Development: Introduction
Learning Objectives
- Students learn about the basics of global development.
- Students will learn about the sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and research the progress of their local community toward achieving them.
Materials
Homework
- Students will complete Part 1 of the guided reading handout.
Class
- (10 Minutes) Debrief Homework: Share out key takeaways from the assigned homework. On the board, write down these following key terms: GDP/ GDP per capita/ preconditions for economic growth/ foreign aid/ Sustainable Development Goals/ population growth/ poverty/literacy/ life expectancy. As a class, come up with working definitions for each.
- (5 Minutes) Watch: Global Development Explained
- (20 Minutes) Jigsaw: Assessing Development Around the World
- Divide the class into groups and assign each group a country from a different level of development by using the Human Development Index or this list:
- Students should use these recommended links to help find information and take notes using the attached handout about their countries that address the five conditions for economic growth:
- peace and stability
- education
- access to capital
- rule of law
- opportunity
- (10 Minutes) Share: Ask each group to share their key takeaways from assessing development around the world. What stood out most about your country as you looked into its development? Do you agree with the factors used to determine levels of development? Which factor is the most supportive of development?
Homework
- Complete Part 3 of the guided reading handout.
Class Two
- (5 Minutes) Debrief Homework: Students will share their key takeaways from Part 3 of the Guided Reading Handout. Consider: Why is promoting development so important?
- (15 Minutes) Complete: Students will complete 4 of the guided reading handout. They will consider the following: What are SDGs? What are the three main characteristics that distinguish SDGs from the Millennium Development Goals?
- (15 Minutes) Activity: What are the SDGs?
- Divide students into groups and assign them a set of goals. There are 17 goals in total and each group should be assigned a minimum of three goals to help ensure some connection to their local community.
- Have each student visit the UN SDG website, click on their assigned goal, and then click on “Targets and Indicators” for their goal. Have students rewrite the targets and indicators in their own words.
- Brainstorm 3–5 examples of ways in which students’ communities could advance SDGs.
- (10 Minutes) Reflection: In a short writing assignment, have students address: Why is it important to take a global approach to sustainable development, rather than focusing on the least developed countries in the world?
Optional Homework
- Using the targets and indicators as research topics, have students research how their local community is doing at meeting their goals and report back to their peers during the next class.
Vocabulary
- emissions
refers to the amount of greenhouse gases an entity, such as a country or company, produces.
- financial reserves
savings a country holds in its central bank, usually in a strong foreign currency like the U.S. dollar.
- fracking
another name for hydraulic fracturing, a process through which natural gas and oil are extracted from the earth.
- GDP per capita
a measure of a country’s economic output determined by the value of goods and services it produces in a given year, or gross domestic product, divided by the number of people in that country.
- greenhouse gases
gases that absorb heat in the atmosphere and re-emit it back toward earth, causing a warming effect.
- gross domestic product
a measure of a country’s economic output determined by the value of goods and services it produces in a given year.
- least developed countries
low-income countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, that face substantial hindrances to development. The list of such countries is decided by the UN Economic and Social Council. People who live in LDCs often lack access to basic infrastructure, including the internet.
- renewable energy
energy derived from sources such as sunlight, wind, and water, which have a steadily replenishing supply.
- rule of law
the idea that laws established through proper processes, not the arbitrary decisions of rulers, should govern a society.
- Sustainable Development Goals
seventeen global development goals, applicable to all countries, put forth by the United Nations in 2015. Countries seek to meet these wide-ranging goals (from the eradication of poverty to the protection of the planet and universal and affordable internet access) by 2030.