As a state official, I attend many meetings. Admittedly, not all these meetings are exciting or enjoyable, but all are a learning opportunity. This was decidedly different at one such meeting. This meeting was a gathering of education officials from around the globe, including Nigeria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, India, and Australia, and I was fortunate to be selected as a delegate representing the United States. As we dug into the issues facing educators and education today, I was struck by one overwhelming theme: we—all of us—were discussing the same issues as a global community. No matter the community dynamics, economic makeup, or demographics, it was the same; in essence, these global issues are local issues.
The Universal Challenge of AI in the Classroom
These issues became apparent during one exchange between me and my counterpart from Nigeria. We were examining the impact of AI on education. This discussion took a variety of twists and turns, with some of the topics touching on some of the very issues that CFR Education aims to address. We discussed the need for the development of skills and student agency as it relates to everyday situations.
While we were each speaking of this through the lens of our own location, me in the U.S. and her in Nigeria, we were framing it in a global context. To no one’s surprise, our conversation concerning classroom education was eerily similar. Here again, the same global issue concerning her community, in this case AI, was almost word-for-word the same conversations happening in communities across the United States, and more locally for me, in Kansas.
These global-to-local educational needs we were discussing were for something more than rote memorization. What we were discussing—separated by an ocean and 7,000 miles—were the educational needs for students to develop skills as independent learners, not beholden to an instructor interpreting the content for the student, but rather the student analyzing and using the content as a tool. We were both discussing situational moments of learning or simulations. Moments and situations that change with each student and each class. Something AI has difficulty generating: authentic learning. Simulations engage students personally, maximize global perspectives while integrating local connections, and promote student agency.
A Case Study on Soft Power
CFR Education offers numerous simulations. A personal favorite asks students to consider the United States’ use of soft power to enhance its standing around the world. The Soft Power simulation is the perfect local-to-global lesson. Think about it: Should U.S. dollars be used to support projects in far-flung communities around the world to support education initiatives, dig water wells, or provide lifesaving medications? Is this worth the money and time? Is it ethical? Is it effective? How do we know? These compelling questions cannot be addressed fully through a Google search or an AI engine query, because the answers are dependent on a human and humans are, well…human.
Instead, students are challenged to grapple with the “grey,” knowing that there is no one right answer. Students are provided an essential set of documents; they are tasked with analysis, synthesis, and corroboration, and they are motivated to collaborate. The goal? Consensus built around evidence and reasoning, not conquest built on intimidation. As students build their skills through each simulation, they build the local-global connection, making the world a bit smaller, and in those moments of connectedness, students build civic empathy.
Assessment, The Kansas Way
As my newly found thought partner from Nigeria, the rest of the meeting participants, and I continued to discuss skills, simulations, empathy, and the local-to-global connections, our conversation naturally turned to assessments. And not any assessment, but high-stakes assessments. Think: state assessments. At this moment, my face lit up. For state assessments? Yes, state assessments! As a state official, it is my responsibility to make the best educational opportunities available to all Kansas teachers.
I regaled the group with the Kansas assessment story, one that would challenge state testing norms, by providing students' voice and choice through independent product development, which supports and scaffolds learning for students of various needs, and positions educators as trusted professionals. The outcome? The Classroom-Based Assessment or CBA. Much like CFR Education’s simulations, the CBA asks students to answer a compelling question, grapple with the “grey”, building important skills, while recognizing their brilliance through the creation of a product of their design based on “Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning”. It is because of these shared foundational elements that Kansas teachers can adapt, structure, or embed components of CFR Education’s simulations into or as part of a CBA while also using the simulations as stand-alone lessons; it’s a brilliant two-for-one for Kansas!
Connecting Classrooms Around the World
As we ended our meeting, we all agreed. Teachers, whether they are in Cambridge, Lagos, Stockholm, or Topeka, are always looking for materials to bridge divides, strengthen skills, embrace corroboration, and encourage critical and independent thinking in students. Teachers can do all of this while preparing their students for a world that is highly connected and complex, where we are all facing the same issues, even if we are oceans apart, because all local issues are global issues.
To find more classroom simulations similar to those referenced in this blog post, please visit the following link.
Want to try the simulations that educators used the most this year?
- Korean War in 1950
- NATO Enlargement in 1994
- U.S. Foreign Policy: Multilateralism or Unilateralism?
- Dispute in Kashmir
- Stopping Deforestation in the Amazon
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Nathan (Nate) McAlister serves as the Humanities Program Manager for History, Government, and Social Studies, Library, World Languages, Indigenous Education, and Financial Literacy at the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE). A former middle and high school social studies teacher for 24 years, Nate now serves on the board of the Kansas Council for History Education and the Council of State Social Studies Specialists and is a CFR Education Ambassador.