This semester Yew Wah fourth graders worked with students from around the world on global issues during the Flat Connections “A Week in the Life” global collaboration project. Third, fourth and fifth graders from six schools worked in mixed teams to research a global topic aligned with the theme, “What does it mean to be a citizen of the world?”.

Classes made ‘digital handshake’ videos for introductions and then got to work brainstorming ideas for the topics. After that, students joined mixed teams made up of five to eight students from all of the schools based on the topic of their interest. During the research phase we used Edmodo to communicate and Google Docs and Mindmeister to organize their information. Students then presented their research and solutions by pairing video and audio recordings of themselves with slides using VoiceThread. Finally, we viewed, compared and contrasted the results of all the group projects and got to see what our classmates and new friends had been working on.

A week in the life at Yew Wah

The topics included:

• Healthcare
• Inequalities and Children’s Rights
• International Law and Systems of Govermnment
• Humanitarian Responses to Natural Disasters
• Peace and Conflict Resolution
• Respecting Others, and Sustainability

In addition to Yew Wah Yantai, other participants included:

• Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg Florida, USA
• The girls of Wilderness School in Adelaide South Australia
• Chipeta Elementary School in Colorado Springs, USA
• Third, fourth and fifth graders from the Singapore American School
• Fifth graders From Jaindl Elementary in Breiningsville Pennsylvania, USA

201 students participated in all!   The project was an exciting, challenging and unique experience that allowed students to connect, communicate, explore global topics and issues and create digital artifacts together that share solutions.

Written by teachers Joshua Antone and Amy Yang from Yantai ETDZ Yew Wah School for Experimental Education 烟台经济技术开发区耀华实验学校, China.