The main goal during the implementation of learning scenario was the same as in the original one- how to make such distant cultures (China and Japan) closer to students. Important elements of faraway cultures (lotus flower and crane bird, maneki-neko, notable colors- red, yellow, orange, Chinese writing- calligraphy, Asian food culture, origami) were used as a transmitter. Art was emphasized because it has universal symbolism and it’s well known to students.
There are also additional tasks of implementation of this scenario: get to know Europeana, stimulate artistic reflection, stimulate creativity and DIY process, fine motricity, awareness of tolerance, understanding and cultural differences. To achieve all these elements different learning methods were used: working in pair or group, game-based approach, combination of IT and handwork, flipped classroom.
Original scenario is fine matched with curriculum of Geography in the 8th grade. It was performed in 3 regular and one additional class with 46 students. All the process was made in regular classes, but some additional aspect was made with additional one. Whole implementation process lasted one month during which they learn about geographical characteristics of Asia. Every week one element of scenario was done. Core part of the original scenario was used but it was upgraded because of context on curriculum, technological progress, and affinity of much older students.
At the beginning students were familiarized with topic, basic elements of Chinese and Japan culture, possibilities of Europeana and working process. Maneki-neko, Chinese silk and AI songs of Asian culture were used as a motivation at the beginning. Next week they learned origami and made lotus flowers and crane birds. Third week they learned how to use chopsticks and had rice-competition. At the end they made a presentation about China using all new learned cultural elements. All the time Europeana resources were used as an inspiration, motivation and photo documentation.
Introduction, motivation, preparation
Maneki-neko and Chinese silk were an exotic and interesting start that motivated students. Personal stories during journey across China 10 years ago additionally enriched the process so the students were ready to learn more. Europeana, as a rich on-line museum was presented to students via three Europeana stories:
Souvenir from China- //www.europeana.eu/en/blog/a-souvenir-from-china
Story about Genji- //www.europeana.eu/en/blog/murasaki-shikibu-and-the-tale-of-genji
Kimono- //www.europeana.eu/en/blog/kimono-the-womens-garment-shaping-cross-cultural-exchange
After that students got a task to write a poem about Chinese and Japanese culture elements using AI (ChatGPT- //chat.openai.com/ ) on their tablets/mobile phones. It was an occasion to talk about possibilities of AI and distinctiveness via AI and Europeana materials- trust, reliability, verifiability.
Via PPT presentation the task for the fourth week was presented. They were merged in groups and each group got the task to present (on posters) one aspect of China- geographical location, physical geography, economy, population, culture richness. Next three weeks they could search for information and materials and the fourth one they should make poster and present it. It was obligatory to look at Europeana resources and take at least one photo from it to poster and to use red, yellow and orange colour whose symbolic was presented to students. These were search examples that were suggest to students:
Origami- //www.europeana.eu/en/search?page=3&view=grid&query=origami
China- //www.europeana.eu/en/search?page=2&view=grid&query=china
Chopsticks- //www.europeana.eu/en/search?page=1&view=grid&query=%20Chopsticks
Central part
Second and third week was designated as central part of working process. Origami was a topic of second part. After students again watched Europeana photo resources (Origami- //www.europeana.eu/en/search?page=3&view=grid&query=origami) they made lotus flowers and crane birds as symbols of Japanese culture. It takes a lot of time, so part of the process was made on additional geography classes. During the working process classical Japanese music was inspiration (//www.youtube.com/ ).
Photo 2. Origami crane birds and lotus flowers stimulate creativity and fine motricity.
To learn more about Asian culture and geographical aspect’s PurposeGames were used. There are some of them:
Asia- //www.purposegames.com/game/azija-naj-naj-quiz?l=18807
Asia- cultural and historical diversity- //www.purposegames.com/game/azija-kulturno-povijesne-raznolikosti?l=18807
China-//www.purposegames.com/game/kina-geografska-obiljezja-quiz?l=18807
Japan- //www.purposegames.com/game/japan-geografska-obiljezja-quiz?l=18807
Posters presentation and evaluation
Last week students got opportunity to work in flipped classroom system. They got 45 minutes to work in groups on posters where they used materials they searched for last few weeks. After 45 minutes they got 30 minutes to organize themselves, act like a teacher and present the knowledge of their group. It was a point where they summarized all their new knowledge about Asia with an emphasis on Asian culture.
Evaluation process was made on Plickers (//www.plickers.com/ ). Students were asked about their satisfaction with working process and methods, new knowledge about Europeana and Asian culture. Also, it was one more occasion to motivate students to use Europeana for their next works as a huge, inspirational, safe, and accurate source of information and materials. All the time possibilities of AI in working, teaching, learning and all other areas of life and work were discussed.
At the end discussion about cultural awareness, understanding and tolerance was held. This was especially important because there are more and more immigrants from Asia that come to school community. Students were very motivated to take part and critically and openly talk about all challenges but also all pros and cons of this new context.
Outcomes
Outcomes- for students
This implementation of scenario mainly focuses on these outcomes:
1. Cultural and Art competence: while learning about cultural specifics and differences, awareness about different cultures, stimulation of artistic reflection, creativity and DIY was present all the time
2. Fine motricity; during working on origami technique, while learning how to use chopsticks
3. Literacy competences: while working in a pair or in group, while making AI songs, while they worked on English language
4. Personal, social and learning to learn competences: while managing time and information and working with others in groups, awareness of importance of tolerance, understanding and acceptance of different culture
5. Competencies of understanding time and space context and cartographic competencies: while discussing about immigration from Asia and geographical location of China and Japan, while learning playing on-line cartographic games on PurposeGames, while learning about Asian social and physical geography context
6. Digital competences: while using Europeana, while make AI songs of Asian culture (ChatGPT), while searching for posters materials, during the discussions and evaluation they used Plickers, while playing on-line games (PurposeGames)
7. Safe internet competencies: while explaining, working and evaluating Europeana as a safe, reliable and huge resource and huge potential, while working with AI tools and learning how to use it for education process
Outcomes- for educators
Four-week process needed to be prepared well and as a teacher I improved myself on many areas. In this case, knowledge about specific cultural aspects of China and Japan needed to be searched (artistic importance of colors, lotus flower and crane bird etc), new competences learned (origami techniques, using chopsticks) and specifical methods selected (gamification, flipped classroom etc.).
Europeana is very useful for educators as it is for students too. Reliable and interesting materials and learning scenarios can be very often used in teaching not only geography but lot of other subjects. Now when AI started to make a huge impact, importance of Europeana is even bigger.
This implementation of scenario had these material outcomes:
1. Origami- lotus flowers and crane birds
2. Posters- posters about different aspect of China with emphasis on cultural one
3. Evaluation using Plickers (//www.plickers.com).
Advice to other educators planning to implement the same learning scenario.
1. Scenario is flexible and complex, but you should adapt it to your curriculum, context and students’ abilities
2. You don’t need much time but you should split the activities during longer period so the students can make all the materials properly and enjoy it
3. Scenario can be related to other school subject also (for instance History or Art)
4. It is very important how you motivate you students (personal souvenirs from China, gamification, flipped classroom)
5. Europeana is a huge resource, but you should help your students to navigate it. Additionally, Europeana is a great example to start a discussion about internet safety and reliable resources on it especially now in the context related with AI.
Link to the learning scenario implemented: A Voyage Through Asian Culture (LS-ME-707) – Teaching With Europeana (eun.org)
Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.
PDM 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Albertina.
