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 may01.pdf
Press
Contacts:
David
Potter
415/564-8123
Rick
Gerrard
602/495-5918
iEARN
and Partners to Launch First Government-Sponsored Exchange Between
U.S. and Chinese Secondary Schools
New
York, May 10, 2001 - A Chinese proverb notes that ³A long journey
starts with a single step.² U.S. and Chinese students will take giant
strides for their countries this spring when iEARN launches a historic
Internet-supported school-to-school partnership project. The U.S.-China
Youth Exchange Initiative is the first pre-college school exchange
initiative to be supported by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. And, despite recent difficulties
in U.S.-China relations, the high school exchange program has moved
forward as a step to improve relations through citizen interaction.
The
initiative began this week when students and teachers from Chengdu,
China underwent an orientation in Beijing and traveled to their partner
schoolıs community in Phoenix, Arizona. The theme of the exchange
and Internet-based interaction is ³Citizen Participation in Local
Government.² One highlight of the visit will be a dedication of a
teen center in Phoenix, which has been designed by teens for teens.
The Mayor of Phoenix will be officiate the ceremony and will introduce
Chinese students to the assembled participants.
In
addition, Chinese students will look at local government services,
meeting with the volunteer coordinator for city, and attending a budget
meeting for city of Phoenix which solicits youth input. At the completion
of the project--after U.S. high school students visit Chengdu in May--participants
will write a comparative analysis of civic involvement in local government
and create a WWW site with their observations.
iEARN
is the International Education and Resource Network, which has pioneered
online collaborative education for the purpose of enhancing learning
and connecting youth to engage in projects that address local, national
and global issues. iEARN is the largest and most experienced (created
in 1988) on-line educational network in the world. iEARN is currently
active in more than 5,000 schools and youth organizations in 93 countries,
working in 29 languages. iEARN demonstrates daily that young people
worldwide are using the Internet and its connective power to build
citizen-to-citizen relationships, affect positive change and improve
their academic study.
After
the three-week visit and community interaction in Phoenix, Arizona,
iEARNıs Internet-based network enables the sister schools to engage
in Internet-based collaborative learning on environmental issues and
to embark on a reciprocal exchange of students and teachers. Participants
will join iEARN's unique global network to explore academic and contemporary
issues facing young people in the two countries. A focus of the exchanges
will be increasing student participation in community affairs. iEARN
will also solicit applications for 25 additional school partnerships
in both the U.S. and China. This program will support the online interaction
and physical exchange of hundreds of U.S. and Chinese students and
teachers each year.
"It
is a program model that we hope to expand to every Chinese province
and U.S. state," notes Dr. Edwin H. Gragert, Director of iEARN-USA.
"The Internet allows for exponential growth in cross-cultural interaction
and learning--potentially involving every school in our two countries.
We are hoping to involve schools throughout the U.S., including those
that have Chinese language programs.²
³This
project will be very beneficial for Chinese students in various ways,"
explains iEARN-China Director, Lun-Yi Tsai, "such as enhancing English
communication skills, helping students to see the world differently,
and making international friendships. The project will have a positive
influence on the students their entire lives, particularly in these
days in which the official U.S.-China relationship is undergoing challenges."
The
project is one of a number of new iEARN programs which combine teacher
and student physical exchanges with on-line Project-based Learning.
Other countries involved in iEARN exchanges include Belarus, Egypt,
Jordan, Lebanon, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nigeria, Zambia, South
Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Ghana, all of which are supported
by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department
of State.
Information
on iEARN is available at http://www.iearn.org Tel: 212/870-2693. An
application for schools to participate in the US-China Youth Exchange
Program is available at:
(English)
http://www.iearn.org/china/exchange/
(Chinese)
http://www.iearn.online.edu.cn/project/YEP/join.htm
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