Global ripples showcase

Twelve teams of students showcased their 'Global Ripples' projects in a series of lively and compelling presentations and role plays at the Kingswood campus on 25 September 2008. Global Ripples was a partnership between UWS (the School of Education) and AusAid to promote global education. It involved pre-service teachers from UWS mentoring 24 Year 8 students from Penrith High School. In turn, the Year 8 students mentored 48 Year 5 and 6 students from Colyton Public School, hence the rippling effect. The Year 5 and 6 students designed projects with their Year 8 mentors and the UWS pre-service teachers. They researched global warming, poor sanitation and poor work conditions in countries outside Australia. They delved into their own families’ histories and considered ways to create a more just and peaceful society. The Eight Musketeers developed an interactive web page and placed it on MySpace to raise awareness of poverty. Its content was outlined in their powerpoint presentation, and Geoff Yates, the Principal of Colyton Public School, was chosen from the audience to explore the site via a laptop. Lifting the Lid developed a powerpoint and a poster highlighting poor living conditions in developing countries compared with our own living conditions in Australia. UN Cool Kids role-played a hypothetical debate at the UN about cruelty to animals. SuperCalaFreakingAwesome produced a book with illustrations and information on their families’ history, each member focusing on one particular ancestor who had emigrated, or whose descendants had emigrated to Australia. The Gap role-played a scenario and displayed a poster about the differences between quality of life in Australia and in third world countries. The Mugabe Madness team presented a fast-moving and engrossing role-play as well as a powerpoint around 2008 events in Zimbabwe. Soul of my Shoe explored working conditions and practices used to make shoes in developing countries. Global Connections Airlines created great excitement with the audience vociferously participating in an auction of different countries. Presenting against Poverty performed a script they had written highlighting the prevalence and impact of poverty. Operation Extreme Penguin Justice presented on the effects of global warming, assisted by 3D penguins they made from recycled materials and a video of these sculptures intercut with actual penguins. Deserted Down Under explored a scenario where Australia had been cut off from the rest of the world. The Racism Information Group (R.I.P) presented a short film they had made to draw attention to the negative impact of racism. The enthusiasm and inventiveness of the students was clear in the varied and interesting presentations and performances, and clearly the project had built their skills in research, analysis, teamwork and communication, as well as their knowledge of crucial global issues. The teams were congratulated by Dr Anne Power of the UWS School of Education, who said that everyone involved in the project was very proud of them. Acknowledgement: This showcase was published with the permission from the University of Western Sydney.