How our exchange programs address US Common Core and National Education Standards
To be ready for college, workforce training and life in a technological society, students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize and report on information and ideas gathered from a variety of primary sources. Using original student art to analyze another culture is a perfect way to build these skills. In addition, students need the communication skills to articulate their findings to their global society.
Our educational programs support the development of these abilities, all of which the Common Core and National Education Standards emphasize. Our comprehensive Teacher Handbook links every recommended activity to the appropriate National Academic and Common Core standards.
The experiences of paired 2015 RainForest ArtLink classes, one from Connecticut, USA and the other from Uaxactun, Guatemala.
Creative Connections invites educators from around the world to send us lesson ideas based on using pieces from our art archive in order to expand student cross cultural awareness and understanding. We will review them and post many of them on this site.
Here are the first two:
1) Japanese Traditions
(for high school) An innovative lesson plan using contemporary Japanese art and the internet
2) Water and Japanese Culture
(for upper elementary and middle school) A look at how water and culture are interlinked in Japan
Inspired by Keiko Sigmund from Center for Global Studies, Norwalk, Connecticut USA and thanks to a generous grant from the United States-Japan Foundation