media-2

Transcriber:	Meng-Fen Lin (gracelin_tx @ msn.com)
Brief Bio:	Doctorale candidate, Instructional Technology, University of Houston MS in Computer Science, University of Houston BS in MIS, National Sun Yat San University
Date finished:	September 19, 2004
Proofreader:	Nety Chen (nety75@hotmail.com)
Brief Bio:	18 Credit hours at SIU (Southern Illinois University), MS in Communication Studies, Indiana State University,
Date finished:	June 1, 2005

StarFestival is in a new CD-Rom based curriculum that enables teachers to take their students on the  an interactive electronic field trip to explore other cultures and their own cultural identity.

Originally based on the research of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this cd-rom tells the stories story of real-life MIT professor Shigeru Miyagawa as he returns to Japan during the StarFestival and rediscovers his roots and heritage.

Finally the seventh day and of the seventh-month have has arrived. It is a beautiful clear day so the xxx Tanamoto lovers would probably meet. I feel like I have made the journey to my adopted culture back to my roots. Am I American or Japanese?  Or American and Japanese. Maybe like the xxx magpie of the Tanamoto myth, I am a bridged between two cultures. I thought I knew all about Japan and I realized now that I just made a lot of assumptions.

(computer noises)

The professor reported recorded his notes into a high tech diary known as the PDA. During the festival he loses the PDA. We find it and are be able to experience his  rediscover of his native land.

[2:28]

(computer noises echoing reset please)
(computer noise echoing reset complete. Welcome to the PDA prototype XLV 7. You are in browse mode.)

The professor visited twenty sites in his home town. We never see him, but we can listen to his memos from performed by voice of George Takeis, famous of for his role as xxx Solu in on Start Trek,

Go...Kill

StarFestival is a... tool to dig peek into another world and discover something on of your own. And getting an appreciation of yourself and your culture by an exposure to another.

That mode Memo is another way to navigate to a new site. Let’s go to the high school. We see a picture of the professor's mother and artifacts, of all clickable relating related to her experiences during WWII. Let’s listen to his memo.

(music)

July 5, 11:33 am. Day 3. I hope I am not getting off track but I cannot stop thinking about the story stories my mother told last night. So I asked her to let me interview her about the war.

Now let’s listen to Mrs. Miyagawa’s memories of the war.

(speaking Japanese)

B-29 bombers fly flew right over xxx Hiratsuka on their way to Tokyo. When they came, the alarm would go off and you have to turn off all the lights. We went into the bomb shelter when things were it seemed really dangerous. On the day xxx Hiratsuka was bombed, I was sleeping on the second floor of my xxx Suka home. They were shouting, “wake up! Wake up! The bombing has started.”

(Japanese music in the background)

(computer voice) students can explore the family home, the professor’s field notes full of factual information and his diary where he storesd family photos.

(distinct voices of students talking)

Not everybody learns the same way. Not everybody is a visual learner. So for some kids, this is a real challenge, to do anything manipulated manipulative and creative is a real challenge. …………….. For some, it fits like a glove.  Some kids are all learners. Some kids learn by reading, some kids learn by doing. So it is never as many ways as you can present materials to kids, the more ways you can present materials to kids, I think the better off you are. And I think this multimedia approach, and the idea of having a CD-rom in a classroom for kids to have it there, to do research from is fantastic. Plus our kids are computer literate.

Oh, click on that one.

Want to see the Miyagawa house?

Xxx It's kinda of interesting, it's like you can see …what pattern it is, what life styles are like….. it's full of  is so much information, it is like unbelievable. [6:53]

To compliment the award wining cd-rom, a practical and innovated curriculum has been developed for grades k to through 12 by Boston Children's Museum renowned for their work with teachers and intercultural issues. The curriculum is easy to use and tied to the national standards in areas such as social studies, language arts, geography and history. The material is in of exceptional quality developed over a 6-year period and beta tested by teachers of all grades in Boston public and suburban schools. Because of its base on true story, the cd-rom is engaging for all ages from kindergarten through high school. Learners find age-appropriate materials just as they do in real life.

