TY2 – Section 1 – Introduction

This video is AI-generated. The script was written by Dr Philip Murphy, University College Cork, Ireland.

Welcome to Lesson 2 of this Introduction to the EU which focuses on how life in one country or EU member state is connected to events, developments, and laws in other countries. Your students live in a time of hyper-globalisation. They’re exposed to developments in other countries, near and far, in more vivid and quicker ways than previous generations. We increasingly move products, services, information, and people to study, work, and holiday across borders. The issues that interest, excite, or challenge your students rarely stop at national borders. In what ways do they see their country as connected to, or reliant on, other countries? Are these connections or dependencies seen in negative or positive light, and why?

The aim of this lesson is that students consider how life in their country is connected to developments in other countries. Relatedly, that they consider the consequence of these connections or dependencies for how Ireland relates to other countries or EU member states. It builds on the Global Citizenship strand in the CSPE curriculum, specifically around Local and Global Development and Effecting Global Change. It is also a primer for the Power and Decision-making at National and European Level, and Globalisation and Localisation, strands in the Politics and Society curriculum.

The lesson is based on a group exercise, where students explore the connections across national borders. Students are first tasked to identify and rank these connections in a particular sector; economic, environment, products, or agriculture. Thereafter, they work collaboratively to design and present those connections in a poster. The design element allows them to creatively add sentiment and affections to indicate how they frame such connections. These design and presentation exercises are a template for you to discuss with students what these connections mean for how countries work together. You can use the discussion topics to explore why countries decide to share their sovereignty with other states, or why they work together in organisations such as the EU. It also allows them to explore the counterfactual; i.e., how might everyday life in Ireland be different without these connections and interdependencies? These are useful starting points for students to understand and evaluate Ireland’s place in the EU.

Please see this lesson content as a template. You are welcome to adapt its structure, content, instructions, or delivery, to your purpose. For example, you could give the same poster brief, be it economic or environment, to all groups, for stronger comparisons across groups in discussion. Or you’re welcome to focus on a more specific example, such as everything to do with mobile phones, including hardware, software, apps, the regulation of their use, and user charges. Equally, the exercises can be easily converted to Think-Pair-Share exercises.

Section 2 of this lesson contains a presentation for you to download and edit before running the lesson. It includes instructions for yourself and students. Section 3 has resources on specific connections between EU countries. If you have a query, don’t hesitate to contact us at dabtheeu@ucc.ie.