Using J. F.
Rischard’s 20
Global
Problems to
Motivate
Students
Homeland
Sitka High School
Jody Smothers –Marcello
Global Issues, AP Human Geography, World History, American
History, Women’s History, and English
Editor, The Geography Teacher (NCGE)
National Board Certified Teacher
University of Alaska Southeast MAT Program
smothers-marcelloj@mail.ssd.k12.ak.us
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/08/water-shortages-map.html
Newsweek: “The New Oil.” October 8, 2010. By Jeneen Interlandi.
Goal
This global issues course uses
geographic inquiry and J.F. Rischard's
20 global problems as foci. Examine
student learning and global
citizenship awareness growth from
initial inquiries to final products.
Specifically………..
(1) Demonstrate the importance and
utilization of geographic inquiry as a
framework for student study and learning
in global issues in the 21st century,
especially as it relates to spatial learning
(2) Review J. R. Rischard’s High
Noon: 20 Global Issues and 20 Years to
Solve Them book as a classroom resource
accessible by students with a range of
reading abilities
(3) Engage participants in how to frame
and manage student learning in an
inquiry format
(4) Discuss the importance of using
student inquiry as a method for building
global citizenship awareness
Assessment
How can we get  Thinking like an assessor
students at the
(Wiggins)
achievement
 Geographic skills
levels they
(Geography for Life)
need AND
create an
 Scoring guide (Smothersunderstanding
Marcello)
of what it
 Students: higher level
means to think
thinking skills
geographically
or spatially
 Parents
and critically?
 Policy makers
 Public
Book & inspiration
Who can
really
solve
global
problems
or
issues?
 J. F. Rischard
 High Noon book
 Global Issues Networks
Implementation
What
school
structures
support
this
project?
 Block schedule: every





other day, alternate
Mondays (+lab & office
hours)
All seniors: all academic or
achievement levels
Supportive librarian
Access to technology
Blog
SE AK Travel Schedule
Implementation
What
curricular
and
instructional
decisions
support this
project?
 Standards-based
 Scoring guide
 Ownership of issues
 Structures for
success and build
to success
 Public recognition
Schedule
How do
we go
from the
beginning
to the end
of the
semester?
 Brainstorm issues: includes








categories
Choices & reading selections
Issues & Controversies (Facts
on File)
3 articles
Maps
Videos
Books
Presentation
Forum (Questions on Blog)
Brainstorm
What are the top
20 global issues?
GLOBAL ISSUES BRAINSTORM
Rischard’s 20
Sharing our
planet: issues
involving the global
commons
 Global warming
 Biodiversity &
ecosystem losses
 Fisheries
depletion
 Deforestation
 Water deficits
 Maritime safety
& pollution
Sharing our rule
book: issues needing
a global regulatory
approach
 Reinventing
Sharing our
humanity: issues
requiring a global
commitment
 Fight against
poverty
 Peacekeeping,
conflict
prevention,
combating
terrorism
 Education for all
 Global infectious
diseases
 Digital divide
 Natural disaster
prevention &
mitigation
taxation for the
21st century
 Biotechnology
rules
 Global financial
architecture
 Illegal drugs
 Trade, investment,
& competition
rules
 Intellectual
property rights
 E-commerce rules
 International labor
& mitigation rules
Book List
How do
we go
from the
beginning
to the end
of the
semester?
 The World Is Flat & Hot, Flat,




and Crowded (Friedman)
The Blue Covenant (Barlow) &
When the Rivers Run Dry
(Pearce)
Weather Makers (Flannery)
Guns, Germs, and Steel
(Diamond)
The White Man’s Burden
(Easterly), The End of Poverty
(Sachs), & Dead Aid (Moya)
Show-®-World: book
recommendations, too!
Sample Forum ?s
 Rischard in High Noon frames global issues under the two
umbrellas of demographics and economics. Do you agree with
his framework? Why or why not? Do demographics just lead to
unprecedented stresses? What are some of the unprecedented
stresses and opportunities of the world’s economy?
 We live in a win-lose world. Even democracy is win-lose. Gary
Holthaus says that traditional societies were profoundly
democratic and took time to talk through things to solve
problems, rather than create a win-lose situation. Who wins
and who loses in the way we currently solve problems? Do we
want to preserve that way of solving problems, or could we get
to win-win solutions?
Sample Forum ?s
 Mae Jamison the former astronaut has spoken about the need
for transdisciplinary knowledge in order to solve the world’s
problems. Has your education so far enabled you to synthesize
the answers to these problems and taught you to think in a
transdisciplinary way or is it incumbent upon groups of
individuals, holed up and thinking together to make that
happen? Can we make it happen in our world of differences?
 In his book The Empathic Civilization, author Jeremy Rifkin
argues that “Humanity finds itself on the cusp of its greatest
experiment to date: refashioning human consciousness so that
human beings can mutually live and flourish in the new
globalizing society…” Can we do it? What will make it
possible?
Highlights
 Population
 Rischard: demographic explosion
 Activities from Population Connection
and Facing the Future
 One Billion and Counting from Human
Geography in Action
 Geopolitics
 Russian Empire
 Georgia, Ukraine, Iran
 Economic Development
 Yali’s ? in Guns, Germs, and Steel
 Collapse demographic
 Moya, Easterly, Sachs debate
 Climate Change
 Facing the Future: Climate Change
What else
is going
on?