Thank you for your presentations!  I was surprised to see the very stylish and purposeful dwellings that were built in Ancient China and Japan.  It would be an interesting and exciting lesson to look at the similarities between the Chinese and Japanese pagodas. We could talk about architecture and something that I am most interested in is how in the world some of these structures were built, like the Sunken Dwellings. After we research and discuss, students can draw their own pagodas: Explain their purpose; Compare between Chinese and Japanese pagodas; and the pagoda's country of origin. Another discussion I would love to have with my students is how these old structures were purposeful. For example, the Fujian Hakka Dwellings and the many other ancient structures were built with a purpose in mind.  It was more of doing what was best for the community. There are so many rich conversations that can come from architecture alone: The how; Style; Purpose of building with wood in Japan; The transfer of information through trade and exploration; Western influence; Purpose of certain structures; Influence of other cultures and more. This lecture/presentation was inspiring. 

Personally, I find it easy to forget the diversity of dwellings that can be found outside of our houses, apartments, condos, and McMansions. The Yaodong sunken dwellings remind me of homes I saw in my sister's travel pictures from Cappadocia in Turkey, or depictions of pithouses I occasionally saw when studying ancient Native American cultures. People everywhere are so resourceful and learn myriad ways to adapt to their environments. I can see an activity where, after learning about different cultures (their customs, traditions, artifacts, etc.), students play a mix-and-match game, whether in a small group with a deck of cards depicting features of those cultures or on a grander scale (each student receives a card representing something from a culture and they have to find each other).

Thank you for providing these lectures and resources. My first thought in viewing and reading was "So much math!" I know it always important for teachers to help students see the connections between the skills and concepts we are learning and their real-world applications and this topic is chockfull of examples. The concepts of area and perimeter are big in 3rd grade. I usually do an activity in which I ask students to design their dream house and provide the area and perimeter for each room. I would love to use the examples from China of the use of grids in city planning and development to extend this project for my students. I would plan for them to work in groups to design a city given these parameters. As a link to the environmental principles we can consider what natural materials could be used to construct our city. As students present their plans our discussions could dive more deeply into the values that influenced their decisions for both city planning and material choices.

The Forbidden City, now located in Beijing and a museum for people to visit, has symbolic meanings hiding all over the architecture.    The Forbidden City was constructed under the Ming Dynasty and it was a city for the emperors and the empire.  This city was only to be used by emperors for 500 years.  Its yellow and red palaces and buildings covered 178 acres.  Every building in the city was built with precise measurements and detail.  Every measurement was symbolic to the Chinese culture.  

Thank you for taking time in making the prerecorded lectures for us; it was fascinating to learn about Japan’s architecture.  I loved the Shakkei technique the Japanese used in their Zen viewing gardens.  I don’t know about you but I can’t imagine anything more Zen and beautiful than using mountains and nature as part of the surrounding elements and backdrop of a meditation garden.  Learning about the tea ceremony was all very interesting.  Was it always simply used when meditating or has it become a ritual for other things?  When I think of the Japanese Tea Ceremony the scene from Karate Kid II in the mid 80’s between Ralph Macchio and Tamlyn Tomita always comes to mind. 

As far as incorporating what I’ve learn about the architecture of East Asia into my class I would like to possible work on a lesson looking at the geometry in the different structures of their buildings.  Looking at how the buildings in China have a base and as the structure grows laterally the building itself gets smaller and tapers.  There’s a lot of images of buildings I can use and superimpose triangles to teach, review to reinforces trigonometric concepts.  If anyone has any other ideas and suggestions in using this information in a high school Geometry and Algebra 2 class please share : )    

Thank you for your lectures! As a few members of this group mentioned above, I was also drawn to the idea of Japan being a culture of wood. I wasn't previously aware of this and I'm glad it was discussed in the lecture and in the discussion this morning. What stood out to be was the fact that Japan had to constantly rebuild and wood was the easiest material to use in order to do this. Another discussion impacted me was the idea that zen can come to one as an impermenant thing. The fact that flash of lightening could bring enlightenment in an instant when so many have searched and studied for years in search of enlightenment made me think about how that parallels in today's society. So many people are in search of something to make themselves better, or their professions better. That sometimes, what you are searching for could be right under your nose. That it doesn't take so much time and effort to find, it could be something much smaller, a moment in time.

One interesting thing that I learned today is that Ganggeong is a coastal trade center where people have had over the last 12 years divided opinions. As a result, this village has been an epicenter of a long term struggle to accept the construction of a naval base because this would mean that war ships from Korean or the USA can embark and board there.  On another note, As Korea embraces modernity and urbanization mostly in the big cities such as Seoul, the big cities are also losing touch of Korean traditional infrastructure in order to accommodate the new demands of a developing metropolis.  Smaller cities are the ones who are maintaining golmoks or side alleys and the hanok one-story houses.  For me, the golmoks are like intimate cozy narrow streets where mostly people are the only ones who can walk through except from some bikes. Within these alleys, through one shop or house, people can hear what is going on in the next house or shop, too.  In my mind, I picture a lot of chatting and laughter throughput the day and night. Talk about a city that does not sleep. I think people who live by these areas have already been used to this lifestyle. Additionally, As I read about the Korean landscape, especially the traditional architecture, I picture in my mind traditional vibrant and picturesque Korean cities that lack some of the infrastructural elements of western cosmopolitan cities such as the lack of plazas or squares. Still Korean main streets are like arteries where shops are lined up from west to east street. The question that I would ask to my students is how could people have been social without public places except for government ceremonies? How people would get together to enjoy a public performance and had fun? Hoe these golmonk (alley) would bring people together?