Institute of East Asian Studies

Before the trip, China was a textbook concept to me, and the many visits to historical sites, our conversations with other educators, dialogues with fellow participants, and the knowledgeable insights from our tour guides has really personalized China for me. As I review the notes and photos of the many places we visited, I have a grasp on China's emphasis of its ancient history, and I appreciated hearing about the work they are doing in schools to interject creativity and critical thinking.
— Nancy B.

Teaching 7th grade medieval world history means that I regularly get asked questions like "Is he still alive?" or "Does that still exist?" It has proven invaluable to have photographic proof, and the photos I took this summer are all the more powerful for a couple reasons. First, it is an obvious hook for students to see me dwarfed by the monuments and places we are studying--I've already sparked students’ attention with my photos of the Forbidden City. But another lesson I learned while visiting museums and tombs across China, and which I tried to document with my photos, was the way so many generations of Chinese visitors interact with their history and make it have continuing relevance.
— Lauren Y.

Last year I was chosen as a participant for the 2016 Summer Institute on China that was sponsored by Fulbright-Hays. Spending a month in China to focus on learning and collaborating with other teachers from California was an unforgettable experience. This institute completely changed my teaching in all of my classes. I was able to use my experience in my art history courses to better teach the artworks from the Asian content area. I developed a unit inspired by my visits to the Mogao Buddhist caves in Dunhuang, China. This unit integrated technology resources so that students could do visual analysis and research both independently and collaboratively. Students learned the meaning behind the symbols used in the caves. They then developed their own personal symbols, which they used to create their own original mandala design.
— Jennifer L.