A Reader Offers Web Tools
For Teaching Global Perspectives
A Reader Offers Web Tools
For Teaching Global Perspectives
GLOBAL developments are widely discussed every day in newspapers and on television, and keeping up-to-date on the multitude of global issues can be daunting. But the Web offers much-needed help. Here are some useful websites for classroom teachers who wish to teach global perspectives.
Introductory WebSites
www.rog.nmm.ac.uk
A good place to begin cultivating a global perspective is the
Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England. Part of Britain's National
Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory offers definitions and
detailed information on such terms as meridian, lines of longitude
and latitude, hemispheres, and the international date line. It's
a great site to get students started thinking globally.
www.nasa.gov
and www.noaa.gov
Other introductory sites include the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. These sites present some spectacular images and
furnish solid information on a great variety of topics related
to climate and weather.
www.wmo.ch
One final introductory site is the World Meteorological Organization,
a unit of the United Nations that monitors world climate and has
excellent maps.
World Trade and the Global Economy
www.wto.org
Among the major advocates of free trade is the World Trade Organization,
the only global organization dealing with the rules of trade between
nations. Its goal is to help producers of goods and services,
exporters, and importers conduct business.
www.imf.org
and www.worldbank.com
The International Monetary Fund, an organization of 182 member
countries, promotes economic growth and high levels of employment.
The World Bank is the world's largest source of economic assistance
to developing nations.
www.weforum.org
and www.uschamber.org
The World Economic Forum, a voluntary international organization,
encourages economic growth and social progress. Although many
observers believe that the group is more interested in enhancing
corporate profits than in protecting the environment, its site
is a rich source of information on the global economy. Another
organization that supports global trade is the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce.
www.aflcio.org
Some organizations question current developments in world trade.
The American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial Organizations
was one of the major opponents of the North American Free Trade
Agreement.
www.greenpeaceusa.org
Greenpeace was one of the organizations protesting the World Trade
Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999.
www.inpeg.org
A negative picture of the roles of the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund can be found at the Initiative Against Economic
Globalization, which seems to serve as a clearinghouse for protests
about the major pro-trade groups.
There are many more global topics of interest to educators -- global warming, the depletion of the ozone layer, the fate of endangered species, and the maintenance of world peace -- and I hope to share these with Kappan readers in a future issue. -- William E. Webster, professor emeritus, California State University, Bakersfield.
ADHD Help
www.addhelpline.org
For Kappan readers who might wish to have a source of information
to pass on to parents of children with ADD/ADHD, I offer the ADDHelpline
site. While the primary purpose of this site is to provide information
for parents and to help them network with other parents (e.g.,
an online meeting and chat is held every Tuesday evening), there
is also an Educator's Menu that provides information for educators
and a featured article each month. -- Eileen Bailey, Pottstown,
Pa.
We welcome readers' submissions of brief descriptions of Web-based resources that they have found useful. Send submissions to Phi Delta Kappan Web Watch, P.O. Box 789, Bloomington, IN 47402-0789, or via e-mail to kappan@kiva.net.
