 |
| Written by David J. Smith Illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong |
If the World Were a Village takes the entire world and compresses the population to a size of 100 "global citizens." This number is used as a way for students to conceptualize the statistical data compiled by global researchers to determine the inequality of resources and the makeup of our global society. The first page gives a breakdown of nationalities, with 61 people from Asia. Language is discussed next, where readers can see that 22 citizens speak a Chinese dialect. The largest group of ages is 10-19 year olds, with 19 global citizens. Religions are next, with 32 Christians. For food consumption, there are 189 chickens, as compared to the 31 sheep and goats. 32 people breathe unhealthy air, only 31 attend school, 20 people live on less than a dollar a day, and 24 do not have electricity. The book is designed to teach "world-mindedness." This book is very successful at bringing the large population numbers and translating them to a scale that students can comprehend. The scope and sequence of the social sciences places importance in early elementary students on "self." This egocentric world that many students live in is not conducive to a natural understanding of such large numbers. 100 students could easily be represented as the number of kindergarteners in total. I feel that this number is so critical to model explicitly, that this book may serve a greater purpose by assembling the classes together. That way, the students can participate in an active lesson where some are asked to stand up, while the others remain seated.
In the back of the book, the author offers guidance for teaching children about the global village. First, students should have access to a map of the world. An up to date map displayed on a wall will help students to locate "self in the world." A wonderful strategy offered by the author is to ask some questions to which no known answers can be provided.
"If there's really enough food in the world, why do some people still go hungry?"
"What forms of government do different countries have? Why are they so many forms of government? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
The interdisciplinary value of If the World Were a Village is seminal to the book's purpose in the classroom. This text offers mathematical concepts, social studies of humanities, science, and reading. Portions of these interdisciplinary approaches could be adapted to any lesson plan.
The animated version is also worth viewing in the classroom.
This book looks so neat! I read a children's nonfiction picture book about the earth/rotation and more science based but this looks like a really interesting book incorporating population and social studies. I think that it is helpful for children when they can rationalize and look at the world in terms that they can imagine such as smaller numbers and proportions. Cool!
ReplyDelete