|
China:
Building Cultural Bridges
A
New Collaborative Telecommunications Project of DISCOVERY CHANNEL
SCHOOL and I*EARN
Discovery Channel
School and I*EARN (International Education and Resource Network) have
developed a partnership to use telecommunications to connect high
schools in the People's Republic of China with high schools in the
United States throughout spring 1996. This global classroom exchange
is taking place on the I*EARN network and excerpts of the discussions
will be featured in a Discovery Channel School Learning Community,
China: Building Cultural Bridges. Discovery Channel School
is an innovative education service dedicated to providing educators
with enhanced resources to support current curricula located in Discovery
Channel Online's Pavilion. Visit the site on the world wide web at:
http://school.discovery.com.
Nine I*EARN high
schools are already involved in the project:
U.S. schools:
William Penn High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Towers High
School in Decatur, Georgia; Sidwell Friends School in Washington,
D.C.; Capital High School in Olympia, Washington; and Sammamish High
School in Bellevue, Washington.
Chinese schools:
(note: Chinese middle schools are the equivalent of high schools in
the U.S.). Bayi Middle School in Beijing; Haidian Teacher Training
School in Beijing; Middle School at Beijing University; and Hangzhou
Foreign Language School in Hangzhou.
Several more
schools will be selected through an application process to join these
schools in the global classroom exchange. Applications are available
online on Discovery Channel School's WWW site.
The students
involved in this project selected the topics being discussed, which
include contemporary Chinese student life, the pressures on teens
to excel and possible educational reforms, integration of environmental
education into the Chinese school curriculum and learning from U.S.
students about initiatives inside and outside of schools to improve
the environment.
As one of Discovery
Channel School's learning communities, China: Building Cultural
Bridges (http://school.discovery.com/learningcomm/china) also
provides information and support materials for seven hours of television
programming about China airing this semester on Assignment Discovery
and TLC Elementary School. These series air on Discovery Channel and
The Learning Channel and offer commercial-free, copyright-cleared
programs for use in the classroom. Included are the following programs:
- - Stories from
China: Land and Animals
- - Stories from
China: Land and People
- - Forbidden
City: The Great Within
- - China: Yellow
River
- - Pandas: A
Giant Stirs
- - China: The
Entombed Warrior
- - The Emperor's
Eye: Art and Power in Imperial China
- - China: Hanging
Coffins
Through these
documentaries, links to wonderful online resources about China, and
the interactions among teachers and students in China and the U.S.,
this learning community aims to increase cultural understanding between
students who live half-a-world apart.
China: Building
Cultural Bridges is an extension of Discovery Channel's long-term
relationship with Chinese Central Television (CCTV) begun in 1995
with an extensive programming exchange. Discovery Channel presented
"Forbidden City: The Great Within" as the centerpiece of
its China Season last fall, and CCTV is in the midst of airing a year-long
series on science, Science Discovery, produced by Discovery Channel.
This series is available to 250 million television households in the
People's Republic of China.
Discovery Channel
School features extensive educational programming from Discovery Channel
and The Learning Channel, online educator site guides and content-rich
learning communities.
Discovery Communications,
Inc. (DCI) is a privately held, diversified media company headquartered
in Bethesda, MD. Fueled by an original production engine that now
includes films for theatrical and large-format release, DCI operates
four distinct business units including: Discovery Networks, U.S.,
consisting of Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel, reaching
over 67 million and 46 million subscriber homes, respectively; Discovery
Networks International, serving 28 million subscribers in 142 countries
worldwide; Discovery Enterprises Worldwide, consisting of Discovery
Channel Multimedia, Discovery Channel Online, Discovery Channel Video,
and Discovery Channel Publishing; and Discovery Channel Retail and
Theme, consisting of 14 Discovery Channel Stores nationwide. DCI also
operates a wholly owned subsidiary, Your Choice TV, Inc.
I*EARN is a non-profit
organization with member schools in over 30 countries. The I*EARN
program in China is facilitated by the China National Institute of
Educational Research, an agency of the Chinese Ministry of Education.
In the U.S., I*EARN is collaborating with the Workforce 2000 initiative
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Center for the Improvement in
Student Learning (CISL) in Washington State's Office of the Superintendent
of Public Instruction.
I*EARN represents
a global community of youth, teachers and youth service leaders committed
to using telecommunications to make a meaningful difference in the
world as part of the educational process. I*EARN facilitates networking
projects designed by teachers in social studies, science, environment,
math, arts, literature, interdisciplinary areas. Information on I*EARN
is available via e-mail (iearn@us.iearn.org)
or the WWW: http://www.iearn.org
|