IU-Hiroshima University Global Art Exchange

Indiana-Hiroshma Intercultural Eye for Art Project

The Indiana-Hiroshima Intercultural Eye for Art Project was started in 2015 by the East Asian Studies Center as a collaboration between local Indiana schools and schools in Hiroshima, Japan. The project focuses on curriculum development that puts educational theory into practice. It connects students to their local communities while simultaneously promoting their growth as global citizens through the international border exchange of art.

So far, a total of sixteen schools from both countries have participated, utilizing information technologies and resources to create international and virtual global communities. Students and teachers create these communities through online interaction and meetings that have led to the creation of these global communities.

Teachers, split into partners with one from Indiana and one from Hiroshima, collaborate through online exchanges and meetings to create curriculum that promotes the development of critical and global thinking in students. Students are then encouraged to speak about the art from their partner schools through the lens of their own personal and cultural experiences, creating a deeper awareness of the issues and themes that are of a concern or interest across transnational borders.

Global Explorations in Art is a cross-cultural education program designed for school teachers and children to use in the classroom. The content is art and the wonderful ways we can learn about people and culture through art. In what ways does art tell the lives of people? How is art related with societal, cultural and historical context? How does art help us in connecting people in different cultures?

The program provides full of a rich array of suggestions for cross-cultural learning: webinars with school teachers in East Asian countries, unit plans, PowerPoint Exploration of a work of art from museums in East Asian countries, video clips of classroom activities, activity sheets, writing and discussion activities, and much more.

We hope that teachers and children who are interested in learning cross-culturally and making a global network with schools in East Asian countries participate in Global Explorations in Art and visit the East Asian Studies Center.

Your colleagues in educating our children in the globalized world:

• East Asian Studies Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
• Graduate School of Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
• Graduate School of Education, Hiroshima University, Japan

A pdf file of the report (Feel free to download!):

 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LDrBQ7UNy2dgCW98Rxo7mGA8U2mqHR1X?usp=sharing