In the Global Perspectives class, Year 9 students worked together on a research project on the Sustainable Development Goals following World Earth Day. The project, directed by Global Perspectives teacher Ms. Illingworth, aimed to develop teamwork skills and a deeper understanding of global issues.

The students were asked to use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals website to research each of the 17 goals. They were asked to make an informative PPT which summarises each goal, without plagiarising. Then they were asked to think of one problem they are facing at school, which goal it aligns with, and how to solve the problem.

At first the students did not completely understand the concept of teamwork. They each divided the goals between them and made three separate PPTs. This did not show any team work, just delegation skills. Also, their PPT was too full of information and it was mainly copied from the internet. Year 9 students have recently studied plagiarism, and know how to avoid it. So Ms. Illingworth asked them to try again, to put all their effort together to make one cohesive PPT and to use their own words to explain each goal.

The result was great! The students made a beautiful, cohesive PPT which incorporated all of their ideas, gave simple, easy to understand explanations and talked about the problem they are facing in the school. The students had noticed that there is a lot of food waste in the school canteen. This is part of goal 2 “No Hunger” and goal 12 “Responsible consumption and production” and also affects goal 13 “Climate action”. They decided the problem comes from either taking too much food than people are able to eat, or taking food and not eating it because they don’t like the taste. They proposed the solution to this is to either give smaller portions to each person so it’s manageable or to make more delicious food that everyone would enjoy and finish.

After their presentation, in the Global Perspective class, students wrote a self-reflection which can help them evaluate their performance throughout the project and make goals to improve next time.

Global Perspectives is one of the compulsory courses at Lucton School Chongqing and offers students an opportunity to develop life essential skills such as critical thinking, evaluation, reflection, research, communication and much more.