Global Contexts
There are six global contexts that guide students’ inquiry into key and related concepts in the context of our global common humanity. Global contexts identify specific settings, events and circumstances that provide perspectives for teaching and learning.
There are 6 Global Contexts:
Why are global contexts important?
For each unit, you and your colleagues collaborate to choose one global context that supports the process of student inquiry throughout the teaching and learning of the unit. Over the course of a five year MYP Language and Literature programme, it is expected that each global context is used at least once.
Many conceptual inquiries in language and literature naturally focus on identities and relationships, personal and cultural expression and orientation in time and space. It’s a fun challenge for us to think creatively about possible explorations within the global contexts of scientific and technical innovation, globalisation and sustainability and fairness and development.
Students will ask many excellent questions during each unit related to the chosen global context and its exploration, and whilst you only choose one global context for each unit, global contexts are related to each other and students may pose and answer questions that are connected to other contexts globally. Our aim is to encourage students to relate their conceptual learning to the real world and authentic contexts and the global context chosen will enhance this process.
Tip for choosing the most appropriate global context!:
The global context provides the direction for each unit and often more than one global context would fit with your ideas. Choose the global context that most closely fits your ideas for student inquiry during the unit.
Each global context has a number of explorations. Once you have chosen a global context, you will read through the list of global context explorations and choose the one that most closely fits the intended inquiry to add to your statement of inquiry.
Identities & Relationships
- Competition and cooperation; teams, affiliation and leadership
- Identity formation; self-esteem; status; roles and role models
- Personal efficacy and agency; attitudes, motivation, independence; happiness and the good life
- Physical, psychological and social development; transitions; health and well-being; lifestyle choices
- Human nature and human dignity; moral reasoning and ethical judgment; consciousness and mind.
Orientation in Space & Time
- Civilizations and social histories, heritage, pilgrimage, migration, displacement and exchange
- Epochs, eras, turning points and “big history”
- Scale, duration, frequency and variability
- Peoples, boundaries, exchange and interaction
- Natural and human landscapes and resources
- Evolution, constraints and adaptation.
Personal & Cultural Expression
- Artistry, craft, creation, beauty
- Products, systems and institutions
- Social constructions of reality
- Philosophies and ways of life
- Belief systems
- Ritual and play
- Critical literacy, languages and linguistic systems; histories of ideas, fields and disciplines; analysis and argument
- Metacognition and abstract thinking
- Entrepreneurship, practice and competency.
Scientific & Technology Innovation
- Systems, models, methods; products, processes and solutions
- Adaptation, ingenuity and progress
- Opportunity, risk, consequences and responsibility
- Modernization, industrialization and engineering
- Digital life, virtual environments and the Information Age
- The biological revolution
- Mathematical puzzles, principles and discoveries.
Globalisation & Sustainability
- Markets, commodities and commercialization
- Human impact on the environment
- Commonality, diversity and interconnection
- Consumption, conservation, natural resources and public goods
- Population and demography
- Urban planning, strategy and infrastructure.
Fairness & Development
- Democracy, politics, government and civil society
- Inequality, difference and inclusion
- Human capability and development; social entrepreneurs
- Rights, law, civic responsibility and the public sphere
- Justice, peace and conflict management
- Power and privilege
- Authority, security and freedom
- Imagining a hopeful future.
A Step by Step Guide to Choosing Global Context Explorations
Below is a step by step guide to choosing a global context exploration for your unit! First, read the instructions and then use the table below to help you choose the:
Global context
Topic
Global context exploration
Then, go to the statement of inquiry page to learn how to incorporate the global context into the conceptual understanding to create a statement of inquiry.
Stage 1: Choose a Global Context
- Scientific and technology innovation
Stage 2: Consider the Questions
- How do we understand the scientific and technological aspects of our world?
Stage 3: Choose a Topic
- Natural world
- Interactions between people and the natural world
- How humans use their understanding of scientific principles
- Impact of scientific and technological advances communities and environments
Stage 4: Choose a Global Context Exploration
- Systems, models, methods; products, processes and solutions
- Adaptation, ingenuity and progress
- Opportunity, risk, consequences and responsibility
- Modernization, industrialization and engineering
- Digital life, virtual environments and the Information Age
- The biological revolution
- Mathematical puzzles, principles and discoveries
Stage 1: Choose a Global Context
- Globalization and sustainability
Stage 2: Consider the Questions
- How is everything connected?
Stage 3: Choose a Topic
- The interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities
- Relationship between local and global processes
- How local experiences mediate the global
- Opportunities and tensions provided by world interconnectedness
Stage 4: Choose a Global Context Exploration
- Markets, commodities and commercialization
- Human impact on the environment
- Commonality, diversity and interconnection
- Consumption, conservation, natural resources and public goods
- Population and demography
- Urban planning, strategy and infrastructure
Stage 1: Choose a Global Context
- Fairness and development
Stage 2: Consider the Questions
- What are the consequences of our common humanity?
Stage 3: Choose a Topic
- Rights and responsibilities
- The relationship between communities;
- Sharing finite resources with other people and with other living things
- Access to equal opportunities
- Peace and conflict resolution
Stage 4: Choose a Global Context Exploration
- Democracy, politics, government and civil society
- Inequality, difference and inclusion
- Human capability and development; social entrepreneurs
- Rights, law, civic responsibility and the public sphere
- Justice, peace and conflict management
- Power and privilege
- Authority, security and freedom
- Imagining a hopeful future
Click here to download this information in PDF Format!
Global ContextsBelow are three unit topics and one suggestion for the global context and the global context exploration:
