s Workshop
- World on Trial French Headscarf Law
- The Teaching Japan Workshop
- Teaching World Culture through the Visual Arts
- How to Incorporate Authentic Global Materials into the K-12 Classroom
- Teaching the Globe: Opportunities and Challenges to Teaching Global Topics in the 21st Century
Resource Pages Developed by the CGS
Additional Penn State Resources
- Penn State Libraries
- Penn State Libraries lending procedures for community members
- Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research (CALPER) at Penn State has Language resources available.
External Resources
- Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies: a resource on Islamic Studies for K-16 teachers and the general public, includes curriculum and teaching materials
- The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources: a website directory of over 2000 carefully selected, annotated links in 37 international affairs categories; frequently maintained and hosted by Elizabethtown College