High School Curriculum: Intro to Globalization
Experience the impact of globalization and automation!
Developed in partnership with Marginal Revolution University
Marginal Revolution University (MRU) and the Institute for Global Affairs revamped their popular high school curriculum, Globalization, Robots, and You. Still 100 percent free, we’ve updated the curriculum’s data to reflect today’s fast-changing world and have condensed the program’s lessons into a three-day unit. Now, as Intro to Globalization, the curriculum is even more accessible to students and teachers. Flexible and easy to use, the unit supports educators so they can focus on what they do best: preparing today’s learners for tomorrow’s challenges.
Intro to Globalization covers foundational concepts essential for setting students up for success in a dynamic – and increasingly interconnected – global marketplace, such as supply chains, creative destruction, wage growth, automation, and more!
Real World Examples
What do Marvel’s Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow have to do with globalization?
The curriculum’s videos are packed with information—and a lot of humor. Students will come to understand the history of globalization and its transformative effects on the movies they watch, the tools they use, and the careers they’ll pursue.
Interactive Practice
What’s happened to movie theater attendance? What about US agricultural and manufacturing employment?
Videos, quizzes, discussion questions, research prompts, and interactive games (like this one) bring data to life.
Teacher Friendly
Lesson plans, teaching materials, and classroom activities are easy-to-access and understand.
- Google Docs-based materials for easy editing and adaptation
- Google Slides for teaching
- Student worksheets available for each lesson plan
- Answer keys available for every assignment
- Videos available through YouTube
Relevant
Trusted and vetted for the classroom, the curriculum meets the teaching standards of several high school courses.
- High School Economics
- High School Social Studies
- AP US History
Intro to Globalization
Where we’ve been and where we’re going
Marginal Revolution University and the Institute for Global Affairs partnered four years ago to provide educators and young learners – especially from marginalized and underrepresented communities – with an accessible civics education fit for the 21st century.
In 2019, we launched our first curriculum, Globalization, Robots, and You, to help students navigate the political and economic forces shaping today’s world. With an understanding of globalization and the trend toward increased automation, students are empowered to make informed decisions about their education, careers, and finances. A year later, the onset of the coronavirus—along with its transmission across national borders and impacts on supply chains — illustrated the great extent to which globalization affects our lives. The pandemic also posed many challenges to education. As classrooms moved to Zoom, we fully adapted the curriculum for virtual learning to make it even more accessible.
Globalization, Robots, and You has tallied nearly 1,700 adoptions and can be found in high schools, colleges, and at least one correctional facility in 48 US states plus the District of Columbia. Its reach is truly global. Underscoring the political, economic, and cultural connections that bind students from around the world, the curriculum has been adopted in 86 countries, from Brazil to Norway.
We’re excited to reintroduce the fundamentals of globalization to educators and students with the latest version of our curriculum: Intro to Globalization.
