Global PBL Idea: Teach the SDGs with PenPal Schools

The UN Sustainable Development Goals create an agenda to transform our world by 2030. Teachers around the world are supported to bring the Sustainable Development Goals into their classrooms through TeachSDGs. PenPal Schools can also help you connect your students with PenPals around the world to learn more about the SDGs and take action in your local community.

Global project-based learning through PenPal Schools helps students make changes locally that have a global impact. Through action-oriented projects, students engage with their peers around the world to gain global perspectives about a topic that affects people around the world. Whether discussion immigration or the environment, PenPals are exchanging ideas, solving problems in their communities, and sharing solutions with their peers around the world. ​

The World Through My Eyes is a great introductory project to the SDGs. This project features documentary films created by young people around the world through the support of ByKids. Each video in the project touches on a specific Sustainable Development Goal, from gender equality and education to poverty and peace.

View The World Through My Eyes Syllabus

As students learn with global PenPals, they create a project to impact their local community. From hosting a film screening to creating a film that highlights inequality in their community, students are able to share their local impact with their PenPals.

To target SDGs that address environmental issues, check out Protecting the Planet. In this project, created in partnership with Time for Kids, students explore environmental issues around the world. Students can discuss threats to the Great Barrier Reef with PenPals in Australia or the impact of poaching with PenPals in South Africa.

View Protecting the Planet Syllabus

Students bring this conversation back to their local communities by designing a service project, interviewing a local environmentalist, or creating a PSA about the environmental issues they discussed with PenPals. Students publish their projects in the PenPal Schools Showcase to share their local impact with a global community.

PenPal Schools can help your students learn globally and act locally towards the SDGs. While all PenPal Schools projects can be connected to a Sustainable Development Goal, we’ve created this simple guide to help you find the best projects to support each goal.

Sustainable Development Goal	PenPal Schools Project
No Poverty	Financial Literacy & Money Management The World Through My Eyes
Zero Hunger	A World of Food
Good Health & Well-Being	A World of Food Holidays & Festivals of the World The World Through My Eyes World Religions
Quality Education	Schools Around the World The World Through My Eyes
Gender Equality	The World Through My Eyes
Clean Water & Sanitation	Protecting the Planet Joining Forces for the Environment
Affordable & Clean Energy	Protecting the Planet Meteorology & Weather Joining Forces for the Environment
Decent Work & Economic Growth	World Explorer Financial Literacy & Money Management
Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure	Clothing & Culture of the World Robotics A World of Geometry Navigation & Cartography
Reduced Inequalities	World Explorer Financial Literacy & Money Management The World Through My Eyes Walking to Freedom Immigration in the 21st Century
Sustainable Cities & Communities	World Explorer Robotics
Responsible Consumption & Production	A World of Food Protecting the Planet Facts, Opinions, and Fake News Robotics
Climate Action	Protecting the Planet Meteorology & Weather Joining Forces for the Environment
Life Below Water	Protecting the Planet Plants & Animals Joining Forces for the Environment
Life on Land	World Explorer Protecting the Planet Meteorology & Weather The Power of Art Explorers & Adventurers Plants & Animals World Religions Joining Forces for the Environment
Peace & Justice Strong Institutions	Walking to Freedom Immigration in the 21st Century The Power of Art Race in America A World of Poetry World Religions

Don’t just learn about problems facing the world; connect your students globally to gain perspectives and influence the impact your students can make locally. Then, inspire change around the world by sharing your local impact with PenPals around the world. Join PenPal Schools to turn your global learning into local action.

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Happy PenPal-ing!