by Robert Holloway | 11 Jan 2023 | Economy, Educators' Catalog
The collapse of several big players last year raised questions about the survival of cryptocurrency. But let’s not dig the grave yet on digital currency. A variety of cryptocurrency tokens. Credit: Roger Brown Memo to aspiring journalists: be wary of new year’s...
There’s been some pretty scary drops in the value of some cryptocurrencies – money that only exists as computer code. Last year, for example, crypto token Terra Luna fell from about $120 to two cents in less than 48 hours, wiping out entire fortunes. In this story, correspondent Robert Holloway explains what digital currency is, why it is so volatile and why it might just last.
Exercise: Give every student a stack of “currency” with each stack labeled differently. Then on a big screen have a chart that shows the value of each slip of paper according to the color or letter. Each value will start at $1,000 so if a student has 10 slips they start off with a stack worth $10,000. Present a list of commodities they can buy at different prices. Let them see how much they can buy with their currency stack. Then change the values of the currency on the chart for different students with some going up in value and some going down in value. How does that change how much each student can buy? What does it do to their net worth? Keep changing the values so that students experience wealth and poverty depending on what value is placed on their slips of paper.
by Betty Wong | 5 Jan 2023 | Climate decoders, Economy, Educators' Catalog, Environment, Writing's on the Wall
Turn on the tap, and the world’s most valuable commodity pours out. Maybe it’s time to invest in water — to line our pockets and protect our planet. Clean water pours from a hose. Credit: Cassio Henrique. Getty Images. This article is the seventh in a...
Water is one of the most important commodities in the world. It is also tradable as companies seek to make money by purifying and distributing it. Some organizations that are pushing for climate change action are investing in water companies to pressure private industry to be better stewards of water. These investments in water stocks are proving to be financially profitable.
Exercise: The story identifies a list of companies that provide water or water infrastructure: IDEX Corp., Xylem Inc., Danaher Corp., Ecolab, Roper Industries, Pentair Plc, Ferguson Plc and American Water Works Co. Inc. Divide students into investment teams with $1 million each to invest. Have them first brainstorm ways water and systems for providing water could be improved in their area or elsewhere. Then have them look up the website of one or more of those companies to see if they can tell what the company does to improve water supply or quality. Would their $1 million invested in that company help towards the improvements they identified as needed?
by Bernd Debusmann | 2 Jan 2023 | Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Politics, World
Where diplomacy balances demagoguery, should one nation be able to veto the votes of 192 others? Giving peace a chance might just be too much to ask. Non–Violence or The Knotted Gun by Carl Fredrik Reutersward, UN New York. Licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 Hands up if you...
Global citizenship and cross-border collaboration has never mattered more. Among the 193 nations that make up the United Nations, the island nation of Tuvalu – less than 13,000 people – has the same vote on referendums in the General Assembly as China, which has more than 1 billion people. But China also serves on the UN Security Council and so can veto any proposal. Because of this strange inequity, the UN has been unable to stop ethnically-driven massacres, genocidal persecution of minorities and other smaller conflicts. On the other hand, it is bringing the world together on climate change.
Exercise: Turn your class into a mini United Nations. Each student will get one vote. But appoint a small number of students to also serve on the Security Council. (You might choose the tallest, biggest students to emphasize the idea of power imbalance.) Have students propose changes that should be made by the school or your class. Then have the students on the Security Council see if they are willing to endorse the idea, with any one student on it given the power to quash the proposal. Then have students discuss the pros and cons of that structure and the power of the veto.
by Tira Shubart | 14 Dec 2022 | Climate decoders, Educators' Catalog, Science, Space, Writing's on the Wall
Oh Tang! If our seas rise too high there are exoplanets to settle. But hope you like freeze-dried food, because it’s a long trip out there. This illustration shows a fictional astronaut on Mars, as viewed through the window of a spacecraft. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)...
Fearing the prospect that our seas will rise and our climate will get too hot to make life comfortable on Earth, some smart people are thinking about new homes in outer space. But is there a so-called Planet B we could actually reach in a spaceship and what would life be like there? In an entertaining article that takes us through time and space, correspondent Tira Shubart explores these possibilities and comes to the conclusion that maybe we should concentrate our money and energy on cleaning up our own backyard.
Exercise: Shubart tells us that it is unlikely that Mars could be made habitable for humans. But let’s say that your students could come up with the technology that would make that possible. What would they need to produce to make Mars a place where people could live? Have them brainstorm a list of devices that would solve the problems Shubart discusses in the article. Then ask them to come up with a list of ways we could clean up our environment on earth.
by Maria Ermanni | 9 Dec 2022 | Contest winners, Educators' Catalog, Health and Wellness, Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich, Student Posts, Technology, Youth Voices
Social media can harm a young person’s mental health. Can youth be taught to use the platforms responsibly and avoid excessive consumption? Teenage girl under pressure to achieve (Ikon Images via AP Images) This article, by high school student Maria Ermanni,...
While there are positive aspects to social media platforms, they can also pose mental health risks. There is the fear of missing out and pressure to become more beautiful, slimmer, cooler and sportier. Student Maria Ermanni of Realgymnasium Rämibühl in Zürich talked to an expert about the positives and negatives of social media for teens and reached the conclusion that while social platforms have become an indispensable part of our daily lives, the responsibility for safe media use lies with the user.
