Protests about globalization have become almost as much a fact of life as globalization itself—but how well do your students understand the complex issues at stake? In this lesson, teams of students explore globalization by researching the issues surrounding one of several controversies involving food, and then grappling with those issues in a summit.
Students will develop a more nuanced understanding of global economic trends.
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Students will strengthen research and analysis skills.
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Students will debate controversial topics with the goal of reaching common ground.
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Students will use technology to explore complex issues.
Prerequisite skills
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Familiarity with Microsoft Office Word and Microsoft Office PowerPoint
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Ability to conduct Internet research using Internet Explorer
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Introduction to Microsoft FrontPage
How to begin
1.
For this project, your students will prepare for and hold a classroom summit on food and globalization. Students will work in several groups:
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A small committee, elected by the whole class in Student activity Step 1, will plan the details of a Food and Globalization Summit to culminate the project.
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Meanwhile, you'll divide the rest of the class into thirds, with each third focusing on one of these aspects of globalization: Globalization and Local Food Culture, Globalization and Food Biotechnology, and Globalization and Food Diseases.
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Each of these focus groups will then divide into two teams, one pro-globalization and one anti-globalization.
2.
Preview the Web links listed under Resources, and add to or adjust them to meet your students' learning needs.
3.
There are also three Word documents listed under Resources. Those documents are guidelines to help each of the focus groups make the most of their research on the selected topics. Download the guidelines and make them available on your classroom computers for students to use in Step 2.
4.
Launch the project with a class discussion about the definition of globalization. Economists typically define globalization as the integration and interdependence of many nations' and regions' economies around the world. The key idea here is that these connections operate in many dimensions—from pure trade, to the flow of labor and investment across borders, to rapidly expanding communications technologies?and themselves interrelate in complex ways. Encourage your students to approach their study of globalization with the understanding that there are no easy answers to the challenges and questions they uncover.
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Photocopy and distribute the Student activity pages, and get ready for a lively series of class sessions!
Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia Article on "Globalization" includes many links to related articles focusing on specific aspects of the phenomenon
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MSNBC Search "globalization" for news coverage and commentary from the last couple of years, including news reports from the Seattle, Prague, and Genoa protests.
Organic Consumers Association Advocates for "Food Safety, Organic Agriculture, Fair Trade & Sustainability"; includes areas on bioengineering and mad cow disease
If you've seen news coverage of protests in the streets of Seattle, Washington, and Genoa, Italy, you may wonder what the deal is with globalization and what it means for you. With this project, you'll begin with a subject that's familiar to all—food!—and explore the meaning of globalization through research, analysis, and debate.
Step 1: Planning the summit
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Software: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft FrontPage 2002
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What to do
Set plans in motion now for the Food and Globalization Summit that will wrap up all your work at the end of this project
1.
As a whole class, come together to seek nominations (at least three) for the summit planning committee. Students who play this role should be willing to put aside their own views on globalization issues to assure a well-run, meaningful meeting of the minds when the summit convenes in Step 4.
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When the candidates have been identified, hold a vote. Everyone should vote for one person, but the top three vote-getters will all work on the planning committee. The number-one choice will serve as chair.
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While the rest of the class goes on to Steps 2 and 3, the summit planning committee should:
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Review the setup and proceedings of recent world summits to select "best practices" for this one.
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Establish the overall Web page that will provide up-to-date information about the summit schedule and format as well as serve as a place for the issue teams to post the work they complete in Steps 2 and 3.
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Plan for a process that will result in a set of recommendations approved by a majority of summit participants.
Step 2: Defining the issues
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Software: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft FrontPage 2002
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What to do
Begin with research about your globalization focus
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Your teacher has assigned everyone in class (except for the Summit Planning Committee) to a focus group that will look at one of three issues:
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Globalization and local food culture
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Globalization and food biotechnology
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Globalization and food diseases
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Meet with your focus group, and open the "Guidelines" Word document that your teacher prepared for your group. Discuss the document to make sure everyone on the team understands the broad implications of the issue that you'll be focusing on.
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Divide up the initial research work. Everyone in the group should work together to find resources on the Internet and in print that include:
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News stories that will help you understand the timeline of events
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Opinion pieces from many sides
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A collection of links and other resources for deeper research
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After this first research period, meet to share your findings and discuss them. Your aim is to clearly define the "pro-" and "anti-" globalization aspects of your focus area. What are the key arguments from both sides? What do the different sides hope to achieve?
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By volunteer, vote, or lottery, divide your group into two "issue teams": One group will develop a pro-globalization stance on your focus area, and the other an anti-globalization position.
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Assign two members—one from each team?to serve as archivists of your collective research and writings. These two members should use FrontPage to add team pages to the Web site created by the Summit Planning Committee.
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Brief your teacher and/or classmates on your issue and the two sides of it that you will explore.
Step 3: Developing positions
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Software: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft FrontPage 2002, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2002
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What to do
Each pro- and anti-globalization issue team builds its case
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Check the latest information on the summit Web page, and then review the "Guidelines" document that your teacher provided. You will see several specific goals for each pro- and anti-globalization team. These goals are:
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Conduct thorough research on your topic so that you can cite at least two substantial resources (reports, in-depth features, databases, etc.).
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Write a one- to three-page position paper that uses both persuasion and facts (including one table or chart with statistics, plus one photograph or illustration) to advance your point of view.
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Prepare a three- to six-slide PowerPoint presentation that summarizes your argument and evidence.
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Within your team, everyone should conduct and share research, but you may want to assign one or two members to write the position paper and another one or two to develop the PowerPoint presentation.
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As you tackle your research, draw on the work of your larger focus group as a starting point. While digging more deeply into your topic and your particular position on it, be sure to examine the source of each new research find. You want resources that are credible even if they take an advocacy position.
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When you have crafted your position paper and PowerPoint presentation, submit them to your teacher for review. Then post the revised versions on your focus group Web site, so that the opposing team and your whole class can stay abreast of your arguments.
Step 4: A meeting of the minds
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Software: Microsoft Office Word 2002, Microsoft Office FrontPage 2002, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2002
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What to do
The entire class brings all the food-related globalization issues to the table
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When the summit launches, each team will have a chance to present its position (following guidelines set up by the Summit Planning Committee) and then participate in the development of overall recommendations.
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To prepare for the summit, work within your team to polish your position paper and practice delivering your PowerPoint presentation.
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In addition, read through all the position papers that will be presented by the other teams. Look for points of common concern as well as particular lines of reasoning from the other side. Do some last-minute research, if necessary, to respond to likely arguments.
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You should also decide, as a team, what your objective should be in the give-and-take of the summit session and the recommendations your team will deliver. Will you insist on endorsement of your entire position—or are there some points that seem more crucial than others?
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Once the summit begins, your team may want to form voting blocs with other teams that have similar concerns, conduct additional on-the-spot research to bolster a position, or make trade-offs to assure that the most important issues are well represented.
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When the summit has concluded, the Summit Planning Committee will post documentation of its proceedings on the Web site. Your team should develop a set of comments on the summit's outcome—are you pleased with the results? Disappointed? Of mixed mind?—to also post on the site.
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Together, the whole class should review the Web site, with all its research resources, position papers, and presentations, and fine-tune it. Then, invite others in your community—which includes your school, your town, the nation, and the world—to visit the site as well.
