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The Stanford Program on International and Cross-cultural Education (91�Թ�) has just announced a major new interdisciplinary, interactive initiative for middle school and high school students on the road to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. “The Road to Beijing” initiative includes a new documentary featuring world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, a new documentary developed by NBC that features Olympians who will participate in the Beijing Olympics, curriculum materials addressing Beijing and issues raised by the Olympics, an interactive website, and teacher professional development. 91�Թ� serves as a bridge between the interdisciplinary work of Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and K–14 schools in the United States and independent schools abroad by developing multidisciplinary curriculum materials on important international themes.

“Learning about other cultures and about the migration of ideas among communities is vital in today’s world. In presenting a full range of perspectives, 91�Թ� curricula broaden students’ views of the world and deepen their understanding of their own lives.” Yo-Yo Ma

The Road to Beijing initiative has four major educational components. First is a four-lesson curriculum unit, geared to middle and high school students, that (1) introduces students to the modern city of Beijing through its history, geography, and major attractions and sights; (2) explores some economic, environmental, political, and social issues of modern China and the challenges of hosting the Olympics; (3) introduces some of the Olympians participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympics through a documentary by NBC; and (4) examines musicians’ reflections on Beijing and China through a documentary produced by Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Stanford scholars, such as Andrew G. Walder, the Denise O’Leary and Kent Thiry Professor of Sociology, served as advisors of the curriculum unit.

A second component focuses on two documentaries that are available through the 91�Թ� website. The documentary, The Road to Beijing, produced by the Silk Road Project and narrated by Yo-Yo Ma and featuring music of the Silk Road Ensemble, is available with the Road to Beijing curriculum unit as well as through the and websites. An accompanying teacher’s guide is available as well. Olympics broadcaster NBC joined the collaboration with 91�Թ� and has produced a short documentary that features U.S. and Chinese Olympians. The first interview features Stanford alumnus and U.S. gymnast David Durante. The NBC documentary and an accompanying teacher’s guide is also available on the 91�Թ� website.

Third, a new Road to Beijing website showcases many of 91�Թ�’s curriculum units on China, along with new interactive features on the modern city of Beijing and the historic Silk Road. In 2007, 91�Թ� completed a curriculum unit called Along the Silk Road in collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project. A new Silk Road game, designed by David Cohn, Cammy Huang, Gary Mukai, and Johanna Wee, will now allow students to walk and explore the historic Silk Road. Yo-Yo Ma commented, “The wonderful work 91�Թ� is doing to educate young people about the historic Silk Road trading route is significant on many levels. Learning about other cultures and about the migration of ideas among communities is vital in today’s world. In presenting a full range of perspectives, 91�Թ� curricula broaden students’ views of the world and deepen their understanding of their own lives.” Other China-focused curriculum units that have been produced by 91�Թ� include Chinese Dynasties Part One: The Shang Dynasty through the Tang Dynasty, 1600 BCE to 907 CE; Chinese Dynasties Part Two: The Song Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty, 960 to 1911 CE; China's Cultural Revolution; Ethnic Minority Groups in China; Hong Kong in Transition: A Look at Economic Interdependence; Religions and Philosophies in China: Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism; and 10,000 Shovels: China's Urbanization and Economic Development.

As a fourth component, the Road to Beijing initiative offers teacher professional development seminars, another hallmark of 91�Թ�’s work over the past three decades. Many seminars have already been held at Stanford and for the East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools, the European Council of Independent Schools, and the Chicago Public Schools. Most recently, the 91�Թ� staff and Albert Dien, professor emeritus of Asian Languages, gave four seminars for the Chicago Public Schools in May 2008. Each seminar featured a lecture by Albert Dien and interactive demonstrations of 91�Թ� curricula by the 91�Թ� staff. In October 2008, 91�Թ� and the Silk Road Project will work with the New York City Public Schools.

In collaboration with organizations such as NBC and the Silk Road Project, 91�Թ� will continue to channel its interdisciplinary work on key international issues (and their historical and cultural underpinnings) — political economy, security, the environment, and health — to schools in our nation and the world. 91�Թ� invites interested teachers to visit its new website, show their students the new documentaries, and engage their students in a study of historic topics concerning China, such as the Silk Road, as well as contemporary topics concerning China, such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“We are delighted that 91�Թ� is once again sending the university’s path-breaking, interdisciplinary scholarship and research out into the world, educating a new generation of students and scholars about contemporary issues occasioned by the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and China’s historic rise,” said FSI Director .

