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How
Much Impact?
How
Global Versus National News Affects Us
Subject
Area
This activity addresses the question of how we are affected by
Global versus National News Media. As part of the History (HWT
4A1, HWT 4G1) curriculum, this activity introduces “Studies
in the Global Village.”
Learning
Outcomes
Teaching, learning and evaluation will focus on the student’s
ability to:
- Participate
in a survey and interpret the results;
- Recognize
the subjective nature of reported information and the need to
respond with a critical mind;
- Discover
the need to be active agents rather than passive recipients
in the education and information process concerning global issues.
Classroom
Development
- Distribute
copies of How Much Impact? Ask students to complete the survey
and indicate the extent to which each headline might affect
them as individuals and as Canadian citizens.
- When
everyone has completed the exercise, “debrief” the
class to get a consensus response to each item. For the first
item, you might reproduce the 1—5 continuum on the chalkboard
and record the number of responses for each number on the scale;
for the remaining headlines, oral responses should be sufficient
to yield the general degrees of perceived impact.
- To stimulate
discussion, you might briefly explore the following effects
of each headline:
• Long-term vs. short-term effects. For example, rising
oil prices should have a relatively long-term effect on the
Canadian economy and on the ability of students’ families
to drive motor vehicles and heat their homes. Similarly, a peace
accord in the Middle East might have a long-term effect on global
peace which would lessen the chance of Canadian involvement
in war. The Brazilian freeze and the Bolivian strikes, on the
other hand, would have relatively short-term effects on the
prices of coffee and tin in Canada.
• Direct vs. indirect effects. Rising OPEC prices would
have a direct and immediate effect both on individual citizens
and on the nation’s economy. The European flu epidemic
would have a direct effect only on Canadian citizens who happened
to be in that area at the time.
- You
can help students assess global interdependence on a personal
level by asking whether they have ever:
• Visited another country;
• Written to or heard from a relative or friend who lives
in another country;
• Talked to anyone who has lived abroad about his or her
experiences;
• Read or subscribed to a newspaper or magazine that was
published in another country;
• Seen a motion picture that was produced in another country
(excluding the US);
• Listened to a radio program in a language other than
English;
• Driven or ridden in a car that was not made in Canada;
• Owned a television set, calculator, stereo, or other
appliance that was not manufactured in the Canada.
- To summarize,
ask the class to decide how interdependent the world seems to
be on the whole. They might want to vote by means of a 1-5 scale,
with 1 representing little interdependence and 5 representing
much interdependence.
Timing
Allow one period for the completion of this activity.
Resources
Switzer, Kenneth and Paul Mulloy. Global Issues: Activities and
Resources for the High School Teacher. Denver: Centre for Teaching
International Relations, 2nd edition,1987, p. 4. (Note—permission
for use found in book).
Student
Activity
How Much
Impact?
Listed below are 15 headlines from North American newspapers.
Next to each headline are two continuum scales used to measure
the degree of impact of the event depicted in the headline. Use
the first scale to indicate how much impact the event would have
on you as an individual. Use the second scale to indicate the
degree of impact the event could have on Canada as a nation. Indicate
your choices by circling a number from 1 (small impact) to 5 (large
impact) on each scale. Be prepared to defend your choice with
anecdotal evidence.
- OPEC
Nations Raise Oil Prices 10%
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Freeze
Strikes Brazilian Coffee Plantations
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Dollar
Falls in European Money Markets
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Strikes
Close Bolivian Tin Mines
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Newfoundland’s
Northern Cod Fishery to Be Mothballed For Two
Years—19 000 Job Layoffs
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Flu
Epidemic Strikes Europe
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Québec
Vows to Cut Its Ties with Canada Within One Year
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Mexico
Discovers New Oil Reserves
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Oil
Spill Pollutes Mediterranean Beaches
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Egyptian-Israeli
Peace Accord Nears
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Russian
Wheat Harvest Below Expectations
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Kenya
Approves Use of DDT
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- India
Announces Development of H-bomb
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Strikes
in Iran Stop Oil Production
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
- Japan
Shuts Down All Honda Plants in Canada
Impact on me 1 2 3 4 5
Impact on Canada 1 2 3 4 5
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