My Community, Our Earth GLOBAL CONNECTIONS AND EXCHANGE PROGRAM Geographic Learning for Sustainable Development James Kweku Eshun Department of Geography and Regional Planning University of Cape Coast August 3, 2012

Through this MyCOE GCE initiative, the AAG seeks to enhance mutual understanding between youth in the United States and their counterparts overseas in ways that draw from and build upon the existing public-private partnership, My Community Our Earth: Geographic Learning for Sustainable Development (MyCOE) General Objective: The overarching goal is to empower youth and their teachers to increase environmental, geographic, technological, and cultural literacy so that young people all over the world will be equipped with geographic tools and resources to address the challenges facing their communities and to engage them to develop solutions to bring about sustainable development. Specific Objective: Engage youth in using the tools and concepts of geography to see how their communities can be made more sustainable Raise awareness of the importance of geography and geographic technologies to issues of sustainable development Foster critical thinking and stewardship by youth around the world 

The MyCOE Partnership Association of American Geographers (AAG), Secretariat Esri National Geographic Society United Nations Environment Programme US Department of Agriculture US Department of State US Agency for International Development Inter-American Development Bank NOAA, NASA, USGS, GLOBE, GeoEye, 3M, Erdas, ONR, NSF, and other private and public support

History of MyCOE

Funding Agency: This program is funded by the U.S. Department of State Youth Programs Division. To see their Global Connections and Exchanges Program webpage Major Themes Climate Change, Food Security, Green Economy, Youth Leadership, International Online Exchanges Teacher Training Over a 20-month period, the initiative will train 165 teachers in 23 secondary schools in the US, Bolivia, Ghana, Nicaragua, and the Philippines to use social networking, online mapping, and award-winning content modules from the AAG's Online Center for Global Geographic Education. Teachers will be supported to interactively implement the curriculum and learning tools in their classrooms, to engage in international electronic dialogue and themed discussion exchanges, and to facilitate the leadership development of 3,068 upper level secondary school students. Student Projects Teams of youth, guided by their teachers and other mentors will design and implement community-based projects that use the MyCOE framework. An estimated 500 projects are anticipated to be conducted through this initiative, which will be uploaded to a new GeoPortal, currently being designed by Esri.  

Youth Project Framework (Spring 2012) Modified Scientific Method –MyCOE Approach (from Goodchild, 2001)

ON-GOING PROJECTS Award winning MyCOE project submitted for Earth Day and Rio+20 Competition Participation: 103 countries panel of expert judges from: Esri, USDA, NCGE and AAG members http://www.aag.org/cs/mycoe/learning_resources/project_gallery/mycoe_projects_2012/rio20_winners_ OR http://futuregeographers.wordpress.com http://futuregeographersnigeria.wordpress.com Http://futuregeographersbenin.wordpress.com

CURRENT PHASE OF THE MYCOE PROJECT Mini-grant Mini-project Video Conferencing Partnership with International Community