Educational tools

The first task is to detect the spontaneous knowledge of the students on the climate change concept, then the activity proceeds with a warm up game where students have the task of associating - through differently colored wires - papers relating to pollution  involving atmospheric alteration, or the water, or the soil, or the electromagnetic or radiation alteration. The end is to form the network of global pollution. Then students reflect on the differences between climate and weather  to grasp how the first consists in the long run, while the other concerns the present and short-term forecasts. They study graphs that present climatic variations from the origins of the earth in our day to notice the cyclical nature of climate change and the alternation between periods of cooling, overheating and rainfall variation. The analysis of development lines of climate change highlights the unusual trend of recent decades tied to heating processes of the earth caused mainly by anthropogenic factors. Hence the focus on the greenhouse effect and research of what causes it. The distinction between the emission linked to natural factors and to the human elements make the student aware of the responsibility of the man. The analysis of three case situations can provide deepen the serious effects of the phenomenon. The first one is that relating to the disappearance planned for 2020 of the ice platform, Larsen B, which was formed 11-12 thousand years ago. The second one relates to the extinction of Gentoo penguins and consequent destruction of biodiversity. The third one examines the intensive livestock responsible for an excessive amount of emission of nitrogen and phosphorus. Through videos and websites the students practice to understand the extent of their responsibility for the environmental impact and calculate their ecological footprint. (Http://www.improntawwf.it/carrello/#). Then students move from the personal life style and the changes to do to reduce the impact on the planet to the international treaties signed to combat global warming. A phase dedicated to metacognition allows pupils to become aware of the increase of their affective and cognitive training and to activate self-assessment. At the end of the unit students have face a real task as to design a proposal to discuss with local residents to improve the environmental conditions of their territory.

The activity has the purpose of reproducing the process that leads to the writing of a shared document: problem definition and understanding, proposed solutions, negotiation and proposals approval. The purpose is to make pupils experience an active and participatory democratic process by playing roles as different social actors. Each issue is deeply analyzed in order to support the group in understanding implications and contributing to the discussion with individual thinking.

The activity is articulated in 4 parts:
First part: introduction of the activity and definition of roles
The main issues are described (malnutrition, undernourishment, food waste, inequalities, sustainability) and pupils have to analyze them in groups representing specific social actors

Second part: discussion. Groups discuss on the issues analyzed suggesting possible solutions
Third part: the class' declaration is written stating the best proposals emerged from the discussion and voted
Fourth part: signing of the Carta dei Bambini/Children Chart

Working phases
1. First approach in the classroom with the topic. Through brainstorming children have to say what are for them the rights of children.
2. Parents and children: rights and duties
3. Presentation of Peters world map and reflection on the rights of children worldwide.
4. Vision on You Tube of Malala’s speech at Un.
5. Iqbal’s movie and focus on child labour. Discussion on the life of Iqbal retracing the plot of the film and deepening the problems in relation to the poor countries where childhood is subjected to exploitation.
6. Activity in subgroups on what children can or cannot do all over the world.
7. Unicef presentation and reading of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
8. Reading of child soldiers and discussion on war games.
9. Brainstorming on bullying and discussion/ analyzing news published on the media.
10. Meeting with a migrant on his/her migratory experience. Activity on migration glossary.
11. Final activity: creation of a poster by drawning the sense of the project. Example: a daisy (some petals representing the children’s rights and other the children’s duties)

Different activities are proposed to classes in order to learn how much globalization influences lives of people. For example:
Analyzing the origin of the products we buy.
Looking up clothes’ labs.
Trying to find production places of everyday objects: our beds, our toothbrushes, our mobile, and so on…
One of the useful activities that deal with the general argumentation is Globingo (“Find someone who…”). It is a sort of bingo that consists of answering about family, food, travel, cloths and collecting various countries’ nouns. Its goal: having the highest number of countries -from all Continents- in order to build a clear perception of the world as something close to people, of which people must interest because it concerns all people on the world.
Because of this big number of countries it is necessary to consider:
What do you know about these countries: where they are, how they are, those who live there, what People do there. To learn more about other countries and peoples of the world several tools should be used: geography book, documentary film, meeting with those who were born or lived in those countries. An interesting preparatory activity to work on individual countries is comparing Mercator’s Map or that of Peters. Through this activity the students can see non eurocentric projections and also non-linear world and territories. What are the differences between our reality and that of other countries? Even in this case you can use different sources: from the official statistics of the United Nations – which each year publishes updates on the situation in the world – to an encounter with a stranger who may bring your own testimony. An activity that is quick and easy is “The hundreds’ World”, also known as “If the world were a village of 100 people”.
How each of us are involved in the relationships that every day across the world? The classical question of who wants to deal with problems of the world is “why am Iinvolved in?”. The suggestion of this last section is to face the question from the point of view of the relationship that each of us entertains daily with large multinational companies, the protagonists of the first globalization. To face the issue teachers can use numerous recent books and / or films documentaries

