Open Channels

Connecting Classrooms through APEC

Students from across the United States, Asia, and the Pacific are modeling APEC’s approach of cooperation and communication as they learn about international trade in their classrooms, and explore its various effects and phenomena in their local communities in the inaugural “Open Channels” online classroom exchange.  The exchange showcases student projects as a series of exhibitions to facilitate web visitor browsing, mutual viewing by students, and the addition of comments, questions, and answers.

In Asia Pacific Collage, students learned about APEC and international trade, identifying and describing various ways in which their daily lives are connected to other APEC economies.  They then created their own projects using photography to show international trade is embedded in their routines and communities.

Link to the Asia Pacific Collage Lesson Module and Student Projects.

In Take Ten, students learned about APEC and how international trade shapes local aspects of global issues.  Students then worked in groups to identify a global issue that is relevant in their own locality and then took photos and crafted these into visual stories that inform, engage, educate, and mobilize people.

Link to the Take Ten Lesson Module and Student Projects.

In Going Green, students examined local businesses and industries to see how they are connected to the global economy.  They then developed written and multimedia proposals for “greening” a local business or industry based on their investigations of the opportunities and challenges it faces in promoting environmentally sustainable business practice while sustaining economic growth.

Link to the Going Green Lesson Module and Student Projects.

Shape Your Own APEC Agenda invites students to propose and enact their own projects to connect with their peers in other APEC economies, and actively engage in addressing global issues of common concern. Would you like to know more about APEC? Link to our “Learn more about APEC and APEC Member Nations” page.

You can also learn about Hawaii educators’ views on local manifestations of global trends and their implications for teaching and learning by linking to Makai Mauka (coming soon).