sessions 9 and 10: field trip

[Anonymous]

Nice to get out and about yesterday. . . and for those of us that needed to get on the road getting back a little past 3:30 was an added bonus.

The Bower's Museum was exceptional. Granted the docent's butchered the pronunciation of key terms but getting more visual than power-point slides was great. I particularly enjoyed the ivory carving, the detail in the tusk was astounding. The only thing I can compare it to in western art is Bernini's "Apollo and Daphne."

Thanks for a great lunch, though I do agree that with a little more time a stop at a traditional chinese restuarant with explanation of the "why's" of what we are eating would be time well spent. One surefire way to reach my students is food and having that knowledge and perhaps being able to replicate it the classroom would be terrific. I'd suggest we depart the hotel 45-60 minutes earlier to take everything in and still be back by 3:30.

[Anonymous]

I truly enjoyed the field trip yesterday. The Japanese gardens were beautiful. The Bowers Museum was very educational and although the programs are geared to elementary students, my high school students would enjoy it, especially the hands-on part. The classroom instruction on The History of China gave me a greater appreciation for the exhibits. The lunch was a special time of good food and fellowship.

The article regarding the five elements of a Chinese garden will be beneficial in my classroom on design as I teach students that every element of their project should have a purpose.
edited by mjones on 8/6/2011

[Anonymous]

Being in the Japanese garden at CSULB brought back great memories to me. I visited many different Japanese gardens and temples when I was in Japan. The beauty and the tranquility of a Japanese garden always amazes me. Japanese people believe gardens can cure people. If I can afford it, I would have had my own Japanese garden at my back yard

It was nice to know that the Bowers Museum is available for educational programs for Chinese culture and history. I really enjoyed the lunch time when we got the opportunity to talk to each other and to learn more about my fellow friends. I will upload the pictures taken next time.

[Anonymous]

The field trip experience was great yesterday.
First, I enjoyed the visit very much at Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden. Here is what I learned:
The garden is a hybrid art form that combines typical elements of Japanese garden design within the context of its Southern California location, and the vision of its founder. Earl and Loraine Miller shared a passion for the outdoors, and gardening in particular.
It was a truly exceptional our door and real life Asia Culture learning experience to me. It should be on our future field trip destination list for our learners.

Second, The lunch at the Bowers Museum was fabulous, the moment of Peer group discussion/learning during the lunch time added an another dimension to our learning experience.
The tour on Ancient Arts of China: A 5000 Year Legacy
Here is what I learned from this tour: Spanning centuries and dynasties, the tour provides a rich cultural context for the many dynamic archaeological and art objects of China. From ancient bronze bells and vessels to exquisite jade carvings, pottery and painted scrolls, these artifacts showcase the amazing technology of China and the ingenuity of a culture.
At last, moved the Museum tour hour from 2 pm to 1 pm that gave us extra time drive back to the hotel, so we can get on the freeway around 3:30 pm, that was smart move! Thanks for the arrangement.

[Anonymous]

I had always thought that emperor's robe had to be yellow, and I learned that it was not necessarily so during our tour to the Bowers Museum. Some reading explained that the design and style of the emperor's robe evolved during the history of dynasties. D[font=Arial, sans-serif]uring the Qing dynasty, t[/font]he robe embroidered with dragon patterns was made for the exclusive use of an emperor. Here is a link to a short reading on the emperor's robe: http://news.tootoo.com/China_Window/Folk_Culture/Traditional_Apparel/20080320/79102.html

I enjoyed the visit to the Japanese garden. I used to think of the stone towers in the garden as a simple decoration. However, the visit made me realize that things inside the garden are trying to symbolize or convey an idea to the visitors. The elements of the towers, the tea house, the trees, and the pond become a whole entity.

[Anonymous]

Friday's field trip to the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Gardens and Bowers Museum was a wonderful experience. The Japanese Garden was a site I had never heard of before; I wish more people were aware of its existence. I loved the interplay of the flowers with the traditional concepts of a Japanese garden, and learning about how the traditional Zen garden stones are laid out as if they are having conversations. I don't think I appreciated that significance of how water plays such an importance part in the overall design of a Zen garden. The tea house was also a highlight for me, particularly when Dr. Dube explained how the ritual of the tea ceremony provided an escape from the stresses of everyday life - which is unlike the way in which we normally view rituals. In this day and age, we rarely make time for this kind of field trip as integrated with a field of study, and it makes for a richer learning experience for our students. Integrating field trips, movies, audio clips - along with traditional forms of instruction serve to reinforce classroom learning in important ways. During the lunch break we took some some to learn more about the life experiences of people in our group - and how this seminar has impacted their own personal histories - this was as valuable an experience as the field trip in my mind. The day reinforced the value of looking at our own communities to take an inventory the rich resources our own communities offer our students.

[Anonymous]

The visit to the Japanese Garden at CSLB was a great experience. The koi fish in the pond, the tea house, zigzag bridge, waterfall, trees, and the Zen garden all add up to the beauty of nature. Unlike Chinese gardens, the most fascinated thing of Japanese garden is the spirit of Zen or (禅宗). In comparing and contrasting of Chinese and Japanese culture, I would say, for Chinese culture, the Zen is normally practiced in big mountains or in a reading room (in a isolated space). However, in Japanese culture, Zen is added into a garden. And the garden has the Zen spirit with the nature that is surrounded by a person's living environment.