Gary Mukai personally introduced the new Road to Beijing initiative to Stanford alumni in Chicago on June 16, 2008, at a Leadership Circle Event.

TheStanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (91�Թ�) develops innovative materials on key issues in international affairs for K-14 students in the United States and independent schools abroad. Multidisciplinary 91�Թ� materials serve as a bridge between classrooms of receptive students and teachers and FSI scholars and collaborative partners. 91�Թ� offered a number of important new publications for an emerging generation of scholars this year.

One new curriculum unit is titled China's Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) was a decade of enormous upheaval under the leadership of Mao Zedong with a lasting impact on China, its citizens, and the world. This unit teaches students about the social, educational, political, and economic transformations in China during this tumultuous era. Students examine primary source materials to hone their analytical and critical thinking skills, and gain exposure to a variety of perspectives on the Cultural Revolution. As part of the lessons, students evaluate official government documents, speeches, memoirs, eyewitness accounts, propaganda art, revolutionary songs, textbook coverage from three countries, and the book, Red Scarf Girl, by Ji-li Jiang.

As with all 91�Թ� projects, collaboration with scholars and other experts on the Cultural Revolution was essential to the development of this unit. Andrew G. Walder, former director of the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, served as principal advisor and was instrumental in the conceptualization of the curriculum. Connie Chin of Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies translated entries from a Chinese textbook that students compare with textbooks of Taiwan and the United States. Jiang, a local author and survivor of the Cultural Revolution, oversaw the development of a lesson that features her book, Red Scarf Girl. Jiang worked with many Chinese who provided their own memoirs of the Cultural Revolution for the curriculum, exposing students to first-hand experiences of Chinese youth during this time.

Another new 91�Թ� unit, titled Tea and the Japanese Tradition of Chanoyu, results from a collaboration with the Urasenke Foundation of Kyoto, Japan. This unit traces the history of tea from its origins in China 5,000 years ago to modern times, with an emphasis on its prominent role in Japan. By the 16th century, Japan’s tea practice had become formalized by Sen Rikyu, who integrated art, religion, social interaction, and economics into his tea practice. He so revolutionized chanoyu that he is universally recognized as the most important tea master who ever lived. The Urasenke School of Tea was established by one of his descendants some 400 years ago, and the Sen family has continued to pass on its way of tea for 16 generations.

91�Թ� worked with two of Sen Rikyu’s descendants, Great Grand Master Sen Soshitsu XV and Grand Master Sen Soshitsu XVI Iemoto, to develop this unit. Each wrote a personal letter, expressing their excitement about introducing American students to a cherished Japanese tradition. Grand Master Sen Soshitsu XVI Iemoto says, “In the age of globalization, there is a great need for truly international people, that is, those who understand and appreciate their own culture as well as that of others, and those who value both the diversity of mankind and the universality of the human spirit. These are the people who will enrich and reinvigorate our global society in the future.” His father, Great Grand Master Sen Soshitsu XV, adds, “I am very happy to have been involved with this project which, I pray, will help to contribute to world peace and goodwill through my motto ‘Peacefulness through a Bowl of Tea.’”

Epidemic infectious diseases have shaped many aspects of ancient and modern history. In an interdependent world, well-known pathogens and new, emerging infectious diseases continue to pose a global threat. At the same time, the biomedical and social sciences have been making incredible progress in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of communicable diseases.

Recent events highlight the importance of emerging infectious agents, including HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s, the introduction of West-Nile Virus in the western hemisphere in the late 1990s, and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003, and draw attention to the role of increased travel and global connections in facilitating the rapid spread of infectious diseases.

HIV/AIDS is now the world’s greatest pandemic. It has claimed more lives than the Black Plague of the 14th century. With an estimated 16,000 new infections daily, more than 40 million people worldwide are infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). More than seven out of 10 of the world’s HIV-infected people live in sub-Saharan Africa. The impact of HIV/AIDS on local economies, its potential to contribute to regional instability due to loss of human life, and the moral imperative to address the pandemic has brought prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS to the forefront. Increasingly, it is clear that a multidisciplinary team approach including social scientists, behavioral specialists, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers is essential to address this global pandemic.

