E-Block

Southern Cross University, Lismore 2480

(02) 5632 1218

Office hours - 8:00 to 4:30pm

Monday - Friday

Teaching time is until 3:10pm

Using local and global contexts

As young individuals and as members of local and global communities, students make sense of the world through their life experiences and the world around them. IB programmes emphasize contextualized teaching because the more students can relate to their learning, the more likely they are to engage with it. Equally valuable is that contextualized teaching, like conceptually focused teaching, enables students to see the applications of their learning, helping them get to the heart of why they are learning what they are learning.

 

To appreciate the role of contexts to relevant learning, it is helpful to think of contexts as students’ frames of reference. When students are learning in a contextualized way, they are grounding abstract ideas and new information in familiar real-life situations. In a classroom where contextualized learning and teaching is the norm, concepts and theories are related to accessible and meaningful examples, illustrations and stories, which again inform further conceptual and theoretical understandings.

Examples

Examples of contextualized teaching approaches and activities in global politics include:

  • a weekly news briefing in class, where current local and/or global news is discussed and connected with the key concepts and theories being studied
  • extensive, research-based analyses of contemporary political issues debated at various levels of global politics
  • drawing on students’ backgrounds, experiences and interests
  • individual students becoming “experts” on a territory, issue or theme over time; teachers can then draw on this expertise in specific situations for the benefit of the whole class
  • participating in a virtual student community where the same political issues are explored by students from different parts of the world
  • real-life learning experiences, especially the engagement project.