Culture-focused Curriculum Design and Implementation

Wanli Hu, Ph.D.

The University of Massachusetts Confucius Institute

May 1, 2009

Contents

1. Different Focus for Different Audience

2. Course Format

3. Case Studies

I. Different Focus for Different Audience• K-5

– Ancient China– Chinese Geography– Chinese Philosophy/Great Teaching– The Silk Road– Chinese Inventions and Discoveries

• 6-12 – Modern China – Sino-U.S. Relations– Contemporary China

• K-12– Highlights of Chinese Civilization

• Subject teachers – Chinese Music– Chinese Arts – Chinese Literature

2. Course Model

• In the morning: a scholar provides a lecture on related academic topic

• In the afternoon: lead teachers offer workshops to transform academic knowledge into classroom skills

• In above approach, we combine both lectures with hands-on workshops

• Participant is required to write a curriculum based on his/her teaching

3. Case StudiesHighlights of Chinese Civilization

• Day 1Exploring Chinese Civilization through Geography

• Day 2Chinese Philosophies/Great Teachings

• Day 3 China’s Invention & Discoveries & their Contributions

to the World • Day 4

Understanding Chinese History from 1840-1949• Day 5

China’s Rise and Its Impact on the World • Follow up day

Curriculum Sharing

Day I. Using Geography to Explore the Roots of Chinese Civilization

• Focus: Exploring China’s geographic characteristics and examining how

these features affected the emergence and development of Chinese civilization.

• Key question: How is Chinese civilization affected by China’s geographic

conditions?• Comparison:

Chinese civilization vs. American civilization from a geographic perspective

• Lecture & discussion: Heaven, Earth, Humanity: interaction between physical

environments and human landscapes

Workshops

• Making Big Maps of China – Topographic Map– China’s Climate– Agriculture Map – China’s Population Today

• A Comparison between China and the U.S.

– Size– Arable land– Oceans– Neighbors – Population

http://www.asian.gu.edu.au/chinadem.htmlThe Three Zones of China’s Topography

中国的降水分布

Population of Chinahttp://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps

China & the United States

ht t p : / / a f e . e a s i a . c o l u mb i a . e d u / c hi n a / g e o g / M_ USCH1 . ht m

Comparison

•Size•Arable land•Oceans •Neighbors •Populations•Any related topic

Group discussion based on the following “Thought Questions”

• How many zones does China have? What are the major characteristics of these zones? 中国的地貌有几个部分组成？每个部分的主要特点是什么？

• Why is the Yellow River called “yellow”?为什么黄河被称为“黄色”的河流？

• Why was China‘s early civilization relatively isolated from other early civilizations? 为什么在很远的时候，中国同其他的文明相对隔绝？

• Why did Chinese name their land “Middle Kingdom (中国 )”? 为什么中国人将自己的国家称为“中央帝国（中国）”

• How do geography, climate and agriculture each determine the distribution of the Chinese population?中国的地貌，气候和农业是怎样对其人口的分布产生影响的？

• Why did China adopt a One-Child Policy? Do you think the policy is necessary to maintain the balance between natural resources and population?

• 为什么中国要采取独身子女政策？你认为这是为了保持自然资源与人口平衡的必要手段吗？