This Fall, the Upper Elementary class has been participating in an international learning program called Level Up Village. The class was paired with a class at INAM (Instituto Anglo-Mexicano), a bilingual and multicultural school, in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. Each student was given a partner to work with. Over the period of a couple of months, students have been learning the basics of web design, including a little bit of HTML and CSS coding, in an effort to build a collaborative web-project with their partner at INAM.

The focus of this year’s project has been climate change and renewable energy sources. Each student chose to research a form of renewable energy (solar, hydroelectric, etc.) and has been working with their partner to create a web-page devoted to their research. While building their pages, each student has explored skills that will help them to be successful in an increasingly technological global village. On the technical side, students have learned the foundations of building a website for use as a multimedia platform. They have also been researching the earth’s climate, alternative energy sources, and the principles that make different types of power plants work.

At the same time, students have been communicating to their partners at INAM by making and exchanging videos. These videos started off with basic introductions and information about hobbies, likes, and dislikes. A couple of our students even went the extra mile and did their videos in Spanish! After getting to know their partners, the videos they made were about their research and what they learned about their chosen form of alternative energy. Level Up Village is a program that combines elements of STEM with creativity and communications to boost the student’s confidence in their work and how they share it with others. Through their work on this project, our students have been immersed in a globalized classroom where they were able experience how technology is shrinking our world by working collaboratively across borders.