Award of Innovation

Pinpin Peng, Chinese Teacher at Metro Early College High School accepts the CAIS Institute Award of Innovation and $5,000 award prize at the Chinese Education Conference 2009, San Francisco, CA

CAIS Institute Award of Innovation 2009 Winner:

Metro Early College High School, Ohio

www.themetroschool.org

The Chinese Program at Metro Early College - by Pinpin Peng

“Our Chinese program has regular Mandarin Chinese courses I, II and III, as well as an innovative and pilot Chemistry in Chinese course, which is the first and only high school level Chinese cross-curriculum course that we are aware of in the U.S. In the Mandarin Chinese program, teachers work regularly with teachers from other subjects, such as social studies, science, math and language arts, to conduct interdisciplinary projects. Metro Early High School is Ohio’s first STEM-focused (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) high school. Our goal is for Metro students to combine their STEM skills with foreign language/cultural understanding to develop global professional leaders for the diplomatic, political and economic security of our country. In chemistry in Chinese class, the teacher is certified in both chemistry and Chinese, and has three years of chemistry and Chinese teaching experience in public schools. This course is open to students who have earned three credits of Chinese (more than 350 hours of Chinese learning) and at least one science credit (physics or biology). The goal of this course is to integrate Chinese with instruction in chemistry content area, making Chinese learning the vehicle for strengthening general chemistry knowledge and skills, helping our students to develop global scientific mind. Most students attending this class will choose both Chinese and science as their college majors. This program has attracted nationwide attention and we hope, after one year’s development, we can share our experience with other schools who want to set up similar programs.”