As students in Boston prepared to participate in the global civic initiative, they did several background assignments and began communicating via Whats App + e-mail with their global partners in small groups.

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• in assignment #2, they collected data on countries in the initiative

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• in assignment #3: they reached out to their global partners via Whats App and e-mail, introduced themselves, and invited their global partners to introduce themselves as well.

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• in assignment #4: via Whats App + e-mail, students discussed the effect that COVID specifically and the pandemic more broadly have had on them, their families, their communities, their nations.  They discussed what they are able to do and what they are unable to do and how it has affected their schools and educations.   They talked about the measures that their respective countries have taken to reduce the spread of the virus, about how COVID has affected their local and national economies, and how it is likely to affect their futures.

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• in assignment #5: via Whats App + e-mail, students focused on one key strand of the civic obligation and responsibility initiative, that of the environment and climate change.   They cited a Native American quote: "We do not inherit from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.’   They looked at a video clip from National Geographic and considered key data points on climate change from the World Health Organization.   And then students posed these questions:​​​

  • ​How is climate change affecting you?  

  • How has the environment around you changed?   Weather?  The air?  Water?  Beaches?   The soil?   Plants and vegetation?  The availability of various types of food?  

  • Has it affected the health of people in your region?    

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• in assignment #6: Boston students researched the positions of their global partners on environmental and human rights policy.

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• in assignment #7: Boston students reported out what they learned from their research and their colleagues about COVID.

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• in assignment #8: Boston students reviewed the data collected in their initial civic obligation survey.  

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Because student work in these assignments was mostly completed via e-mail, Whats App, or in class, it is unavailable for sharing. 

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