Session 1 - March 17

[Johanna Alvarez]

All of the videos and articles were a great introduction to this class. I thoroughly enjoyed them all. For this post, I focused on the article, “Japan Races to Build New Coal-Burning Power Plants, Despite the Climate Risks,” by Hiroko Tabuchi. It is alarming to read that Japan plans to build 22 new coal burning power plants. According to the article, Japan relies on coal for power generation. However, Japan is already going through global warming. I was shocked to read that the power plants emit as much carbon dioxide yearly as cars sold in the United States. That comparison made me question whether making new power plants is really necessary. More power plants means more global warming/climate change. The water temperature is already rising. This is making it hard for survival. Building new power plants is definitely a climate risk for Japan’s inhabitants. With my class of 4th graders, we talk about global warming during one of our units. We discuss ways to reduce our carbon footprint. One of those ways is by not burning fossil fuels or reducing the amount of fossil fuels we burn. However, our focus is with global warming happening in the United States. It would be a great activity to compare how Japan and/or other countries are doing in terms of climate change.

[Ryan Carothers]

The second video was the most clear, and concise outline of Ancient Chinese History --- that I have seen thus far. Because of this, I will focus on what I learned in it, and how I might share or expand upon some of it's information with students. I enjoyed the slides that had spiralling questions. This is good pedagogy, and ensures deep thought and long-term retention instead of the rote memorization that is so common in some AP classrooms. I think bringing some objects into the classroom (preferrably reproductions) would help to make this teaching even more concrete, and tangible. I do not know where to get reproductions like this. I would appreciate any suggestions! I also think it would be good to have students write messages to each other and decode them using an oracle-key. Again, this would be fun & memorable. Finally, there is a need to show a connection between this ancient history, and other civilizations that existed at this time. At the very least, there is a need to compare, and contrast them. I am not sure how to make this comparison and contrast fun.

[Bin He]

5:03 from the Video #2: "China" Before the Qin Dynasty-)Initial plan 

Target students: Post-AP Chinese students

Teaching objectives:

1.Understand the myths and stories of traditional cultural figures

2. Deepen students' understanding of the values behind traditional Chinese festivals through the analysis of historical figures in traditional festivals.

3. Be able to compare the stories of cultural figures between China and other countries 

How to start

1.Involving student participation

use the story of Shennong to taste herbs to introduce, and ask students about the value of promotion behind this character.Shennong-is one of the leaders in China's historyGuide students to think about whether there are similar stories in Western mythology.

2 .Encourage students to explore

Each group selects a character from the selection provided by the teacher and analyzes the values behind their legendary story. Including: Descendant-descendant shooting the sun, Shun-tolerance to his family, Yu-Dayu's water control.

3. Share and discuss.

4.  Implementation The modern emperor’s god-making movement gave students a few articles from the Chinese official media to analyze the value promoted behind it.  

Articles:1.https://www.sohu.com/a/430905751_100047440The story of Mao Zedong and Yang Kaihui 

2.http://news.12371.cn/2018/07/18/ARTI1531896662454569.shtml  The story of Deng Xiaoping in his youth

3.https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202005/03/WS5eaf6891a310eec9c72b6c63.html  The story of Xi Jinping's going to the countryside

 

[Cynthia Jackson]

Last school year I used questions to frame student thinking during lessons. Most of the questions I developed had a range of correct answers and could be answered within the day’s 50 minute lesson. The essential questions of my units could be answered throughout the year, but we rarely visited those conversations so students did not have enough opportunities to contextualize what they had previously learned with new conclusions. 

 

This year, I have begun using questions to spark student exploration of a topic; these have been more opinion based although students still have to support their ideas with evidence. I have found that while both kinds of questions are necessary for learning, the open-ended exploratory questions are better suited to student voice and introducing more fields outside of history into the classroom. Questions such as “What sort of government should Iran have?” and “How should China (the Qing Empire) interact with foreigners?” have allowed my students to reference geographical and political knowledge to be able to evaluate real-world options and express their decision making process. I think having students explore the question “Did the Xia Dynasty exist?” provides a similar opportunity. Kids can examine a set of sources- images, maps, articles, and stories of culture heroes- to determine, defend, and, ultimately, debate their answer. This activity could also highlight the role of archaeology in shaping historical records by having students examine images of artifacts, an article about dig sites, and a map outlining the territory believed to be controlled during the Xia Dynasty, as part of their source set.