(Welcome to the PDA prototype XLV 7. You are in browse mode.)

xxxx(Kids talking)

now you need to go to here. See that? Right. Click

They like the cd because it is not like most of the things we have in the computer that are cartoons, drums. This wans’t. it was real people. It was like real photos and really being in the place. And then i thought, you know they cannot read but they could operate this because most of it is in language. They could learn to listen and figure out what it is. Even though we just have There are a lot of readings that I could read to them or I could read it and short it down. They would go to the places that the people are talking and they enjoyed that. I thought that is sounds really an advantage because you really don’t have to be a great reader. You can sort of follow along. And they are great at reading the map. I never show them the map. All by themselves they figured it out. Oh look, here is a map.

Give them the opportunity to really experience a different kind of life and different kind of people. And a lot of children I have came from different culture and that probably gave them more insight into another culture because if even though they don’t go to school with each other one another they don’t know that much about each other’s background or where they come from or what part of the world, or what language they speak at their homes. So it really did give them a new horizon. [9:32]

It was fun and they learned.  And I think it is they have a different feeling about people of different backgrounds. But by just meeting the professor himself, by learning about himself themselves and learning about the other classmates.

………… because he has asked us stuff like what is he Japanese or American or American and Japanese. Os So it would be a hard decision to decide like what are you?

I used to hate the Japanese people because my great grandfather died of a bomb because of Japanese people. And now I don’t really hate Japanese people as much.

Students respond to the multimedia approach and hands-on self-directed exploration. As they learn about the professor’s story, they relate his experiences to their own.

They were just encouraging each other. I … stop to do my before school work in the morning… the paper pencil kind of activity because I saw them go right to the computer. Ok, they are going to learning more from that than what they are from just the reviewing the sheet. So it was easy for me to get excited about doing this for with them. I was able to do a letter writing. I was able to do a data collection and do a product out of that. So I incorporated my curriculum, the Boston curriculum into the lessons so it wasn’t hard.

The curriculum outlines activities that address learning skills at each grade level including letter writing, data collection, reading, research skills, presentation skills, critical thinking and collaborative work in small groups.

I just have them basically let them do from year 1 to the present. It was nice and warm outside, that was the day he was born. I asked them to go back and interview their parents and whoever they could to find out information about themselves. Just like the professor was interviewing people to find out about his own background and his family, I want them to go home and interview their parents or grandparents, aunts and uncles. [12:00]

The cd-rom makes it easy to utilize the computer in your classroom.

First of all, I was scared to death at the computer and I believe I told you right a way, “I hate computers!” I am not a computer nerd, I am a computer moron. I don’t know how to turn it on, I don’t know what to do. When the gentleman brought it in and installed it in my Cajan backroom here, they gave me one simple sheet to which tells me how to turn it on, how to get into the program. Then the program really explains itself, and it really invites you to explore the pieces of it. By itself, the instructions, I felt good about it I would stay after school and look at it. I really wasn’t afraid anymore. So I think it is a good tool.

(one, two, three, four, five, six…)

I am surprised how kids are very involved, very emotional about it. And they felt very close to the professor because many of them have come from other countries or their parents have come from other countries so they know the feelings. But how important it is to find out more about your own background and not just become one of many. You have to really stick out and become yourself and be proud of what you are. And I think it really enabled them to do that. And they got to look at both sides. They got to look at the nice things inside about it. And they also got to look at how hard people worked and how difficult it was for the storekeepers, how things were changing and how sad that was the war. They also got to move on and to see how things are going to can be rebuilt and how things could can be changed and how xxx enriched your life could be and how you could contribute and make it better. I really had a great time. I cannot wait for next year’s class to do it.

Think of StarFestival as a textbook that has come to live, an environment where students could observe and draw their own conclusions. This is a pathway to a new type of learning that is independent yet guided, that meets fits the national standards and that integrates the technology of today with the wisdom of the past.

(Japanese chanting in the background)