This working unit's main objective is to familiarize primary school pupils with fair trade and critical consumption, through the presentation of some products and their stories, label reading and organic brands.
The activity is designed to make the students conscious of the effects of their daily decisions and choices over environment and community, on a glocal basis.
It is indeed a rather significant source of the following UNESCO global citizenship competences:
▪  develop and apply critical skills for civic literacy, e.g. critical inquiry, information technology, media literacy, critical thinking, decision-making, problem solving, negotiation, peace building and personal and social responsibility;
▪  develop values of fairness and social justice, and skills to critically analyze inequalities based on gender, socio-economic status, culture, religion, age and other issues.
Among the main aspects of this resource, based upon values, is the use of active teaching methods, like interactive games, cooperative learning, web quest, role play.
During the whole process, the pupil is central to the learning process: children are expected to take part in the experience, observe, discover through the five senses, research by means of NT, compare points of view, reflect, express their ideas using different languages and communicate their ideas.
There will be three working stages, thus summarized:
An interactive game of discovery on fair trade products (2 hours)
A web quest on fair trade products (4 hours)
A role play concerning a sale of fair trade products (2 hours)
Between the second and third stage, it is recommendable to introduce a deeper analysis of some aspects with the help of a fair trade organization.
Each stage of the activity shall be monitored by an evaluation task, perfectly integrated in the process.

Manual " Education for Change: sustainable development in teaching and learning guide “the result of the project “Education for Change “experience. This is a handbook intended as a practical guide for teaching and learning for sustainable development. It is designed for teachers, university teachers and other teacher trainers. Manual Unit group of authors for different countries around the Baltic Sea. “Education for Change " is a project designed to help teachers and teacher trainers to incorporate the concept of sustainable development in education. Manual text is highlighted questions for reflection. They are intended for teacher discussions and contribute to a better understanding of the different topics . A range of diverse exercises and activities are also included in the handbook as resources and source of inspiration.
Manual Chapter 1 deals with the concept of sustainable development and the necessity of explaining what it is, with what it is associated. This chapter gives descriptions and definitions, a brief historical background and different views on the concept of sustainable development guidance. Chapter 2 discusses the basis of knowledge and explains what education for sustainable development (ESD) is. This deals with the necessary knowledge and skills, explains why they are necessary, and shows opportunities for their development. Chapter 3 examines ESD teaching methods used and the circumstances in which they can be used. It offers methods for pedagogical work with values clarification, critical thinking, problem solving and operational competence. Activities are offered "unfinished sentence building", "Ranking", "Change circle", "four corners" and others, which help to find out children's knowledge and understanding. Role-playing and storytelling method helps to get into and get a better understanding of both their community and global issues. Chapter 4 offers a variety of teaching and learning resources with sustainable results inspiration. These are the recommendations for teachers' professional development for sustainable education, education for sustainable development and values. Diversity of activities is useful for every teacher of global education, for updating ideas and their integration in learning content. They encourage to creatively use the global aspect in the learning process.

This activity begins with a role playing: pupils become workers in a toy factory, foreman and child workers. They have to build paper toys. They are unequally paid for their work. They have to cope with unforeseen events. After this role playing, the facilitator organises a debriefing, a discussion to permit each children to express how he felt during the game and debate about situations. The facilitator has to conclude with a discussion to find solutions.
After this activity, it is important to implement concrete actions with kids to talk about and promote human rights, decent work in the school or in the neighbourhood. Concrete actions are explained at the end of the activity’s description.

Pupils taste traditional spread and fair spread. They try to recognize them.
Pupils are divided in 2 groups: one group read and observe the traditional jar and the second group observe the fair jar. They read labels.
Pupils try to define basic needs and prepare documents with pictures of basic needs.
The facilitator plays a role: he is cocoa buyer. He buys traditional chocolate and fair-chocolate (different prices). Pupils have to decide how to use their money for basic needs (debate).
The whole group try to define what fair-trade is and discuss about possible commitment for child.

The parachute game is a cooperative game. Facilitator can organize several progressive games.
First step: learn to know each other and understand the parachute. Second step: play together. Third step: try to do something together. Fourth step: require others to carry out an action.

Each pupil receives a paper describing a character. Each pupil imagines he becomes this character. The facilitator announces some situations: if the character is able to realise the action described, he can make a step forward. If he is not able to do this action, he stays at the same place.
At the end of the activity, pupils discuss about how they felt, what they thought about others. They discuss about human rights.