[Cristina Prudencio]

The Tabuchi article explains that Japan will have more coal plants even though the world is trying to cut emissions to help fight global warming. These plants will emit the same amount of carbon dioxide per year as the US passenger cars. This article is explaining that for the Olympic Games is portrayed as the greenest and the building of coal plants are a contrast to the Olympics. One of the thoughts that comes to mind as I am reading this article is how I will bring this knowledge back to the classroom. I am looking to see how I can connect this to our unit about emissions. The article touches on Japan being an advanced economy country yet they plan to build 22 coal plants. These plants are being built without really looking at how they will impact the environment because they are at the locations where previous oil- burning facilities were located. The effects of this were seen for the summer Olympics which had to be moved to another city because of the heat at the original city. I was more interested in this article because I am fascinated to learn more about a country I want to visit in the future. The article explains that Japan will invest in cleaning up emissions generated from coal but that the technology is still not available commercially. It interests me to see they will invest in cleaning up emissions but not so much in letting go of coal energy.  Although this article explains how other countries are cutting down on coal emissions by a certain year and how Japan’s disasters made it go back to oil- burning facilities, I am curious to learn more about what and or how they will work on their path for energy security and their contribution against climate change.

[Cristina Prudencio]

The Tabuchi article explains that Japan will have more coal plants even though the world is trying to cut emissions to help fight global warming. These plants will emit the same amount of carbon dioxide per year as the US passenger cars. This article is explaining that for the Olympic Games is portrayed as the greenest and the building of coal plants are a contrast to the Olympics. One of the thoughts that comes to mind as I am reading this article is how I will bring this knowledge back to the classroom. I am looking to see how I can connect this to our unit about emissions. The article touches on Japan being an advanced economy country yet they plan to build 22 coal plants. These plants are being built without really looking at how they will impact the environment because they are at the locations where previous oil- burning facilities were located. The effects of this were seen for the summer Olympics which had to be moved to another city because of the heat at the original city. I was more interested in this article because I am fascinated to learn more about a country I want to visit in the future. The article explains that Japan will invest in cleaning up emissions generated from coal but that the technology is still not available commercially. It interests me to see they will invest in cleaning up emissions but not so much in letting go of coal energy.  Although this article explains how other countries are cutting down on coal emissions by a certain year and how Japan’s disasters made it go back to oil- burning facilities, I am curious to learn more about what and or how they will work on their path for energy security and their contribution against climate change.

[Tara Corral]

I imagine that archeologist look for advances in technological change as a way to also understand the civilization of that time period. I think using information from past digs and comparing what they know about how people act when their lives are threaten or if they are at peace can help fill in the missing pages of that civilizations story. The advancement of more elaborate bronze work most likely helps point to their success as a civilization. If you have the opportunity to make elaborate bronze sculptures instead of defend your life or look for food it must mean that you have a well established system in place that allows you that luxury. I think a great way for students to compare this is to camping and the materials usually brought along on a camping trip compared to the way ones home is. 

[Tara Corral]

I had never heard of a cultural hero until this video and the idea of a cultural hero is quite interesting especially because I imagine its how we continue to build a character that is approved to by society. For example If you remove the religious cultural heroes that a connected to American cultural I think we can say George Washington and Abraham Lincoln serve as pillars for our youngest students as they are taught their importance quite early on. It helps continue the same mindset long past the first generation that established the civilization and continues to unify them using these Cultural Heroes as guides. 

[Alison Douglas]

 

There were many interesting topics covered that are very interesting to think about.  To start off the discussion, I like to teach about civilizations and how they start along water.  It is easy to tie the similarities in when teaching about origins.  I did find it fascinating that they found the “peking man”, I had no idea that a fossil that was that old was discovered.  Hopefully they will be able to find it!  You always hear about “Lucy” in Africa, so the fact that they have found others in different regions of the world is interesting.  The entire water shortage/contamination subject is very questionable.  We have made so many advancements around the world, so you would think that people would be able to solve the water crisis.  Especially with the populations growing like they are.  It seems to be a constant battle between trying to contain and treat the water supply.  It is such a big problem and discussion about how to manage it is very important.  Is it the politics behind control? Water is such an important need that I’m amazed that it cannot be solved.  The same goes for food.  The fact that food is more available in the US makes sense due to the size of the population.  Maybe the growth of the population is growing faster than the ability to grow and produce food.  

