“Courage, Openness, Communication” – Holistic Education through Global Perspectives – SUIS Qingpu Geography and History Activity 1

“Courage, Openness, Communication”

– Holistic Education through

Global Perspectives – SUIS Qingpu Geography

and History Activity 1

Leading-in

Colourful traditional clothes

Super cool animal models

Exotic music

A creative exhibition hall of Silk Road countries……

The cultural feast that should have been enjoyed during the Middle School’s “History & Geography Day” in May, with the theme of “The Belt and Road – the Silk Road of the Han and Tang Dynasties”, was unfortunately postponed due to the pandemic. Yet, all our Middle School teachers and students never stopped preparing for the event and continued to push forward!

“History & Geography Day”

Each class represented a country along the “The Belt and Road”, and through their own designs and layouts of their national pavilion, they collectively displayed the vibrant history and incredible geography of the Silk Road countries.

The interdisciplinary and demanding tasks involved were in line with our new curriculum standards (2022 edition), which required the selection and design of curriculum content around the development of students’ core literacies and the creation of interdisciplinary thematic learning activities.

What is interdisciplinary thematic learning? Professor Guo Hua of Beijing Normal University said, “True interdisciplinarity must be closely related to the disciplines, that is, the application of disciplinary knowledge.” The “History & Geography Day” was an activity in which two main subjects, history and geography, were involved along with several other subjects such as Chinese, English, art and science. Teachers created a learning theme within their discipline and then integrated relevant knowledge and skills into their daily teaching around a core literacy for their discipline.

Interdisciplinary Learning

When students apply knowledge to solve problems, it will be interdisciplinary i.e. obtained from the integration of several disciplines. Subject teachers carefully designed online lessons and activities within their own subjects that would be exciting whether experienced online or in a face-to-face learning environment. In history classes, students learned to make introductory cards of Silk Road artifacts for museum exhibitions. In geography classes, they focused on the creative mapping of the Silk Road. In Chinese and English classes, they read and recited Silk Road poems. In art classes, they used creative materials to produce creative artworks, and in music classes, students performed Silk Road songs, dances and played musical instruments online.

History & Geography Day

“Princess Wencheng”, a historical drama portraying the ethnic interactions of the Tang Dynasty, involved teachers and students from the writing of the script to the final performance, for which the students in the after-school drama class had had special study and training. All of this required their knowledge and skills in history and language subjects through their collection of historical materials, historical narratives and writing, as well as their ability to perform a drama. Moreover, they developed the ability to discover problems and solve them from multiple perspectives.

History & Geography Day

Imitating the flora, fauna and animals (camels, horses, etc.) of different regions along the Silk Road, students used their knowledge of climate, species, and other natural landscapes along with their knowledge of Chinese and foreign art and historical interactions to make creative artworks. As a result of their experiences, students formed a more comprehensive understanding of the exchange of Chinese and foreign cultures and developed a sense of the community of human destiny.

History & Geography Day

If cities were like pearls on the Silk Road, the ancient city of Chang’an was undoubtedly the most dazzling. The geography teacher led students to build together the ancient city wall of Chang’an, enriching students’ knowledge in geography, science, and design & technology. Moreover, they learned more deeply about the 5,000 years of Chinese culture.

History & Geography Day

Using spices and seeds to paint Chinese patterns and imaginative works: This was a teaching activity designed by our art teacher to commemorate our school motto, ‘East Meets West’. The teacher presented flags of the thirteen different Silk Road countries in each class and had students simulate travelling to the countries they represented in virtual time. The combination of history and art not only taught students about the history and cultures of the Silk Road, but also further motivated them to learn by working with their hands.

Designing and creating pavilions

The value of education is not only reflected in students’ knowledge proficiency, but also in the development of their critical-thinking abilities. From knowledge to thinking – this is the essence of creative thinking education. According to Howard Gardner, this is closely tied to the creation of the mind. All creative breakthroughs – whether in the arts, politics, academia, or corporate life – depend to some degree on the ability to instantly integrate knowledge and ideas. That is, creativity arises from the intersection and integration of disciplines, requiring us to use interdisciplinary and cross-curricular knowledge to solve practical problems.

On the day of the “History & Geography Day”, there was a grand journey through time and space, “Simulating the Silk Road of Han and Tang”. Each class chose a country on the Silk Road and used their knowledge to design and create a pavilion to highlight the history, geography, commerce, and culture of the country. Each class established groups to divide the work, find relevant resources, design the pavilion, and coordinate with each other to create a pavilion that was both interesting and stimulating so as to attract more visitors. At the same time, students learned how to manage their time, calculate material costs, lead a team, communicate interpersonally, and work together to win.

History & Geography Day

Class 7D was responsible for designing the Uzbekistan pavilion. As a mysterious ancient country in Central Asia, where the East met the West and the Silk Road passed through, it was known as the land of the “Thousand and One Nights.” The students agreed to use the myth and legend of “Arabian Nights” as a theme. They dressed up as the main characters in the story and put on a social and cultural scene of Uzbekistan for the whole school to experience. When particular costumes were not available, the students decided to learn from their art teachers Ms. Ilse Du Plooy and Ms. Lori Liu. They collected pictures of ethnic costumes and brought to school clothes from home with similar styles, materials to make the costumes. Through this process, the students gained a sense of beauty from diverse cultures.

In this event, students volunteered to contribute their own ideas on costumes, music, food, posters, and exhibits, trying to present valuable information on Arab history, culture, religion, language, and art through stories such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.

History & Geography Day

Class 6C was responsible for designing the Indonesian Pavilion. Through independent tasks, group work, fact finding and group communication, they designed activities such as Indonesian board games, a national ball challenge, an art master session, a knowledge competition and other activities. They also used their knowledge of art, mathematics, geography, history, and other subjects to draw the map of the pavilion, which not only cultivated students’ comprehensive thinking skills and improved classroom learning efficiency, but also cultivated students’ social responsibility.

During the pandemic, students in each class continued to work with good expectations, persevering and advancing each week, and gradually forming a very complete program of activities from scratch.

Although the national pavilion of each class cannot be implemented physically this semester, it was nevertheless a comprehensive design program – the students’ abilities to work in teams, analyze and problem solve, and integrate a limited but diverse range of resources were greatly enhanced during their participation in the activities.

Conclusion

Since President Xi Jinping proposed the “One Belt, One Road” initiative in 2013, more countries have joined the collaborative effort as the initiative continues to develop. With the theme of “One Belt, One Road” and its ancient symbol, the Silk Road, SUIS Qingpu has set up real situations for students through various activities that need multidisciplinary knowledge to solve problems. With the implementation of our new curricular standards, we will make the “History and Geography Day” a cross-curricular learning project based on core literacies to better develop students’ knowledge and multi-dimensional skills.

After the pandemic, the Middle School will lead us on a journey in which we will travel through time and retrace the Silk Road of the Han and Tang dynasties. There will be thirteen different pavilions of different countries along the route. See you on campus then!