Children’s Views of the World

By: Jessica Dierk

By Karlie Weston from Australia

I think this child sees the world as a place of many different people who all need to get along. If all people from different places get along, the world will become one and a better place to live.

Friendship Really Makes a Difference

By Tércio Silote from Brazil

The World is in Our Hands

I think this child sees the people of the world having a direct effect on the world. This child shows how people differing in skin color and background are linked together to take care of the world.

By Joanna Ivanova Ivanova from Bulgaria

The World Makes Your Dreams Possible

I think this child sees different people from around the world coming together to make their dreams possible. This child shows how people work together to make great creations all over the world.

Joanna Ivanova Ivanova’s Knowledge of Social Studies

(Based on her picture from the previous page)

Joanna understands that people from around the world vary in many different ways. In her picture, she shows that people differ in their skin color, as well as in their customs based on where they live. She used different colors for their skin and drew on different styles of clothing and different accessories based on the traditions and customs of their homeland. Joanna understands that the world is made up of many different nations who have different beliefs and have their own flags to show their nationality. She shows that these different nations are linked together to make up the world by connecting the flags in her drawing. Joanna understands that people have worked together to build great monuments that are important to certain places in the world. She draws all of these monuments together in the center of the world to show how they are all important to our world and the many people of our world.

By Patricia Lan from Canada

Everyone Helps Save the Earth

I think this child sees how important it is for everyone across the world to do things to save the wildlife. This child shows how everyone in the world, no matter their race or where they come from, needs to work together to preserve Earth.

By Liiu Xinjian from China

Friendship Bridges the World

I think this child sees how people from all over the world are coming together as friends. This child sees the world as being connected instead of different countries being separated by vast oceans.

By Helena Väinmaa from Estonia

See the World

I think this child shows how important it is for everyone to think about the world as a whole. This child shows how you must not only see your place in the world, but everywhere since you have an impact worldwide.

By Julia Papp from Hungary

The World Belongs to All

I think this child sees the world as belonging to all people no matter their race. This child also sees how all humans have an impact upon the world.

By Ankita Lamba from India

Protect the World

I think this child shows the importance of all people keeping the world a clean, healthy place to live. This child shows that people should not pollute the world or kill animals, plants, or humans.

By Nicholas William from Indonesia

We are One

I think this child shows how the world is what humans make it by working together. This child shows how when all people come together, great things can be created.

By Bar Omer and Liora Haimov from Israel

We Are All OneI think these children see the importance of all people in the world coming together to make the world a cohesive whole instead of separate pieces of nations. These children see how we are working with others from all over more now than ever before.

How All of These Children View the World

All of these children see the importance of all people in the world being friends and working together to make the world a better place. Many of the children drew people of different colors together or bridges connecting parts of the world. As the world becomes more globalized, children are seeing how interconnected we are. These children also see how each individual in the world has an impact on the world as a whole that will affect others, including plants and animals. This causes these children to want to work with others from around the world to make the world a better place to live. Some of these children drew hands on the world to show how we have to nurture and take care of it. Other children wrote warnings in their pictures about how to save the world. These children have learned about the world by their experiences with people from all over, as well as listening to books and stories they have heard about foreign lands and people. These children have been taught that our future depends on working with a diverse population of people to make our world a better place.

Instructional Idea Based on the Children’s Map Competition

I would like to teach my first-graders about the world. I would do so by having different classrooms set up as different continents. Each class would spend a day in each of these seven classrooms learning about the continents. The students would learn about the continent’s geography, history, and culture. Students would learn about many different countries within that continent and how they are all different, but how they all come together as a whole to better the world. Students would learn this content through read alouds using trade books about different places and people and through guest speakers from these locations. After the students visited and learned about all seven continents, they would go back to their classroom to learn about how people from all over the world communicate and work together. The way I would assess student learning is to have students create a picture of how they view the world to submit to the Children’s Map Competition. Students would present their map to the class and explain why they represented it as they did.