Global contexts and explorations

Global context title Possible explorations

focus questions and description

IDENTITIES AND RELATIONSHIPS • Competition and cooperation

• Happiness and the good life
Who am I? Who are we? • Teams
• Physical
Students will explore identity; beliefs and values; • Affiliation and leadership
personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual • Psychological and social development
health; human relationships including families, • Identity formation
• Transitions
friends, communities and cultures; what it means
• Self-esteem
to be human.
• Health and well-being
• Status
• Lifestyle choices
• Roles and role models
• Human nature and human dignity
• Personal efficacy and agency
• Moral reasoning and ethical
• Attitudes
judgement
• Motivations
• Consciousness and mind
• Independence

ORIENTATION IN SPACE AND TIME • Civilizations and social histories

• Frequency and variability
What is the meaning of “where” and “when”? • Heritage
• Peoples
Students will explore personal histories; homes and • Pilgrimage
journeys; turning points in humankind; discoveries; • Boundaries
explorations and migrations of humankind; the • Migration
relationships between, and them interconnectedness • Exchange and interaction
of, individuals and civilizations, from personal, local • Displacement and exchange
• Natural and human landscapes and
and global perspectives.
• Epochs
resources
• Eras
 • Evolution
• Turning points and “big history”
• Constraints and adaptation
• Scale
• Indigenous understanding
• Duration

PERSONAL AND CULTURAL EXPRESSION • Artistry

• Ritual and play
What is the nature and purpose of creative expression? • Craft
• Critical literacy
Students will explore the ways in which we discover • Creation
and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs • Languages and linguistic systems
and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend • Beauty
and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the • Histories of ideas
• Products
aesthetic.
• Fields and disciplines
• Systems and institutions
• Analysis and argument
• Social constructions of reality
• Metacognition and abstract thinking
• Philosophies and ways of life
• Entrepreneurship
• Belief systems
• Practice and competency

Global contexts and explorations

Global context title Possible explorations
focus questions and description
 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INNOVATION • Systems
• Consequences and responsibility
How do we understand the world in which we live? • Models
• Modernization
Students will explore the natural world and its laws; • Methods
the interaction between people and the natural • Industrialization and engineering
world; how humans use their understanding of • Products
scientific principles; • Digital life
• Processes and solutions
the impact of scientific and technological advances
• Virtual environments and the
on communities and environments; the impact of
• Adaptation
environments on human activity; how humans
Information Age
adapt environments to their needs. • Ingenuity and progress
• The biological revolution
• Opportunity
• Mathematical puzzles
• Risk
• Principles and discoveries

GLOBALIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY • Markets

• Population and demography
How is everything connected? • Urban planning
• Commodities and commercialization
Students will explore the interconnectedness of • Strategy and infrastructure
human-made systems and communities; the • Human impact on the environment
relationship between local and global processes; • Commonality
how local experiences mediate the global; the • Data-driven decision-making
opportunities and tensions provided by • Diversity and interconnection
world-interconnectedness; the impact of • Consumption
decision-making on humankind and the • Conservation
environment. • Scarcity
• Natural resources and public goods
 FAIRNESS AND DEVELOPMENT • Civic responsibility and the public
• Democracy
What are the consequences of our common humanity? sphere
• Politics
Students will explore rights and responsibilities; • Justice
the relationship between communities; sharing • Government and civil society
finite resources with other people and with • Peace and conflict
other living things; access to equal • Inequality
opportunities; peace and conflict resolution. • Ecology and disparate impact
• Difference and inclusion
• Human capability and development
• Power and privilege
• Social entrepreneurs
• Authority
• Rights
• Security and freedom
• Law
• Imagining a hopeful future