Globalization
World history is the story of human connection. In the last 500 years, our world has grown more interconnected as the first global system emerged and grew. In the last 100 years, a period called globalization has intensified those processes of connection as innovations in production, communication, and transportation shrink our world, offering our communities new challenges and opportunities.
Teaching This Topic
Historical Thinking Skills Guide
Understanding globalization requires the ability to analyze causation and continuity and change over time. Find tips for developing these skills in your students.
Blog: Teaching Globalization and Our Connected World
Follow the story of globalization in a learning arc that spans the Silk Roads to today.
Graphic Biographies Guide
Help your students get the most meaning out of graphic biographies with guidance on how to read these unique visual texts.
Teaching About Globalization and Trade
Check out teacher-approved resources on trade, tariffs, and globalization.
Teach Tomorrow: Globalization Materials
Global Economic Challenges
Opener
Global Economic Challenges
Choose a global scenario and determine how events in one place might shape life across the globe.
Islam Alhashel (Graphic Biography)
Article
Islam Alhashel (Graphic Biography)
Islam Alhashel is a high school student in Ohio and a refugee from the uprising and civil war in Syria. Her experiences are representative of millions of refugees.
Geography: Supply Chain
Activity
Geography: Supply Chain
You can buy clothes, food, and technology that’s made thousands of miles away. Time to research how all that stuff gets to you.
Lesson Plans on Globalization
Lesson 6.5
Globalization
When did globalization begin? That’s not an easy question to answer. The world became interconnected after the Columbian Exchange, but industrialization accelerated our connections to people across the world. Let’s see if we can come to our own conclusions.
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Lesson 9.2
Is Globalization Good or Bad?
Our world is more connected than ever, but not everyone experiences those connections the same way. Dive into real-world examples that show how globalization creates both opportunity and inequality.
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Lesson 9.5
Global Communities
It’s time to join the conversation about human rights and global cooperation. Explore how global institutions and grassroots movements have worked together—and at times clashed—in the fight for justice since World War II.
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Globalization Resources for Deeper Learning
Is the World Flat or Spiky?
Article
Is the World Flat or Spiky?
Some people see globalization as leveling the economic playing field. Others think it increases inequality. Which one is it: flat or spiky? You decide.
Source Collection: Resistance to Global Institutions
Article
Source Collection: Resistance to Global Institutions
The sources in this collection will help you understand how globalization has led to both international cooperation and resistance.
Indigenous Americans and Globalization
Video
Indigenous Americans and Globalization
There are lots of misconceptions about globalization. Examining the relationship between Indigenous Americans and globalization helps us challenge those misconceptions.
Resources to Connect Climate Change and Globalization
Globalization and Climate Change Lesson Plan
Activity
Globalization and Climate Change Lesson Plan
Bring climate change education into your globalization lessons with this ready-to-use lesson plan.
Green Premiums: The Extra Cost to Decarbonize
Video
Green Premiums: The Extra Cost to Decarbonize
What’s a green premium? Why does it matter? Explore the concept that has a big impact when it comes to addressing climate change.
Who Caused Climate Change?
Infographic
Who Caused Climate Change?
Explore historical, current, and per capita emissions to determine which nations have the most responsibility to act.
