Should science teachers incorporate a global perspective in the goals and objectives of science course? If they should, what is the rationale for doing so? Up until recently, a global perspective was within the perview of social studies teachers. Why should science educators become involved? How can a global perspective be of service to the "science for all" theme?
Global Events
• In the summer 1991, 1,000 American and Soviet teachers met in Moscow to exchange ideas about science education. At the conference, teachers from these two nations presented workshops, engaged in panel discussions, and heard presentations by distinquished teachers and scientists. But beneath all of this was something more profound. The teachers in attendance were drawn together by the deep human bond of wanting to understand and find out about each other.
• Since 1983 to the present a group of science educators focused in Atlanta, but involving teachers from various parts of the U.S. have been engaged in a collaborative project (Global Thinking Project) with teachers from Moscow and Leningrad to develop a computer network and environmental curriculum. The project expanded in 1992 to include schools from countries including Hungary, Norway, Australia, and Costa Rica. From 1995 - 1998, the GTP supported, through grants from the USIA, the exchange of more than 300 students and 100 teachers from the US and Russia. Today the project supports collaborative projects among teachers and students through projects and communications throught the GTP web site.
• The Walker County/Russian Innovative Project, organized teacher institutes in the summer of 1999 (in Georgia) and 2000 (in St. Petersburg, Russia) to create an online environmental curriculum for middle and high school students.
• From 1992 to the present time, the United States Information Agency has supported the exchange of thousands of American and Russian students and teachers. In these exchanges students and teachers live with their counterparts for at least three weeks, participate in school activities, and focus in on a special topic such as environmental education, economic security, politics and history.
• Schools in California and Alaska have been linked with schools in Mexico and Japan to explore the uses of computer technologies in various subject areas.
• Individual science teachers have designed programs in their own schools in which students have looked outward to engage in collaborative studies with students in other countries. For example Brian Slopey, a junior high science teacher in Vermont has led a project in which his students and students in Leningrad are investigating water quality in the rivers that run through their respecitve cities.
These are examples of in which people from different parts of the world are engaged in collaborative projects, and events that will result in students gaining a global perspective.
Rationale for a Global Perspective
In a recent years there has been an effort to globalize education in the U.S. This is being done in a variety of ways, and it might be worthwhile to discuss the underlying reasons for this effort.
Robert Hanvey, in discussing a rationale for a global perspective, suggested it
"involves learning about those problems and issues that cut accross national boundaries, and about the interconnectedness of systems---ecological, cultural, economic, political, and technological. Global education involves perspective taking---seeing things through the eyes and minds of others---and it means the realization that while individuals and groups may view life differently, they also have common needs and wants."
Perspective taking---seeing things through the eyes and minds of others is an important point that Hanvey makes. To create learning enviornments for all students requires this philosophical position. Not only is this position supported by global education activities such as international business, the Peace Corps, foreign student exchange programs, and international activities, but by changes in the social structure of the world, and the globalization of America. Let's examine how these impact the perspective that science teachers take as they think about the goals and objectives of the science education in global terms.
Global education activities. Teachers and students in today's classes are already involved in global activities. Many teachers have traveled to other countries, and share their experience with their students. In some classrooms, a number of students were born in a foreign country, and bring with them the perspective of their native country. Students may belong to clubs, churches and civic groups that are involved in international activities. All of these activities are examples of global education activities. In the past few years a number of technology-related projects have brought distance learning into the classroom of teachers in many parts of the world. This is still another example of how global activities are impacting science education.
Changing Structure of the World. Another factor supporting global education is the way in which the social structure of the world has changed. The first, and perhaps most obvious, is the accelerating growth of global interdependence. This is evident in fields such as economics, politics, geography, ecology and culture to name a few. For example in the realm of economics, world markets dominate many companies, and indeed, the emergence of the multinational corporation (MNC) is an indicator of the social changes in the economic arena. A product produced by an MNC might be assemled in the U.S., but it may consist of parts from as many as 15 different countries.
Changes in transportation and communication has lessoned the isolation of people from each other. This people and electronic traffic flow has impacted money, information, ideas, goods and services, technology, diseases, and weapons.
The science teacher can easily help students understand the ecological implications of changes in the social fabric of the world. Diseases spread rapidly from one continent to another---the AIDS epidemic is a good example of this, as well as the yearly fear of viruses invading the U.S. Environmental problems, which twenty years ago were examined as if they were national scope have now taken on a global perspective given concerns over the depletion of the ozone, global warming, thermonuclear war, toxic and nuclear waste disposal, deforestation, and the extinction of animal and plant species.
Globalization of America. Perhaps one of the most powerful rationales for a global perspective is the fact that the U.S. has become globalized. This can be seen in terms of America's economy, political life, and culture, as well as a growth in global consciousness.
For instance, according Anderson, American workers make products in which more than one in five is exported, and more than 50 percent of the most important industrial raws materials is imported. Many U.S. firms have branches abroad, and an increasing number of U.S. firms are foreign-owned. Anderson makes a powerful point when he reminds us to think about the products we use every day. What do they have in common? (Answer: all products were made by companies that are foreign-owned): Pillsbury flour, Hills Borthers coffee, Carnation creamer, Friskies cat food, Bic pen, Foster Grant sunglases, Burger King Whoper, Michelin tires, Shell gasoline, and a Seagram's gin martini.
America's political life has become globalized as well. Anderson writes, "Thus, it is not surprising that the accelerating globalization of the American economy is paralleled by an increasing internationalizing of American government and politics." America's politicians look beyond their own constituents, and many travel abroad. The action is at the state level. In recent years nearly all the governers traveled abroad seeking markets for their states' products, as well as recruiting foreign firms to their cities. There are other signs showing how American politics has beocome globalized. Lobbying groups representing multinational firms now exist in Washington to influence politicians. These and other reasons acknowledge the globalization of U.S. governments and politics.
Global Consciousness. Because of the business opportunites at a global level, the awareness or consciousness, especially in the business community, has become increasingly global. The scientific community has also influenced the global conscisness of Americans. International conferences, reports by science panels and institutions, and even science curriculum efforts have raised the awareness level of people so that now terms like global warming, ozone depletion, and acid rain are not unfamiliar.