Global Thinkers and STEM Makers!

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 19

When my class started learning about different situations throughout the world, they were shocked that children their age have to make difficult decisions because of their lack of resources. In The Water Princess, Princess Gie Gie needs to wake up early, walk over 5 miles (one way) to get dirty water, and return to clean the water. Since the need for water is stronger than the need for education, Gie Gie cannot attend school like several other young girls in her village. She sets out to help solve the problem of dirty water so she can live her dream of learning how to read and write. The STEM activities allowed the students experiment and test their hypothesis of how to get clean water, similar to Gie Gie. They learned that when countries lack natural resources or basic needs, they end up lacking other things such as education, food, and jobs. 

Since the stories are nonfiction and contained real world problems with people making a difference, we got the opportunity to learn beyond the books and STEM activities.  We researched the people, such as Isatou Ceesay from One Plastic Bag. The students were able to understand her need to make a change in her community and the outcome of taking plastic bag waste and turning them into reusable bags! They were able to learn about her hard work and determination to get rid of plastic bags, even though she did not have the support of her village. The children even upcycled plastic bags and made bracelets to share with others and inspire them to create less plastic waste. Plastic waste is a global problem; the students listened to a podcast about the Great Pacific Garage Patch and compared and contrast the Pacific Ocean  to Gambia plastic problem. The students were able to map out the different countries in which the stories took place. The problems don't seem so far away and the world so big when you notice the common basic needs of all people and the desire to keep Earth clean for everyone's health and safety.  

The students were able to participate together in three out of the five Global Thinker activities. The Water Princess, One Plastic Bag, and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. I plan to continue with Wangari's Trees of Peace and Iqbal and His Ingenious Idea through eLearning. I recently purchase seed packs for the students and will mail them so they can plant a garden like Wangari’s garden of peace in her home of Kenya, “planting the seeds of hope.” I hope this story will help the student notice the importance of plants to the soil, the birds, insects, and Earth.

The impact of this grant will continue beyond the walls of the classroom or the canvas lessons. The children will always remember that we are lucky to have resources readily available and be inspired to make a change, “I didn’t call out the problems- I called out solutions.” Isatou Ceesay