February Programs from Global Nomads Group

China and India: Emerging Global Superpowers
PART 1- TUES FEBRUARY 3
Middle School: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm ESTHigh School: 10:00 – 11:00 am 1:00 – 2:00 pm EST
PART 2- THURS FEBRUARY 5
Middle and High: 11:30 am -12:30 pm EST 1 – 2 pm EST
In this two-part videoconference session, students gather to dig beyond the headlines and talk about the real issues behind U.S.-China and U.S.-India relations. What is China's role in an increasingly globalizing world? What is India's role in this new economic world order? What should our policy towards both nations be? Students discuss openly and honestly their views on current relations with China and India, and their visions for China's and India's place in our world's future.


The Global Economic Crisis: Putting Stock in the Markets?
PART 1- TUES FEBRUARY 10
Middle School: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm ESTHigh School: 10:00 – 11:00 am 1:00 – 2:00 pm EST
PART 2- THURS FEBRUARY 12
Middle and High: 11:30 am -12:30 pm EST 1 – 2 pm EST

On Day One, students will share their ideas upon the global economic crisis and respond to the $700 billion government bailout. Students from North America will have the opportunity to share how this situation has affected their local community and identify short and long term solutions to avoid another global financial crisis. On Day two, students will be speaking with Roger Phillips, Manager at American International Group’s (AIG) Corporate Treasury where he oversees capital adequacy issues for worldwide insurance and banking subsidiaries of AIG.

President Obama's Dilemma: Guantanamo and Its Aftermath
PART 1- TUES FEBRUARY 24
Middle School: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm ESTHigh School: 10:00 – 11:00 am 1:00 – 2:00 pm EST
PART 2- THURS FEBRUARY 26
Middle and High: 11:30 am -12:30 pm EST 1 – 2 pm EST

On Day One, students will discuss the controversy surrounding Guantanamo Bay and share their opinions on the subject matter. On Day Two, students will speak with experts from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) who have been working on this issue.

Young Heroes- Lovetta Conto
WED FEBRUARY 25
Middle and High: 1:00 -2:00 PM EST

Lovetta Conto, a Strongheart Fellow, will be our featured Young Hero of the month. Lovetta was born just before her home country of Liberia exploded into conflict, another chapter in what became years of war.
Forced to leave her mother behind and flee her native Liberia due to civil war, Lovetta lived with her father as a refugee in Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire, before settling in Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana to await the end of the war. At times, financial difficulties forced her father to leave the camp to look for work and Lovetta stayed with various families, seldom in one place very long in the sprawling refugee camp of 47,000.
Despite the instability in her life, Lovetta quickly became a leader among her peers. She worked with a team of American volunteers to build a school for unaccompanied minors and distinguished herself by doggedly advocating for special education for sight-impaired children, motivated by concern for her young friend who was without educational opportunities due to his vision impairment.

2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom
WED, FEBRUARY 25

Lesson 1: INSTINCTThis curriculum was designed with the Portable Classroom Challenge in mind. It was intended to develop a mutually positive relationship between designers and schools. Students will be encouraged to take their individual interests (math, science, art, computers) and expand them within the context of architecture and classroom design. Emphasize the positive and influential role students will have in bettering classroom designs of the future. Their voices will be heard and their knowledge respected.

WHAT IS IT?
A design competition that invites teachers, students and design professionals to work together to design the classroom of the future for their school.
A chance for students to-
Learn about architecture and healthy buildings through an 8-Part Curriculum
Explore the design process and develop their own creative ideas
Learn real skills used by designers
Work with world renown architects and design professionals and experience possible career opportunities
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Winning projects can receive up to $50,000 in funding – if your design wins, that money will go towards upgrading a classroom in YOUR school!
Your students get exposed to the world of architecture, and learn how it impacts their own lives.
All GNG programs are aligned with National Education Standards. Sign up for our Spring Programs here.

Contact Grace Lau at Grace@gng.org for any questions.

Grades 7-12: Tony Blair Faith Foundation

Face to Faith offers young people the opportunity to explore their own identities and that of others in relation to their faith. The programme aims to increase young peoples’ religious literacy whilst improving key 21st century skills such as, collaboration, critical thinking and cooperative learning. Face to Faith offers schools, their students and their communities a unique opportunity to explore faith from an individual and local perspective through to a global outlook by connecting young people from different cultures and faiths through a common education programme. According to UNESCO (cited in Walker, 2002):Education must include activities and processes that encourage awareness of, and commitment to, the solutions of global problems. This should be done in such ways that people learn solutions are possible through cooperation at all levels – at the levels of individuals, organisations and nations.Face to Faith is in partnership with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

Pilot Programme Content

Schools will be offered the following 2 modules and supporting teaching materials:1. Introductory Module2. Environment ModuleBoth modules explore issues through a faith lens. The Introductory Module enables young people and their teachers to become more familiar with discussing issues through understanding their own faith and the faith of others. The Environmental Module explores a specific issue and reflects upon how different faiths view the environment and our actions towards it. Each module will contain an opportunity for a school to hold a videoconference with another school that have also studied a particular module. In preparation for the videoconference, teachers will be provided with suggested activities to help their students become both familiar and confident with the issues to be discussed during the videoconferencing session. In addition, teachers are welcome to also participate in an Introduction to GNG Videoconferencing where educators will have the opportunity to ask questions about their specific program, while learning about general expectations including: preparing students for peer-to-peer collaboration and dialogue, the role of the lesson plan and storyboard, program evaluation/assessment requirements, and various GNG program features as it pertains to unique and individual videoconferences.


PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

Teaching ResourcesTeaching packs with module activities and teacher notes will arrive at schools via email during the week of 26th January. This will allow teachers 3 weeks preparation/teaching time prior to the first videoconference.

Videoconference Time SlotsIntro to GNG Videoconferencing (Teachers Only)
January 21 - 3:00 PM EST
January 28 - 12:00 PM EST
February 11 - 8:30 AM EST
February 18 - 1:00 PM EST
Introduction to Face to Faith
February 17 - 8:30 AM EST
February 19 1:00 PM EST

Environment and Faith
March 3 - 8:30 AM EST
March 5 - 1:00 PM ESTREGISTRATIONEligibility/Grade LevelAdvanced students aged 13-16.Related subjectsWorld history, geography, critical thinking, religious studies, social studies.

CostFree from January to March (pilot phase)

For more information or to register for this pilot programme, please contact Christine Robinson, mailto:christine@gng.org?subject=Face%20to%20Faith%202009

Grades K-12: Megaconference Jr. 2009 & Virtual Battle of the Bands

Reminder - General and Interactives Registration Open for Megaconference Jr. 2009 Don't miss this exciting opportunity on February 19, 2009 from 7am EST to 7pm EST (UTC -5) to interact with schools from around the world. The schedule of presentations is now posted. Join hundreds of sites fr m countries all around the world including Portugal, Australia, Canada, Japan, Malta, Great Britain, Slovenia, the US and more in the upcoming Megaconference Jr. 2009! You'll also have a chance to win exciting prizes from our vendor sponsors - Polycom, Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration, MOTE Marine Laboratory, Center for Puppetry Arts, and the Cranbrook Institute of Science. New sponsors and prizes continue to become available as well and will be posted on the website as we have them. Join us sun up or sun down all around the world for the 6th Annual Megaconference Jr. global event. General and Interactives Registration available at: http://www.megaconferencejr.org// Please go to: http://www.megaconferencejr.org/ and review the posted schedule and presentations prior to completing your registration. Again this year you have the ability to interact live with one of the scheduled presentations. Once you have read the schedule and know which session you would like to interact with, go to the "register" link and complete the form. You will be asked to make your selection towards the end of the registration form. When you have completed all fields click the "Submit" button. You should then receive an email confirmation. NOTE: If you already registered and would like to sign up to be an interactive for another presentation (or if you are presenting and would like to update your title or abstract) you can do so by using the email and password you used to register originally to log back in and select your interactive session (or update your presentation information) Don't forget to click "submit" when done. The interactive registrations with presenters are on a first come first serve basis. Once we have three for each presentation, interactive registration will be closed. Deadline for Interactive Registrations: January 16, 2009 or until spots are filled Deadline for General Registrations: January 30, 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call for Virtual Battle of the Bands 2009 VIRTUAL BATTLE OF THE BANDS IS BACK!!! In 2008, we had difficulty getting quality recordings through videoconferencing systems and some bands dropped ou of the competition. For Megaconference Jr. 2009, we have decided to run the Virtual Battle of the Bands a little differently. We would like you to submit an online video (YouTube, Vimeo, Google Video, video on your own server, etc) of the band or artist performing. Solo acts are also encouraged to submit their work! Here are the rules: *The piece performed MUST be an original work--no copyrighted material allowed. *The recording must be single camera, single take without any editing other than cropping the ends of the file. *Voting will take place during Megaconference Junior 2009. *Appropriate permissions must be obtained by the person posting the video to use images of the students. * No profan ty or inappropriate references in the lyrics will be accepted *Submissions must be made by February 12, 2009, by 12 noon, EST. To submit, send the following info via email to troyer.59@osu.edu: *Name of the band/artist: *Name of the piece being performed: *Composer(s) of the piece: *Location of the band/artist: (City, State/Province, Country) *First name and ages of all the performers and their role: *Link to the video: Questions may be submitted to Virtual attle of the Bands Coordinator, Megan Troyer, troyer.59@osu.edu Virtual Battle of the Bands Deadline: February 12, 2009 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join us sun up or sun down all around the world for the 6 Year Anniversary of Megaconference Jr. http://www.megaconferencejr.org// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Jennifer Oxenford MAGPI jmacdoug@magpi.net 215-898-0341 http://www.magpi.net/ 215-74 MAGPI (215-746-2474)