User:Grandpa jlc/Sandbox

World Savvy is a non-profit educational organization which seeks to educate and engage young people in community and world affairs. The organization was founded as Project Spera in April of 2002 by Madiha Murshed and Dana Curran Mortensen out of their concern for the geographic illiteracy of the youth and young adults of the United States. Murshed and Mortensen met while participating in Columbia University's graduate program in international affairs. They decided to create a program to address the need they identified for increased global awareness among youth. World Savvy, founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, promotes the acquisition of global knowledge by United States students in Kindergarten through 12th grade. They aim to to provide every student in every classroom with the content knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to students so they may become leaders and changemakers in their diverse communities, locally and globally. They offer low-cost curriculum consulting services and an extensive curriculum lending library to members as well as free workshops on global issues, current events lessons, and professional development opportunities for educators. Lesson Plans, Curriculum & Teaching Materials, National Peace Corps Association, http://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/resources/education/classroom-materials/

http://asiasociety.org/education-learning/afterschool/case-study-world-savvy

Feedback from teachers who make use of World Savvy's resources in their classroom indicates that certain topics engage students who previous were reluctant to participate due to perceived barriers such as language and culture. One teacher reports "Our debate gave them a chance to realize that they bring prior knowledge to the table and that they have an opinion that's not only valide, but also knowledge and experience based."

To accomplish its mission, World Savvy offers programs for youth and free programming and professional development resources for educators.

Programs
Youth engagement takes place through the Global Youth Media and Arts Program and the World Affairs Challenge.

World Affairs Challenge
The diminishing world supply of fresh water was the worldwide issue considered by participants in the Spring 2010 World Affairs Challenge. Students researching the topic learned that while water scarcity is the problem in some parts of the world, in the United States, the problem is overuse and the wasting of water. Origination of World Affairs Challenge

Programs and resources available to educators include the World Savvy Monitor, the Global Educators Resource Library, the Global Educators Network, and a comprehensive professional development program for K-12 educators through short workshops and a more intensive Professional Development Institute.

Midwest Office, Sept 2008

New York City office, Summer, 2007

Also have a Project Spera entry with a redirect to World Savvy