It was my first time to get to know the Bower Museum with its valuable collections. At their information desk I was told that from October to March 2012 the
Bower Museum will have another exhibition about Chinese history. And they have a team in charge for school visits. I am in considering to bring my students here for exploring Chinese culture.

I really enjoyed the lunch and talking with the group at museum. It was an unforgettable experience. I appreciate and thank to all of the organizers.

[Anonymous]

The Friday field trip to the Long Beach State Japanese Gardens, and the Bowers Museum was great for a number of reasons. First, after a week of sitting in a classroom listening to lectures (they were great, and the presenters were top notch) it was nice to get out and move around. It also allowed us to discuss the seminar with our fellow students. The interaction with the other students was very beneficial to me. I particularly enjoyed the explanation of the Tea Ceremony. I live in Orange County, and the Bowers is just 20 minutes away however I've only been there once many many years ago. The exhibits were very interesting. It was nice to see the three dimensional objects rather than powerpoint pictures from a computer screen. It is hard to get a perspective of the true beauty and intricate skills that when into producing the brass and porcelain pieces without seeing the up close and in three dimensions. The ivory elephant tusk carving is unbelievable and illustrates the incredible skills that existed in that era (they had no power tools) The [font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]docent at the Bowers Museum also presented the teachers with ideas and easily obtainable objects that they could use with their students. It was well worth the time.[/font]

[Anonymous]

It struck me as interesting that so many of the flora in the Japanese gardens were Chinese. This seminar has made me think of East Asia more as a whole, rather than Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea as individual East Asian Nations.
edited by dlau on 8/7/2011

[Anonymous]

As much time as I've spent on the campus at CSULB, I had no idea they had such a beautiful Japanese garden. The tour of it was very educational; I actually took notes! When I teach the unit on Japan, I do spend some time talking about different elements of Japanese society which reflect the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, including Zen gardens, flower arranging, and the tea ceremony. I did not know of the tea house's little entrance's significance, nor did I know that floor space in Japan is still measured in tatami. I also learned about the different types of lanterns and bridges and their significance. So much information was packed into such a little tour! By the way, Youtube does have a very good video which shows a traditional tea ceremony. It can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt7NBIVeMY. I believe it does a good job of showing the ritual involved in the ceremony.

The trip to the Bower Museum was also terrific. Although I have taught about oracle bones for years, I had never had the chance to actually hold one before Friday. How cool was that! Handling the oracle bone and the other objects once again brought home the importance of bringing objects into the classroom for the students to look at and handle. I have an open-door policy on bringing in items that relate to the time period we are studying; in fact, the first five minutes of many classes is spent with someone explaining something about the object (walking staff from Kenya, mask from China, bus route maps of Japan) at hand. Some items are more related to our studies than others, but all have provided new knowledge of some sort.

[Anonymous]

I went online and found that a museum abour an hour to the north of me has a fairly good Asian collection. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art has items in its permanent collection ranging from the Neolithic time to the time of the Qing dynasty, including robes and other textiles, carvings, woodblocks, and ceramics. I have not been to this museum since I was in high school, so I think I would like to visit it some time soon to see this collection. I am also interested in returning to the Bower Museum in October to see the terra cotta soldiers exhibit.

[Anonymous]

The only problem with being the last to post on an event, apprenlty everything has been said. I agree with everyones view of the trip. I really liked the hands on demostration of the artifacts of the period. If only I could get a really cool map of the silk road and some silk worms. My kids would really get excited.

One of my lectures will be on the globalization of the world from the silk road perspective.

[Anonymous]

Found an interesting resource with a calendar of events for all things Asian Art: http://www.asianart.com/index.html
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco website: http://www.asianart.org/
Princeton University Asian Art Museum and teacher resources: http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/resources/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/resources/
Asian Art Curators of Southern CA on Facebook: http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/resources/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/resources/
Asia Society Southern CA: http://www.asiasocietysocal.org

Locally, the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park has an interesting website with educational resources: http://www.sdmart.org/art/our-collection/asian-art
edited by agreenberg on 8/7/2011

[Anonymous]

Also the Asia Society New York has an awesome website: http://asiasociety.org/

[Anonymous]

What a treat to go on a field trip with my fellow classmates and professor on Friday. I never knew that there is a Japanese garden at CSULB. Such a beautiful and tranquil setting. I learned so many new pieces of information, such as the three elements: rock, water, and plants. How clever that the black stone beach garden relies upon rain for the water element. I learned that the raking of stones in a Zen garden has special meaning as it represents the flow of a river and the ripple effect of a stone hitting water. I have two small portable Zen gardens in my classrooms when I cover our Japan unit and my students love to rake the sand. They find it so relaxing. Now I can share with them the knowledge of the monks being the ones to do the raking. I found it interesting that the samurai warriors would enter the tea house through that small opening on the side of the structure after removing their weapons.
Lunch was fantastic. I enjoyed listening to the conversations of others as I ate my delicious lamb sandwich, a first for me.
I had read about the Bowers Museum before, and had told myself I would visit it one day. So when I heard we were going, I was very excited. Mary's presentation of the actual objects was great. My students would love that! I want an oracle bone like that one to add to my "classroom museum collection". I am definitely going to share the legend of how a Chinese princess accidentally discovered silk thread when a cocoon fell from above into her hot cup of tea. It's pretty amazing to think one cocoon will unravel the distance of the length of 10 football fields. Inside the exhibit, I too, marveled at the ivory carving; so much detail. The three robes were beautiful. I never knew that bats were part of the decoration.

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