Better World Ed

Better World Ed is an interdisciplinary global and cultural awareness curriculum that interweaves SEL concepts with math, literacy, science, and social studies topics. Aimed at teachers, schools, homeschooling families, and self-led learners, the site combines a few types of material to create educational value. Wordless videos feature a day in the life of a person located somewhere in the world. The videos are visual stories, but also included are voices, various life noises, and music. Examples include Norma, who grows bananas in Ecuador; Alex, who tends cows in Kenya; and Lam, who makes lamps in the United States. Personal narratives from the perspective of the featured people give context for what viewers see. These essays also include many questions to get students thinking, both about "what is," and about why things are the way they are. Often the narratives include some of the essay writer's problems that the students might have ideas to solve. These essays can be translated into a long list of languages.

Lesson plans for teachers or facilitators spell out how to teach the material. These start out with a big question and then dive deeper, later adding some math integration, self-reflection, and "Keep Learning at Home" ideas. Lesson pages also list which narrower aspects of several top-level categories -- such as Math, Country, Global, Literacy, SEL, etc. -- each lesson covers. Related stories are also listed. The site can be searched by specific math, literacy, science, or global topic; country featured; or specific social-emotional learning (SEL) skill. Users can also search by keyword or just browse the offerings. Some videos are used in more than one lesson.

Students who go through Better World Ed lessons will learn about and appreciate how real people from all around the world live, struggle, and thrive. Because the videos are wordless, students come up with their own narrative as they watch, creating relevance and meaning on their own, before discussing with their class. Students will ask themselves, "What are they doing?" and "What am I seeing?" The curriculum focuses on discovery and real-world applications of both traditional school subjects and SEL concepts. Students will practice reflecting on their own feelings, relating to others, and working on real-life problems. The videos alone are enough to drive discussion, but the narratives and lesson plans direct this discussion in a focused way, combining SEL and cultural understanding with specific math, literacy, science, social studies, and other topics.

It mixes deep questions such as "Where does your food come from?" with math, science, and literacy concepts. Then students can synthesize it all into a coherent take-away that leaves them with more of a global understanding. Lessons like "Making Math Human" helps kids connect to math concepts in new, socially relevant ways. By adding a human element that students can see and feel welcomed by, these lessons feel more real, and students will take more away from them. This breadth is Better World Ed's strength; the price is that it's difficult to go deep on specifics. Teachers looking for deep dives into specific math content won't find it here. And different ways to filter and more scannable lesson plans would help usability. That said, it's an unusual, valuable, and rare opportunity to get a glimpse into the life of kids and adults all over the world.