Learning to Give, Philanthropy education resources that teach giving and civic engagement
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Unit Overview:
This multi-disciplinary unit takes learners on a journey around the world. While developing the five themes of geography, they explore the role of philanthropy and stewardship in cultures around the world.
Unit Purpose:
Using the themes and content of geography, learners examine and demonstrate knowledge of cultural elements and traditions of selected nations of the world and how they affect philanthropy and stewardship in world regions. Learners will use the five themes of geography to explore the political, geographic, economic and social aspects of continents and identified specific nations. Our learners will also discover newly emerging democracies' struggle with developing non-governmental institutions and organizations. They will gain an appreciation for the worldwide relief efforts as well as grassroots movements. As a service learning project they will develop a visual aid for younger learners for celebrating African-American History Month.
Unit Objectives:
The learner will:
- demonstrate knowledge of philanthropy and stewardship.
- locate and describe physical features of one nation in each continent.
- understand the concept of terrain and the relationship of terrain to movement of peoples and cultural diversity.
- demonstrate knowledge of cultural features of one nation in each continent.
- investigate a continent and find examples of cultural elements.
- explain how and why nonprofit organizations were formed in the nation selected.
- investigate the history and culture of selected countries in North and South America.
- explain how the cultural traditions in these countries affected the development of nonprofit organizations and stewardship.
- describe and locate nations in North and South America, their cultures and communities.
- be able to discover biomes in nation selected.
- discover nonprofit organizations in nations studied.
- demonstrate use of concepts relating to philanthropy and geography.
- describe ecological and human problems addressed by NGOs (non-governmental organizations).
- describe a contemporary condition in Canada and one nation in Central or South America and trace the historical origins.
- examine the rich cultural traditions of Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Sudan and Somalia. Additional nations dictated by class size or peer group may be used at the discretion of the instructor.
- analyze the impact of their cultures on the development of philanthropic organizations and stewardship.
- compare/contrast the development of philanthropy and stewardship in African nations studied.
- demonstrate knowledge of nation studied and the diversity of the African continent in general.
- design a service learning project.
- demonstrate skills necessary for an effective service learning activity including reflection and celebration.
- demonstrate competency in geography of Australia.
- develop the concept of the walkabout in discovery of self.
- be able to use three sources of information.
- complete a written report using peer group editing.
- examine the rich cultural traditions of the Aborigines and analyze the impact of their cultural traditions on stewardship and the development of philanthropic organizations.
- locate and report evidence of philanthropic institutions in Australia.
- identify problems addressed by nonprofit organizations in regions of Australia.
- compile, analyze and interpret collected data.
- replicate a geo-political map of Europe citing political boundaries, resources, and major transportation routes and population centers.
- discover and identify key needs that nonprofit organizations address in selected nations.
- research cultural traditions of a selected European nation and describe how they have affected the development of philanthropy and stewardship in these countries.
- compare/contrast the development of philanthropy and stewardship between newly emerging democracies in Europe with established democracies.
- develop geographic concepts related to Japan and China.
- describe actual and relative location of both nations.
- connect the way people adapted or modified the environment to cause major problems needing to be addressed by government and non-governmental organizations.
- examine the rich cultural traditions of Japan and China, and analyze the impact of their cultures leading to development of philanthropic organizations.
- examine responses to natural disasters from government and non-governmental organizations.
Service Experience:
Learners will design a large visual aid of the continent of Africa to aid younger children in learning about Africa.
Unit Assessment:
- Posters
- Peer group presentations
- Essays, poems, skits
- Reports
- Charts
- Teacher-constructed assessments
- Surveys
- Learning Logs
- Reflection
- Scoring rubrics provided in Lesson Two: Our Journey Begins Close to Home—The Americas, Lesson Four: Australia, Land of the Outback and Lesson Five: Philanthropy in Europe.
School/Home Connection:
- "Copy-and-Paste" Class/School Newsletter Information Insert:
The _______ grade class of Mr./Mrs./Ms.________________________ is beginning their around the world journey and observing the ways people throughout the world give of their time, talent and treasure for the common good. While learning about stewardship, altruism and voluntary action our students will also study the social studies, English Language Arts content standards and benchmarks for their grade level. As part of our unit of study, we will participate in a service learning activity for African-American History Month by creating a wall map relating the geography of Africa to the philanthropy within Africa. Our students will present their work to __________________________________ on ________________________.
We will keep you posted on our progress.
- Interactive Parent / Student Homework:
Attachment Two: Lesson One: Traditions—Our World and Philanthropy
Notes for Teaching:
It is suggested that computer lab time be scheduled in advance of each lesson. There are many Internet sites in the bibliography for each lesson. Excellent materials may be found in addition to your local text for geography and atlases.
Specific notes for each lesson are found within each lesson.
State Curriculum and Philanthropy Theme Frameworks:
See individual lessons for benchmark detail.
Lessons Developed By:
Christine Jensen
Grand Rapids Public Schools
Sibley Elementary School Building
947 Sibley, NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit (noncommercial), educational purposes only. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies.
Comments
This is fantastic! I was looking for some health material for my grade 7 girls and my grade 12 girls. I love this lesson.