Spent the past 10 days in China visiting schools and learning about the Chinese education system with other educators from around the country. Due to lack of wifi, doing anything else was difficult, but allowed for lots of time for reflection. Particularly interesting to me was the Chinese take on Project Based Learning and creativity. The Chinese we spoke with used a lot of American education buzzwords: Project Based Learning, collaborative learning, technology infusion, distance learning, experiential learning. But they seemed to be just for show, not really implemented. The majority of instruction we saw was that of teacher in front of the room lecturing and students taking notes. I saw one classroom where students were at the board working on problems, and in another, taught by an American teacher questions were being asked, with little to no response. One elementary school had an amazing "discovery" lab. One which would rival any children's science museum. But again, it seemed just for show, the students were here playing with the displays, we were not privy to how this center was actually used to promote thinking and learning. In one of the high school settings (a boarding school of 6000 10th - 12th graders) the term project based learning was tossed around a great deal. We were shown (empty) classrooms for science experiments, robotics, and drivers ed. When pressed though, we were told the students got to use these rooms 2 times a week. And considering the number of students at the school, it did not seem that many would benefit from these classrooms, or that there was any type of teacher facilitation, scaffolding or other instructional methods being employed during the "free" research time twice a week. 

The other idea discussed was creativity, and the nurturing of the whole child. While I saw many beautiful artworks created, most work, with the exception of an elementary school ceramics class, stressed copying master work over creative expression. In one elementary class there was a large variety of artworks being created, some coloring book type, some more creative, but it was such a wide assortment, with little teacher interaction, one wonders if this class was just set up for show. It seemed improbable that these diverse projects all were taking place in the same lessons time frame. In another class students were interpreting a Rousseau painting, this was one of the only examples of the taxonomy of interpretation being used.

Very typical in Asian culture, art and apprenticeships have a long history, and technical prowess is highly praised over artistic interpretation. 

Given the huge number of students needing to be educated, the large classroom sizes (50-60 students in a class), structure is definitely needed. Is it even possible to implement effectively the type of student centered learning we try to facilitate here in the States? The entire cultural structure of China seems an antithesis to such educational practices, but the educators we met would like us to believe they are striving more towards those practices. This is a fairly new strategy for the Chinese, it will be interesting to see if it actually will be embraced, or continue to be superficial buzzwords. 

As far as how this applies to my research.....high levels of extrinsic motivation abound here. There is a huge amount of pressure to get into the good schools, and attend universities outside of China. Intrinsic motivation, and the creative thinking that comes from engaging in learning simply for the sake of learning, seems to be undervalued here. It makes me curious to find out how Chinese students fare in a variety of American University classes. Do they struggle more in settings where ill structured problem solving is stressed? Adjusting for language barriers would be something a researcher would have to consider. Overall a very interesting trip, one which I will ponder for quite a long time.