Paul Miller, Director of Global Initiatives - NAIS

miller@nais.org

NAIS Challenge 20/20: “Solving Global Problems Two Schools at a Time”

The Book: High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them

Sharing our planet: Issues involving the global community

Global warming

Biodiversity and ecosystem losses

Fisheries depletion

Deforestation

Water deficits

Maritime safety and pollution

Sharing our humanity: Issues requiring a global

commitment Massive step-up in the fight against poverty

Peacekeeping, conflict prevention, combating terrorism

Education for all

Global infectious diseases

Digital divide

Natural disaster prevention and mitigation

Sharing our rule book: Issues needing a global regulatory

approach

Reinventing taxation for the twenty-first century

Biotechnology rules

Global financial architecture

Illegal drugs

Trade, investment, and competition rules

Intellectual property rights

E-commerce rules

International labor and migration rules

Current institutions ill prepared and insufficiently agile to deal with these problems

Create new networks

Why not student networks?

Three Programs:

Challenge 20/20, the

Global Issues Network

and the Student News

action Network

Challenge 20/20: International education

program

Internet-based program with no cost and no travel required

Cross-cultural partnerships

Open to public and private schools, elementary and secondary

Goals

Creative problem-solving

Collaboration

Communication with students from a different country and culture

Community service, service learning

Learning different

perspectives

Partnerships

Some schools are already working

together (sister schools etc).

Others are paired by NAIS based on grade level

topic of interest

preferred partner school and/or location

when they want to start (1st or 2nd term)

Structure

Relatively unstructured: no benchmarks or performance standards

Paperwork: registration process; reports

Participants

1500 U.S. schools/classes and 1,000 non-U.S. institutions

Almost 1,000 partnerships.

Schools in more than 100 countries and 47 U.S. states have participated.

2010-2011

175 Teams

450 Schools

56 Countries

44 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

North Carolina Participants

Union Academy, Monroe, NC

Carver High School, Winston-Salem, NC

Canterbury School, Greensboro, NC

to Participate in Challenge 20/20:

Term One: (September to December) or Term Two: (January to May)

All applications for either term are to be submitted to NAIS by August 31

Partnerships and announcements are made at the end of August/beginning of September

Apply online at: http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020.

Examples

the Montessori School of Denver (Colorado) and the Imwiko Basic School of Zambia

the students designed, built, and tested a collapsible mosquito spring net based on a child’s toy or a collapsible laundry basket.

The online site included areas for posting photos, drawings, and video as well as discussion blogs as an effective way to tweak and bring the “spring net design” to reality.

ExamplesMount Saint Joseph Academy, Flourtown, PA, and St. Joseph's Convent Girls' Senior Secondary School, Jabalpur, India 

Global problem: Infectious Diseases9-12

Students launched a charitable partnership with two impoverished towns in India.

Examples

Elementary School Partnership

PK-5Bright School, Chattanooga, TN, partnered with Colegio

Cristobal Colon, Lomas Verdes, Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexico.

Global Problem:  Water Deficits

Students are running informational campaigns including public service TV spots they created, to encourage water conservation.

Examples

St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Memphis Tennessee and Steigerwald Landschulheim Gymnasium

Wiesentheid Germany

9-12Global Infectious Diseases

Schools concentrated on hygiene

Created The Helping Hands Program

Sanitizers and educational tools put in to the Hospital Benjamin Bloom in El Salvador, working with an NGO there

GIN in Europe, Asia and the Middle East

Student News Action Network Globally

Now affiliated with taking It Global – new website coming

Current site: http://www.studentnewsaction.net/