I finished the last unit of the year with the Dollar Street activity. This is an eye-opening activity because statistical figures don't make reality tangible. It's one thing to say that people live on less than $2 per day, but it's another to glimpse their homes and imagine their daily lives. The concept of development is difficult to fully comprehend in tangible terms. My students were shocked to see this; they could never have imagined that millions of people lack bathrooms, shoes, sanitary towels, or basic utensils. At the same time, it ignited a spark of activism and a commitment to change the status quo. I posted two exemplars.
I closed this activity with a TED Talk that presents the idea of the Good Country Index, which measures what countries contribute to the world outside their own borders. I thought this might be of interest to those teachers who have posted related themes, like Andrea Wong who covered the UN Sustainability Goals Tournament, Todd Nussen and Adriane Musacchio .
