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World Affairs Challenge 2004 in Pictures
Teamwork
Eleven teams of 7-12 students spent up to twelve weeks researching
and preparing a formal presentation on the annual theme
for 2004, "Human Rights: The Rights of the Child."
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The
Judges
The Challenge also provided an exceptional chance for business
and community leaders to engage with young people on substantive
issues by volunteering as judges. In this way, these leaders
both encouraged the students to be future leaders and contributed
to developing a work force and an electorate attuned to
international events and how they relate to the lives of
Americans.
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| The
"Global Awareness Quiz"
The first event of the day was a short, multiple-choice assessment
that tested students' knowledge of global geography, world
events, and aspects of the annual theme. |
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The
"Formal Presentation"
The second and main event was the Formal Presentation, during
which each team had 15 minutes to present its extensive
research and analysis, to identify the major policy issues
raised, and to propose reasonable solutions. The students'
challenge was to design a presentation that best communicated
their understanding of the topic's complexities. Many presentations
took the form of creative skits or simulations.
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The
"Collaborative Question"
In the third event, students were organized into new teams
with peers from other schools. They were then presented with
a real-world scenario, including support materials and data,
regarding child rights in Pakistan, for which they had about
30 minutes to come to consensus on a response. After this
preparation time, judges joined the teams to hear student
ideas and engage in substantive dialogue with them regarding
the scenario and the role they could play as United States
citizens in facilitating a solution. |
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The "Discovery Poster"
The fourth event was the judging of each team’s Discovery
Poster, created in advance as a visual representation of their Formal
Presentation, which allowed students to see each other’s research,
analysis, and findings.
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Looking Beyond the Challenge
While a rigorous academic program, the Challenge successfully
helped many middle school students reach beyond their comfort zone
and learn about issues involving children their own age in other
parts of the world. It assisted the students in understanding the
complexities of global problems and helped them to learn the value
of teamwork and global responsibility. Furthermore, it strengthened
their critical thinking skills, helped them to see the relevance
of academic study to real world problems, and exposed them to career
paths and/or areas of study that address these problems.
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