Texas A&M University
IN-1: Innovation 1

Program: Student Global Issues Conferences

The first global issues conference was held in May 2008 and involved students in grades 6-12. As interest and participation in the program grew, the middle school conference was separated from the high school conference in 2010. The objective of the global issues conferences is to engage students in thinking about global issues from a local to global perspective. In order to register for the conference, students must submit a global issues project either individually or in groups of no more than four. The project includes a written component and a multi-media component. Students must also participate in a poster session and be prepared to discuss their projects with TAMU faculty, staff and students volunteers. The student global issues conferences are open to students in grades 6-12 in Texas schools: public, private, home school

Texas A&M University students from the Academy of Future International Leaders serve as conference coordinators for the high school conference. Additional TAMU students participate in the conference as discussion facilitators.

Objectives
• Engage Texas student in learning about sustainability and related issues.
• Make connections between local issues and a broader global view of issues.
• Lead students to become critical thinkers and problem solvers.
• Inspire Texas students to become global leaders.
• Introduce Texas students to the academic environment at Texas A&M University.

Outcomes:
• Increase interest in sustainability issues and global education as a result of the workshops.
• Extended the university’s area of community service to a wider audience.
• Improved research, writing and communication skills among middle school and high school students
• Provides an opportunity for exchange of ideas between TAMU students and conference participants

Evaluation:
Student projects:
Global issues projects are evaluated by three evaluators (pre-service teachers from the College of Education) using a rubric for both the written and the multi-media components

Conference feedback: An e-mail request for feedback was sent to participating teachers and students

Volunteer or Leadership Opportunities: Student projects are evaluated by pre-service teachers from the College of Education and TAMU volunteers. In 2010 and 2011, pre-service teachers served as facilitators for the middle school conference and evaluated the projects. The high school conference is organized and managed by student leaders from the Academy for Future International Leaders. The conference serves as their leadership project for AFIL.

Changes instituted due to assessment:
Based on observations and evaluations, the middle school conference from the high school conference beginning in the spring of 2010. The middle school conference was redesigned to better meet the learning needs of middle school students. The middle school conference is interactive and does not include discussion groups which were not very successful with middle school students.

In 2012, the high school conference will adopt a new model based on student feedback from 2011. Instead of global problem solving discussion groups, students will participate in
break out session related to specific areas of sustainability: environmental, societal, economic.
The break out session will look at a global issues first from a local perspective and then from a global perspective and engage students in discussing possible solutions to these sustainability issues.

Break out sessions will address:

• Economic Sustainability:
Debt Crises Abroad and at Home

• Societal Sustainability:
Political Protest Movements Across the Globe

• Environmental Sustainability
Water Shortages and Depletion of Nonrenewable Resources

Student projects for 2012 will address the following areas of investigation:
Environmental Sustainability Issues:
Energy Use • Genetically Modified Organisms • Resource Depletion • Clean Water • Sustainable Agriculture
Economic Sustainability Issues:
Black Economy (smuggling) • Consumerism • Consuming vs. Saving • Recession/Debt Crisis • Poverty • Fair Trade
Societal Sustainability Issues:
Disaster Aid • Globalization • Political Protests • Territory Disputes • Bullying • Health Care • Education/Schools

Winning projects from 2011 are available online:

Zooming Out for a Global View: http://worldroom.tamu.edu/WorkshopGlobalIssues.asp

Local Action: Global Impact (spring 2011) : http://worldroom.tamu.edu/localaction2.asp

Press release: Local Action: Global Impact 2011: http://provost.tamu.edu/