Session 2 - June 14

[Nia Gipson]

Amy, Thank you so much for sharing about this! I did not know that there were some countries trying to give personhood to natural objects! I will have to do more research on this for sure, this is 100% something that I want to include in my environmental science class!   

[Candace Slobodnik]

As we begin to reform our secondary schools, and to adapt the ways in which we communicate with our students since the pandemic shut down, it is most important that we address student learning gaps and to reach the whole child in every classroom.   If we integrate the concepts of context, culture and climate within lesson and project-based learning activities, we can help our students to develop a sense of empathy and growth mindset about the ways that physical buildings, including the physical space, symbols and materials, can shape the student thinking about climate change. 

During the lecture on Tuesday, Professor Bharne discussed the topic of climate resiliency and the connection to cultural resilience.  Many of our students, especially those with interrupted schooling and food and shelter insecurities, struggle with gaps in learning that were heightened during the pandemic.  These students also have a deep desire to learn; as educators we need to find ways to engage these survivors who may also work after school to support their families.   Although many students struggle with accessing secondary reading and math standards, using examples of the cultural and material adaptations made by Japan as they adapted to changing times and the ideas of modernization. 

I especially was drawn to this quote: "...ideas of monuments, communities, indeed entire cities being recurrently destroyed and built again..." (p. 37 Behind the Culture of Wood).  I think our students who live in urban areas of the United States, and have never traveled, may find it hard to grapple with the bigger idea of ancient cities as well as with the traditions and diffusion of Buddhism. My  students live in the area around the District of Columbia which is the subject of a recent documentary, DC Legacy Project created Barry Farm: Community, Land and Justice in Washington, DC   premiering on June 16.  (https://dcist.com/story/22/06/16/barry-farm-documentary-dc-free-premiere-mlk-library/)

Many of our students have  recently experienced the impacts of gentrification or forced migration (from Central America or Afghanistan), so they will connect to the concepts raised in our discussions on Tuesday.    As the career and technical education southern hub of our district, each of our students enter career pathways in grade 9, such in engineering, construction and development or business management.  Our students also participate in a year-long student-built house project with our local businesses and government that culminates in a marketable brick suburban home.  

If our teachers use the ideas from the lectures and readings to create transdisciplinary lessons,  our students might imagine creative adaptations for the house or other projects.  They might choose materials and exterior and interior design models that are aesthetically appealing while connecting to both regional culture and climate.  They might also begin to see the benefits of perseverance and the potential growth of our urban and suburban spaces rather than blight and unemployment.   

 

[Candace Slobodnik]

Good Afternoon Taylor,

I like your idea of students sharing their own fund of knowledge of art and making the connections to mental health and healing.  Often when teaching a subject about which I may not have my own deep background knowledge, I ask a colleague from such as an art teacher, or a community member to speak to our students.  Reaching out and stepping out of the textbook is so important today, especially due to our student connections to social media.  Our state continues to assess students using the Common Core standards, which do require students are able to synthesize using multiple sources.  Now that most classrooms have access to Smartboards and Zoom, we are able to bring the professionals directly to our classrooms. 

[Candace Slobodnik]

Good Afternoon Marcos,

I, too, am intrigued about how growth will impact our next generations.  We already see this summer the extreme drought, weather and fires in the western USA that cause us to realize the importance of raising our students to plan for the future.  I think the ideas shared by Professor Bharne during the lecture of incentivizing people to rebuild and to reuse are great ideas.  If we challenge our students to start small, such as recycling in the cafeteria, not wasting food, and considering their own footprint. we will jump the first hurdle.  The next step is to work as teams within school in the areas of art, civics and STEM classes to prepare students about the decisions their families make when purchasing products, in voting for an official, and in supporting their community through service learning.  In all areas of education, we need to move out of our silos, and to inroads for support from our communities.  

[Candace Slobodnik]

Hi Nia,

I like your method of incorporating Shintoism and Zen Buddhism practices into your Environmental Science class. Several teachers in our school are involved in maintaining our Green School status as well as applying for grants, such as Outdoor classrooms, a Greenhouse, and other projects.  Our culinary students competed nationally (and won!) for a chance to have their recipes used on a future NASA  voyage.   The takeaways from the lectures and readings about landscape, urbanscapes, buidlings and footprints in Asian societies are definitely adaptive and as we share these, our students will develop broader  understandings of our changing world. 

As schools become more open to mindfulness and SEL integration into lessons, I think more teachers will be willing to seek resources about Asian societies, and to adapt their lessons to include lessons from indigenous and traditional societies.  In addition, as it becomes more acceptable to discuss the mental health issues that our communities face, becoming more open,  inclusive and culturally responsive will also pave the way for future school reforms.   

