by Ama Okigbo | 23 Jan 2024 | Education, Student Posts, Technology, Thacher School, Youth Voices
We turn to technology to solve our problems but most of it is designed by men. One woman believes girls can program their own solutions. Girls sit in front of computers as they learn to code. (Photo illustration by News Decoder) This article, by high school student...
by Miquéla Thornton | 19 Jan 2024 | Environment, Student Posts, University of Wisconsin, Youth Voices
Making sure wealthy countries can’t dump their plastic waste on poor nations is important. But how can we stop producing it in the first place? A man walks on a mountain of plastic bottles as he carries a sack of them to be sold for recycling after weighing them...
by Joseph Katusabe | 17 Jan 2024 | Africa, African Leadership Academy, Catholicism, Decoder Replay, Human Rights, Religion, Student Posts, Youth Voices
One parishioner argues that the Church should welcome gay members. The Pope is just now cracking open the door by offering a small blessing. Vatican City with an LGBT flag superimposed to seem waving in welcome. Photo illustration by News Decoder. Editor’s note:...
by Filipa Pajevic | 16 Jan 2024 | Art, Health and Wellness, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows
For one Canadian artist, the vibrancy of Japanese washi pulled her out of the darkness of mental illness. Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka and Ashoona Ashoona with their collaborative art piece at the Fogo Island Arts gallery in 2023. The piece, “Uummatima tillirninga, I can...
by Mark Holder | 11 Jan 2024 | Indiana University, Journalism, Media Literacy, Politics
The public is hungry for free online news. That appetite endangers the existence of news organizations that produce it and democracies that nurture them. Big dogs representing Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Google are shown harnessed but not muzzled. (Illustration by...
by Preety Sharma | 9 Jan 2024 | Economy, Environment, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows
The global toy industry has a plastics predicament: How to feed children’s appetite for new toys, keep prices low and not harm the Earth in the process. A pile of plastic toys at a toy landfill. (Illustration by News Decoder) Plastic is omnipresent in our lives...
by Lance Roller II | 2 Jan 2024 | Health and Wellness, Sports, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows
The Olympics are the pinnacle of an athletic career. But after athletes step off the podium a deeper challenge awaits. Who are they when the uniforms come off? Olympic rower Christine Roper (frontside) hugging her teammate as they celebrate their gold medal victory....
by Ayeshah Haque | 22 Dec 2023 | Health and Wellness, History, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows, Women
Across cultures and times, midwives have been at the side of women, helping bring healthy babies into the world. Finally, the world recognizes their value. Midwife Sifa Ndeze attends to mother and baby. (Credit: UNFPA DRC/Junior Mayindu) Call them “baby catchers,”...
by Joshua Glazer | 21 Dec 2023 | History, Religion, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, Youth Voices
Walk the streets of Zaragoza and Moorish architecture catches your eye. But learning about the history of the Moors in Spain takes more effort. The Palacio de Aljafería in Zaragoza, Spain. (Credit: Joshua Glazer) This article by high school student Joshua Glazer was...
by Ammar Nainar | 20 Dec 2023 | Asia, Educators' Catalog, History, King’s College London, Politics
India and Pakistan — both nuclear powers — have fought three wars over Kashmir. But neither will yield in one of the world’s intractable conflicts. Zero Bridge in Srinagar Kashmir. (Credit: P. Kijsanayothin for Getty Images Signature) Editor’s note: On 11...
This Decoder Replay by Ammar Nainar is an excellent complement to history lesson plans about decolonization and the Partition of India in 1947. How does the past continue to inform the present in ways that matter?
Exercise: Read the article with your history class after students learn about the Partition of India in 1947. Discuss how decisions made in the 1940s continue to affect people living in India and Pakistan to this day. What throughlines can students draw between past and present? Then, divide students into groups of 3-4. Each group will come up with a resolution to the dispute in Kashmir. Resolutions should consider: Who gets control of Kashmir? Which countries should be involved in negotiations? How feasible is Kashmiri independence?