Where is Sierra Leone?
Let's start there. When I was 12 years old, I likely couldn't even answer that question. In fact, I might not have even known to ask it. But in the last few days I have had the unbelievable opportunity to expose my students and allow them to think and wonder about life nearly 7,000 miles away. With a little help from www.ifitweremyhome.com, wonder they did...
- Why is there more of a class divide?
- Why do they live shorter lives? Why is the chance of dying in infancy so much greater?
- If they spend so much on health care, what is health care like there?
- What is it like to make 98% less money than the US but have 2.8 more children?
- What would it be like to live without electricity?
- Why is the average annual income only the equivalent of $900 while in the US it is $46,000.
- What causes people to die sooner?
- Does birth control even exist is Sierra Leone?
- Is their a class hierarchy?
And to sum it up, I wonder if all of these things are related?
We had the wonderful opportunity to have the boys listen to Jennifer Klein talk about her 3 week journey to Sierra Leone and address some of their wonders. We are just at the beginning of our journey, but as we embrace global word problem solving we are sure to dig deeper about the world we share with so many others and challenge our minds.
Thank you Sierra Leone for sharing these wor(l)d problems with us. We can't wait to learn more about you, your community and your country in the future! Word Problems Here:)
Disclosure: We received these word problems on lined paper and Jennifer was able to lend her camera for the pictures. I scanned them and placed them in this document to share with others. Enjoy!