 

I can understand why the spending is different based on where you live.  It does say a little about the affordability of some good along with what is “more” important to a specific culture.  That goes along with the idea of the culture heroes.  I see it as a way to pass down traditions and answer questions about different cultures.  They explain beliefs, traditions, and values just name a few.  They answer questions and offer understanding as to why certain aspects are followed in a culture.  That goes along with the  importance of the artifacts that were found and they all have a story off their own. Also, it was interesting that certain artifacts explained the human sacrifice and how it evolved throughout time.

 

[Max Batres]

My apologies for the late post. While watching the first video and hearing about all the water shortages and problems my mind went straight into my school's next thematic unit which is environment and technology. For each thematic unit we ask an essential question, and for this unit we ask students to design a solution/gadget to help preserve our planet. I could definitely take this lesson and introduce it to my students at the start of the unit. We can explore the difficulties the people face when levee systems fail and then we can have students create their own. I would have students also explore each of the three rivers discussed in the video (Yellow River, Yangtze River, or Pearl River) and them sketch out one of the rivers while also designing a levee system to prevent the river from flooding. After researching the selected river, students will have to physically recreate the river using whatever is available to them. They could use dirt from home, they could use sand at the beach, or any other creative way they can think of to recreate the river of their choosing. From there they will have to recreate a levee system to prevent their "river" from flooding. After documenting what happened to the river and levee they created, students will have to write a reflection to see what worked and what would they change to their design.

[Deirdre Harris]

This article was very eye-opening about the reduction in school-age children in South Korea.  It makes perfect sense that this could happen with the children, growing up and moving to the nearby cities, as they begin to graduate from school to look for jobs.  They don't return, to the country, and the schools are forced to close down, and either have very few students, as the first school in the article mentioned.  They turned many rooms into "golf-rooms" for Physical Education, and then the second school that was closed down completely, then repurposed to teach people how to make clay pots.  It ties into the diminishing populations in China, where the 1 child rule used to exist, and now China is faced with a similar problem if an aging population, and not many young people.  All of these governmental decisions that were implemented to solve an over-population problem, have now caused a different problem with having an elderly population, which the government has to deal with and try to solve.  These decisions have consequences, and we as learners, teachers, and observers, must learn from watching the decisions made by governments around the world.

[Taylor Bub]

Q 2: For the second question about aging societies, I think automatically of healthcare systems.  When looking at many East Asian cultures, the video mentions how many of these cultures respect and revere their ancestors and the elder members of their communities.  There seems to be a responsibility for family members to care for their older relatives.  I can’t help but compare it to America, where it is common for elderly parents and grandparents to be put in the care of nursing homes instead of staying with their families.  I think that aging communities are a great thing because it means that people are living longer and our older populations have a certain knowledge and experience from their lives that they can share.  It also raises ethical questions about quality of life for certain individuals, as well as questions about the responsibility for caring for those individuals who are unable to live alone.  

 

[Taylor Bub]

Q 3: I loved the comparison of household expenditures.  I want to use this with my advisory students to help them plan for their own future.  One thing I noticed was that in China, Japan and South Korea there is a higher amount of money put toward education and less toward housing when compared to the US. It would be interesting for students ot explore the cost of living in these countries and make comparisons between cost of living here in the United States.

[Miguel Diaz]

The ancient Greeks did not have a monopoly on making myths and creating heroes. All civilizations, and indigenous peoples around the world, have stories which explain their origins – and which created their heroes.

[Todd Rutley]

Presentation #1 (27:09) asked how we can teach about population aging. 

First, it seems that many trends are similar in Asia and the US: later marriage (often associated with greater education & career choice), fewer children, higher divorce rates, and longer life expectancy.

Second, an underlying common cause may be the decrease in patriarchal society. For example, reducing discrimination against females since 1950 in education & careers, marriage and reproduction choices. 

Third, there are many economic & social implications such as maybe less K-12 education demand but more demand for lifelong learning. Another implication is that countries require more immigration to continue to grow when their population growth slows below labor demand. Another implication is that higher education is more important in driving economic productivity and growth when population growth slows. 

In 2020, population fell in Japan, S. Korea and Taiwan, so this is a big phenomenon. 

The population of Japan has fallen annually since 2010 and deaths have exceeded births since 2007!   See attached.

Japan government official data https://dashboard.e-stat.go.jp/en/dataSearch

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