UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS COME TO LIFE WITH EDUCATION PROGRAM
In alignment with Earth Day 2022, it is the perfect opportunity to announce a unique, digital platform that brings the UN Sustainable Development Goals to life through global student education and collaboration between our schools..
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE UN AND CANADIAN VALUES MAKES SENSE
The Maple Bear methodology features the best of the Canadian curriculum. And the long-standing Canadian attitude toward multiculturalism is infused within our Maple Bear curriculum, providing our students with Canadian cross-cultural skills.
This attitude, along with Canada’s approach to world security, created the foundation for the concept of Peace Keeping to emerge, which was founded in 1956. This connection between the Canadian value of multiculturalism and the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping efforts is a hallmark of the multicultural approach to teaching and learning.
Maple Bear brings the connection between multicultural peace and understanding and the work of the United Nations together in our newest curriculum innovation – the Maple Bear Global Connections for Sustainability Program.
How can we nurture cross-cultural connection and enhance understanding while exploring the biggest issues that face the livelihood of our planet today?
ONE OF A KIND PROGRAM SHARES LEARNING EXPERIENCES AROUND THE GLOBE
The Global Connections for Sustainability Program (GCP) is an opportunity for our Maple Bear students around the world to engage and learn together across borders and build their knowledge around global sustainability issues.
Through the GCP, Maple Bear seeks to connect students virtually around the world and facilitate exploration, discussion and collaboration centred around the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER THROUGH CULTURAL AND ACADEMIC EXCHANGES
A digital platform incorporating the latest online learning approaches, the GCP seeks to have Maple Bear students travel the world without ever leaving the classroom.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) will be the basis of their exploration. These goals are aimed at achieving peace and prosperity worldwide by addressing key global issues like climate change, quality education and poverty.
The students will look at the SDG topics and unearth the critical issues around a specific goal as it relates to their country. Action research will be an important step in the Project, as students make decisions about actions they can take to improve the specific goal in their area.
The opportunities for real-world work and change are not only engaging but also transformational.
Students will be cultivating their collaborative skills, inquiry skills but also their social justice and advocacy skills. The excitement of improving one’s own home and having the power to do so is inspiring and builds a sense of eagerness to learn and to be empowered to make change.
Throughout this project, students will be connecting with similar-aged students in countries like Brazil, India and Vietnam. Paired with classes who are studying the same SDG from their own regional perspectives, students will present their findings to one another through video conferences.
UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS BECOME A LEARNING OPPORTUNITY
Ultimately Maple Bear students will be making the UN sustainability goals a reality in their communities and sharing their research and results with their partner school on the other side of the globe.
This one-of-a-kind program will develop lifelong inquiry skills about topics that matter in our modern world while at the same time instilling a multicultural approach to collaboration and problem-solving.
Maple Bear students worldwide will set a new standard for what it means to be a global citizen.