Advances in epidemiology, molecular diagnostics, bio-informatics, and genomics have enriched our understanding of ancient and emerging pathogens and offer new avenues for addressing infectious diseases. Vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and new paradigms of public health have increased our ability to control and even eradicate infectious agents. The control of many formerly common childhood diseases has been effectively achieved through the development of vaccines. Smallpox and measles provide examples of diseases that have been eradicated by the culmination of modern innovative public health approaches and widespread vaccination. In the news today, the potential for a viral antigenic shift resulting in a more transmissible form of the deadly H5N1 influenza virus has led to extensive media coverage and disaster planning at local, state, and federal levels of government, as well as international public health bodies.

Teachers and students need a strong foundation in the biologic and social sciences to place these events and responses in context and to allow transfer of vital information and understanding to the community at large. There have been few initiatives to provide high school teachers with accurate, up-to-date knowledge on infectious diseases. U.S. high school students continue to be exposed to global infectious diseases through sensationalized media coverage including popular films and television.

We have been developing a high school curriculum unit with Stanford students Robin Lee, Michelle Silver, Piya Sorcar, and Jessica Zhang and Gary Mukai of 91�Թ� to allow teachers and students to place news concerning infectious diseases in perspective; appreciate diverse social and economic responses to infectious diseases; and understand infectious diseases in the context of a global, interdependent world. The curriculum will also encourage students to consider issues related to epidemic and pandemic infectious diseases and their own personal risk.

The proposed five-module unit is as follows, with the first module having been completed this summer:

I: Introduction to Virology and Infectious Diseases

II: The Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in the United States and around the World

III: Science, Economics, and Business in Infectious Diseases

IV: Local and International Politics and Policy in Infectious Diseases

V: Community and Personal Health

“Preparing the next generation of leaders and creating more informed elementary and secondary students means changing and improving curricula, setting higher standards, and ensuring that content is based on current research relevant to the world’s critical problems and urgent issues.” Coit “Chip” Blacker, FSI Director and Co-Chair, International Initiative

91�Թ� was established more than 30 years ago and serves as a bridge between FSI and elementary and secondary schools in the United States and independent schools abroad. 91�Թ�’s original mission in 1976 was to help students understand that we live in an increasingly interdependent world that faces problems on a global scale. For 30 years, 91�Թ� has continued to address this original mission and currently focuses its efforts primarily in three areas:

1. curriculum development for elementary and secondary schools;
2. teacher professional development; and
3. distance-learning education.

91�Թ� hopes to continue to educate new generations of leaders by addressing five key initiatives of The Stanford Challenge, announced by President Hennessy last fall.

Initiative on Human Health / 1

91�Թ� is working with the School of Medicine and the Center for Health Policy on a high school curriculum unit that focuses on HIV/AIDS. 91�Թ� is collaborating with Drs. Seble Kassaye, David Katzenstein, and Lucy Thairu of the School of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases & Geographic Medicine. Using an epidemiological framework, students will be encouraged to consider the many issues involved in the pandemic, including but not limited to poverty, gender inequality, and biomedical research and development. Two Stanford undergraduates, Jessica Zhang and Chenxing Han, are working with the physicians on this unit.

Initiative on the Environment and Sustainability / 2

91�Թ� recently completed a curriculum unit called 10,000 Shovels: China's Urbanization and Economic Development. 10,000 Shovels examines China’s breakneck growth through a short documentary that integrates statistics, video footage, and satellite images. The documentary, developed by Professor Karen Seto of the Center for Environmental Science and Policy, focuses on China’s Pearl River Delta region while the accompanying teacher’s guide takes a broader perspective, exploring many current environmental issues facing China. Stanford’s School of Earth Sciences is helping to promote this unit and documentary.

The International Initiative / 3

All of 91�Թ�’s curriculum units focus on international topics. Two of 91�Թ�’s most popular units are Inside the Kremlin: Soviet and Russian Leaders from Lenin to Putin and Democracy-Building in Afghanistan. Inside the Kremlin introduces students to key elements of Soviet and Russian history through the philosophies and legacies of six of its leaders—Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin. The unit includes (on DVD) six lectures by six FSI faculty members, including FSI director Coit D. Blacker; professors David Holloway and Gail W. Lapidus, CISAC; professor and deputy FSI director Michael A. McFaul; history professor Norman M. Naimark; and history professor Amir Eshel, Forum on Contemporary Europe.

Democracy-Building in Afghanistan is a teacher’s guide for a film called Hell of a Nation. The film’s lead advisor and 91�Թ�’s key advisor was former CDDRL fellow J. Alexander Thier. Hell of a Nation documents the lives of two Afghans participating in the political process to develop a new constitution for Afghanistan—illustrating the “human face” of democracy-building and elucidating the complexities and difficulties of democratic construction in a divided and historically conflict-ridden nation.

