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TWO MILLION DOLLAR GRANT AWARDED
FOR TEACHING ABOUT ASIA;
IU CENTER ONE OF RECIPIENTS
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University's East Asian Studies Center is part of a five-member consortium that recently received a grant of more than $2 million to conduct seminars for teaching about Asia.
The Freeman Foundation of Stowe, Vt., awarded the $2,062,500 grant to fund seminars throughout the country over the next two years for middle and secondary school teachers who wish to enhance and expand their teaching about East Asian history, culture, geography and contemporary society.
The five consortium members that will organize the seminars include IU, Columbia University, the University of Washington, the Social Science Education Consortium based in Boulder, Colo., and the Five College Center for East Asian Studies at Northampton, Mass.
"Response to the seminars from teachers in Indiana and Kentucky has been outstanding," said Jason Lewis, associate director of IU's East Asian Studies Center. "There is a strong demand for more and better classroom resources for understanding the culture and connections we have with Asia. Our goal is to assist teachers by providing the training and resources to help them feel more comfortable teaching about Asia."
Each seminar will provide 30 hours of instruction intended to give the teachers a solid foundation for programs they later develop in their own classrooms. Participating teachers and their schools will receive educational materials and a modest stipend.
Conceived as a national initiative, the grant will fund 25 seminars in 17 states in its first year. One goal of the initiative is to create a network of teachers who become comfortable enough with Asia to serve as a resource to their peers. Each year, for potentially
up to 10 years, the seminars will be held in different states, further enlarging the network. The seminars will be adapted to local school guidelines and curriculums in each state.
"Teachers from outlying areas in the Northwest have repeatedly expressed a need for in-depth teacher education on Asia, but find few opportunities in their school districts," said Mary L. Cingcade of the University of Washington. "This project will provide these teachers with the knowledge and resources they need to bring essential topics on Asia into their classrooms."
Lynn Parisi of the Social Science Education Consortium said, "In the Great Plains-Rocky Mountain region this new initiative has been enthusiastically endorsed, not just for its content goals but for its design, which engages teachers in sustained, intensive professional development in Asian Studies."
"Many schools in New England are revamping their world history and world geography curriculums as a result of the recent guidelines introduced by various boards and committees in most of the states," said Kathleen Woods Masalski of the Five College Center for East Asian Studies. "This seems an opportune moment for launching a campaign to foster a permanent place for Asia in middle and secondary school courses."
Roberta Martin of Columbia University said, "In such geographically diverse states as Oklahoma, New York, Mississippi and New Jersey, a course in world history is a requirement for high school graduation. A year-long course in world cultures is also taught in these states in the 6th or 7th grade. Since Asian content is now an important component of these world history and world cultures courses, seminars that provide teachers with the background they need to teach about Asia have an essential role to play in improving American understanding of the countries with which our relations are of crucial importance -- China, Japan and Korea."
For more information, contact Lewis at 812-855-3765, jalewis@indiana.edu)