Exercise: Have students write a paragraph that describes their best and worst experience with social media. Then ask them to consider whether they think that there should be limits on what people can post and share on social media, and if yes, what those limits should be. Ultimately, do they think that the benefits of social media outweigh the negative toll it has taken on the mental health of young people?
by Aralynn Abare McMane | 8 Dec 2022 | Contests, Educators' Catalog, Environment, European School Brussels
Winners of a worldwide competition will get cash prizes as well as coaching from News Decoder and publication on the News Decoder site. Announcing the Climate Champion Profiles storytelling competition Teenage journalists worldwide are invited to profile someone who...
News Decoder is a member of a consortium of organizations implementing a multifaceted project to engage youth with climate change issues and actions. In this article, News Decoder Adviser Aralynn Abare McMane invites high school students across the world to identify and interview someone in their community working to solve the climate crisis in a significant way, then write an article or produce a video or podcast about that person for submission to a worldwide contest.
Exercise: Find an individual in your community who is trying to fight climate change in a real way. Have students research that person by looking up relevant websites and reading any news articles that have been done or watching any videos that feature that person. Then invite the person to talk to your class and have students prepare questions they would need answered in order to write a profile of that person. Have each student write a profile and submit the best one to the The Writing’s on the Wall Climate Champions Storytelling Competition.
by Stella Mapenzauswa | 5 Dec 2022 | Africa, Culture, Educators' Catalog
Outside of Africa, audiences and streaming services generally spurn the thousands of films made in Africa each year. But that could change. A scene from the movie “Vuta N’Kuvute” (Courtesy of Kijiweni Productions) Tanzanian film “Vuta...
Correspondent Stella Mapenzauswa tells us about a romantic movie set in Tanzania during colonial times that could be nominated for an Oscar. That’s a rare feat for a movie made in Africa even though thousands of movies are made each year on the continent and one of the top-grossing films of all time — “Black Panther” — was set in Africa. This article examines that paradox and asks us to consider what movies audiences in the Global North will pay to see, what movies Hollywood chooses to promote and what that means for movie producers and audiences elsewhere in the world.
Exercise: Ask students to write down the last five movies they have watched with the places those movies are set in. Using Google My Maps or a paper world map, have students plot their movies on one map. How many of the places are fictitious or extraterrestrial? Does their collective movie watching reflect diverse locations around the world or are they all watching the same movies set in the same places? Do they think this is because they have chosen to watch these movies or is it a reflection of the choices of movies they are given to select from?
by Luna Lee | 17 Nov 2022 | China, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Miss Porter's School, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Youth Voices
My parents bring school supplies and health necessities to rural China. “The Forgotten Schools of Ghost Town” is my calling, too. Four students walk up a barren mountain with dusty backpacks on their shoulders. We see them every year. The four are always...
Student reporter Luna Lee of Miss Porter’s School in the U.S. state of Connecticut gives a heart wrenching account of how children in rural parts of China willingly trek long distances in harsh conditions for an education housed in places few people would consider a school. Her first person story about a nonprofit run by her parents to help these schools and these young people demonstrates how in many places education is a privilege that people don’t take for granted.
Exercise: Students should consider whether in their own country education is considered a privilege or a human right. Have students look at this map of data from UNESCO of primary school completion rates and determine in what countries the fewest and largest percentages of students who go on to secondary education.
by Barry Moody | 16 Nov 2022 | Educators' Catalog, Europe, Government, Politics
Britain’s Conservative Party won a landslide in 2019. Now the Tories and their elite are the butt of jokes overseas as polls point to possible humiliation. 10 Downing Street, the official residence and office of the British Prime Minister, in London, 20 October...
Politics can seem boring to some young people. But in Britain it is anything but. Correspondent Barry Moody takes us through the musical chairs of British prime ministers and shows how political divisions inside the British government over Brexit, taxes and the economy could lead to a breakup of the United Kingdom.
Exercise: Create teams of five. Each team should choose one member to be prime minister. The other four students should each take on the roles of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They should each do some basic research on their region’s current relationship with the British government. The student who is the prime minister will research and consider the importance of having these countries united into one government. Together they will create a poster that explains the individual identities of the four countries and how they benefit or are disadvantaged by their subordination to a united government.
by Jeremy Lovell | 9 Nov 2022 | Climate decoders, Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Environment, Writing's on the Wall
Climate change requires global, systemic action if we are to save Earth. But each of us can help bring pressure for the painful changes needed. Greta Thunberg at a climate strike outside the United Nations in New York, 30 August 2019 (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) This...
Can one person’s actions really help save our planet? The news on climate science is often bleak but Correspondent Jeremy Lovell tells us why we should each think of ourselves as one of a billion climate activists environmental advocate Greta Thunberg seeks to mobilize. And together we can push governments and corporations for changes that can save our planet.
Exercise: Have students come up with a short list of steps they think your national or regional government should and could take to fight climate change. Have each student write a letter to the president or your governor asking them to push for legislation that would accomplish this.