Arts and Creativity Initiative / 4

Following 9/11, 91�Թ� decided to develop a unit called Islamic Civilization and the Arts, which introduces students to various elements of Islamic civilization through a humanities approach. Lessons on art, the mosque, Arabic language and calligraphy, poetry, and music provide students with experience analyzing myriad primary source materials, such as images, audio clips, sayings of Muhammad, and excerpts from the Quran. In each lesson, students learn about the history, principles, and culture of Islam as they pertain to particular forms of art.

91�Թ� recently completed a new unit called Along the Silk Road, which explores the vast ancient network of cultural, economic, and technological exchange that connected East Asia to the Mediterranean. Students learn how goods, belief systems, art, music, and people traveled across such vast distances to create interdependence among disparate cultures. This was a collaboration with the Silk Road Project, the Art Institute of Chicago, Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center and Center for East Asian Studies, and the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.

The K-12 Initiative / 5

91�Թ� develops curriculum based on FSI scholarship, conducts teacher professional development seminars locally, nationally, and internationally, and also offers a distance-learning course called the to U.S. high school students. At seminars at Stanford, FSI faculty members offer lectures to the teachers and 91�Թ� curriculum writers give curriculum demonstrations that draw upon the content presented in the lectures. Last summer, Stanford professor Al Dien (Asian Languages) and the 91�Թ� staff gave a workshop for 80 teachers in the Chicago Public Schools. World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed at the workshop.

The Reischauer Scholars Program is a distance-learning course sponsored by 91�Թ�. Named in honor of former ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer, a leading educator and noted scholar on Japanese history and culture, the RSP annually selects 25 exceptional high school juniors and seniors from throughout the United States to engage in an intensive study of Japan. This course provides students with a broad overview of Japanese history, literature, religion, art, politics, and economics, with a special focus on the U.S.-Japan relationship. Top scholars affiliated with the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (including Ambassador Michael H. Armacost, Professor Daniel I. Okimoto, and Professor ), leading diplomats, and young professionals provide web-based lectures as well as engage students in online dialogue. These lectures and discussions are woven into an overall curriculum that provides students with reading materials and assignments.

91�Թ� has for many years focused on the initiatives that have been identified by President Hennessy to be at the core of The Stanford Challenge. By continuing to focus on these initiatives, the 91�Թ� staff hopes to continue to make FSI scholarship accessible to a national and international audience of educators and students, with the ultimate goal of empowering a new generation of leaders with the tools needed to deal with complex problems on a global scale.

The Asia Society last week awarded the 2007 Goldman Sachs Foundation Media and Technology Prize to the Reischauer Scholars Program, a college-level, distance-learning course about Japan for American high school students developed at Stanford.

Gary Mukai, 91�Թ� director, and Naomi Funahashi, the primary instructor for the scholars program, accepted the prize, a plaque and a check for $25,000, at a March 10 luncheon in New York City.

Mukai said he would use the money to fund the 2008-09 scholars program, which is named in honor of Edwin O. Reischauer, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan.

Currently, the program receives funding from the Center for Global Partnership of the Japan Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes international cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and other countries.

Stanford was one of four winners of the 2007 Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes for Excellence in International Education awarded by the Asia Society, an international organization whose goal is to strengthen relationships and promote understanding among the people, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States. The prizes were created to identify and recognize the most promising and successful examples of international education in the United States.

In addition to Stanford, the society also awarded prizes to a Florida elementary school, an Oregon high school and the Ohio State Board of Education.

Every year, the Reischauer Scholars Program selects 25 exceptional high school juniors and seniors throughout the United States to take part in the course, which offers a broad overview of Japanese history, literature, religion, arts, politics, economics and contemporary society, with a special emphasis on U.S.-Japan relations.

The course is offered through 10 "virtual classes" via the Internet over four months, and includes lectures, readings and online discussions, as well as videos and presentations that creatively display maps, statistics, images and digitized primary resources. Senior scholars, diplomats and other experts from the United States and Japan teach the classes. Students who successfully complete the course earn credit from the Stanford Continuing Studies Program.

The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education is a K-12 education outreach program at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

The advisers to the Reischauer Scholars Program are Michael Armacost, a former ambassador to Japan and now a distinguished fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute; Daniel Okimoto, a professor emeritus of political science at Stanford; Consul General Yasumasa Nagamine of the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco; and Nisuke Ando, a professor emeritus of law at Doshisha University in Japan.