What is a Challenge?
Cambridge Lower Secondary Global Perspectives is taught through a series of Challenges. The Challenges are a set of teaching and learning materials that use topics to provide stimulating contexts for the development of specific skills and learning objectives.
Challenges include suggested activities that require learners to analyse, collaborate, communicate, evaluate, reflect or research. Activities are designed to encourage learners to consider and connect personal, local and global perspectives related to an issue.
Activities in the Challenges are designed to encourage active learning. Read about Active Learning as a classroom approach in our Education brief here.
What is the difference between a topic and a Challenge?
Challenges are teaching and learning materials with a skill focus. The topic provides context to the activities that learners do to achieve the learning objectives and develop the six skills. For example, in the Stage 7 Challenge ‘Is school the best place to learn?’, the topic is ‘Education for all’. During this Challenge, learners focus on developing their research skills.
The curriculum framework includes some suggested topics that are designed to be age-appropriate, engaging and relevant to learners. This list is provided to give you ideas of the types of topic that might interest your learners. However, you are not limited to this list and you can choose any topic you like.
Challenges are available to download on the Lower Secondary support site.
The name ‘Challenges’ make them sound hard. Why are the called Challenges?
The materials within the Challenges have been designed to challenge and motivate learners. The materials can be adjusted according to the needs and interests of the class. The focus is not on content knowledge but on skill development.
How many hours of teaching time does a Challenge take?
As a guide we would expect a Challenge to take around six hours of teaching time. Some take slightly longer, particularly when you are new to teaching them.
I already cover some of the content of the Challenge in another lesson. Can I adapt the Challenge?
You can adapt the Challenge to suit your context, miss it out, or incorporate parts of it into another subject lesson.
Our class size is large/small. As a result, I think the Challenges will take more time/less time than average.
Class size will make some activities easier or harder. For example, a larger class means that learners can get lots of experience of group dynamics in their collaboration work. But they may have less opportunity to give presentations or use a computer to do their research.
Global Perspectives is likely to take more time to deliver initially as you become familiar with it. The important thing is that the learners are given opportunities to practise their skills and get feedback on them.
Do I need to teach the Challenges in English?
Although we provide the materials for the programme in English, you can choose what language to deliver them in. It is important that the Challenge material is meaningful for the learners.
For moderation, the Checkpoint project must be sent to Cambridge International in English.
If an activity is not challenging enough / too challenging for a particular group, can we create our own activities related to the topic and skill?
The topics of the Challenges have been designed to be age-appropriate and engaging. However, you can adjust them to meet the needs of your learners.
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