[Miguel Diaz]

I really enjoyed learning about the evolution of the stupa. I am especially interested in how the stupa emerged as a vertical architectural element in China. Professor Bharne mentioned in the video that a paradigm shift took place which led to the pagoda as an architectural form. I'd like to know if this paradigm shift was purely accidental or if it was it the deliberate work of monks and/or city planners in China?

I’m also curious about monasteries being removed from cities to mountains and hillsides in Japan. I would like to know if this took place elsewhere in Asia.

[Miguel Diaz]

I'd like to know if the beliefs in the constancy of change, ephemerality, and impermanence still influence Buddhist societies around the world. More specifically, I would like to know if these views still influence architecture.

Drawing a distinction between public buildings or edifices for the gods – and the dwellings of common people – do the ideas of impermanence persist? In the case of Japan, I know that in many cases, people still live in small, modest homes built almost entirely of wood.  New homes are built with the life expectancy of 40 to 50 years before they need to be torn down and rebuilt again.

[Madelyn Masterson]

Hello Marcos, 

 

I was also fascinated by the strong connection between architecture and religion found in the Ise Jingu. The intentionality between the design and placement of each shrine seems almost as an act of respect or worship during building. In order to preserve their unique pieces of architecture, we definitely need to place efforts into preserving the surrounding environments. As you mentioned, each region provided unique materials that can be used to form unique buildings. Are we doing enough to preserve the elements around us all the while preserving our buildings?

[Taylor Bub]

This would be such a cool idea to share with students in architecture classes.  It reminds me of a project that I did when I took AP Physics in high school, where we were asked to build a bridge using specific materials and then it would be put onto a machine that wuld try and break the bridge.  Obviously it would be much more difficult for students to build something as strong and sturdy as the Forbidden City, but it would be a really great example to teach in those courses, for students to be able to see how these buildings could be created.

[Madelyn Masterson]

Hello Betsy, 

 

I think that is a fantastic idea to do a virtual field trip, especially if budget is an issue. Some of my colleagues and I want to take our students outside more often; however, our school is under construction! So many of our open areas with biodiversity are closed off. We have a lesson on Ecology where students study biodiversity and the interaction of nature and species. I would love to do a field trip to the huntington gardens too. If this is something we cannot do, then I will for sure look into virtual field trips. This way, we can even incorporate the east asian design elements of nature. 

[Madelyn Masterson]

I found the intentionality behind the design of shrines very interesting. In the first read, Between Use and Katsuya, the term Ise Shrine describes a form of architecture that involves the natural world around it. There are many open spaces with also many individual sacred elements within. Architecture on sacred places outside of Asia often share a focus of detail from within or exterior of the building. The Ise shrine definitely represents the honor and respect the Japanese hold to their deities of nature. It is fascinating that although Japan has major consistencies within their architecture through the use of wood as building material along with columns and beams, Japanese architecture developed multiple themes over time. The austere and eclectic attitudes show influences from various themes but hold the distinguishing attributes of Japanese architecture. In our science standards, NGSS, we have cross cutting concepts which are core ideas that our students need to practice. One of the cross cutting concepts is the ability to recognize patterns. I can share the different attitudes of Japanese architecture with my students in order to practice identifying patterns and, ideally, they will be able to point out the common themes such as wood building material, columns, and beams.

[Madelyn Masterson]

I find it interesting how the Great Buddha was originally placed inside. When you consider the idea of Zen, it is to be in balance with nature and open spaces often with meditation. However, the Great Buddha in Kamakura, Japan was placed indoors and then moved outdoors. What was the original intent behind this? Was it solely to preserve the bronze? Originally, Buddha did not want there to be a statue or icon in his representation. It is interesting how as soon as an Icon was created, it continued to grow in size and expanded into tall structures. What was the spark that ignited the idea of building whole city scapes around Buddhist ideals?

This reminds me of one I try to encourage my students to be created with projects or models. I often try to push them to create something that represents a concept rather than design the literal concept itself. For example, I would prefer students to use a house or amusement park as an analogy as to how an animal cell functions as opposed to building an identical model to an animal cell. 

 

[Nia Gipson]

Madelyn, I love your idea of using Japanese architecture to showcase how there are cultural patters that you can see through architecture! Such a great way to make a math concept visiable to students! I wounder if you could extend this idea to other countries in East Asia as well and compare the architecture to western designs too. 

[LaurenBullock]

Love the idea of the amusement park analogy for an animal cell, Madelyn. I've found one of the biggest struggles with my students is moving them from the literal to the metaphorical, and I think part of it lies in the fact that "Western" narrative tends to be very straightforward and direct, so the instinct for symbolism can sometimes be lost. I'm enjoying that these lessons create many opportunities for symbols that don't necessarily have to be so obvious or connected. 

[Betsy Ures]

This is an interesting and innovative legal approach! In the US, corporations are given legal rights like people, so it would make sense to extend legal protections to our natural resources! This would be a large shift from oil companies having the ability to destroy Native American land without much legal backlash. Thank you for sharing this concept with us.

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