2024年“國家歷史日”中國賽傳來好消息！

激發和支持學生的興趣是最好的老師，這個道理又被我們的增益項目證明了：

3月中旬，在上海舉行的2024年“國家歷史日”中國賽傳來好消息：

代表啟明星參賽的10位北皋校區5年級學生表現出色——其中7位在他們各自的展示類別里都獲得了第一或第二的好名次，拿到了6月進軍美國比賽的“入場券”！國家歷史日是全球權威的中學生人文社科學術活動，始于1974年，每年有超過60萬名學生參與其中。

紀錄片（小組）

第一名：Scars of Humanity （人性的傷疤）

高小龍、Elsa Zhuo

網站（小組）

第一名：Watt a Great Engine （瓦特，偉大的引擎）

崔家瑞、孟詳喻）

（網站截圖）

網站（個人）

第二名：Black Times: The Disease that Changed Europe （黑暗時代：改變歐洲的疫病）

孟德雨

（網站截圖）

展覽（個人）

第二名：Fall of Imperial Russia （俄羅斯帝國的衰落）

陳辛迪

論文

第二名：D-Day （諾曼底登陸）

Nathan Wing

北皋小學部英文增益項目老師Julie Simmons帶隊參加本年度國家歷史日，大家的表現讓她特別驕傲：

這是我們第一次參加國家歷史日比賽。一般來說，參賽的都是6到12年級學生，有少部分項目允許5年級學生參加。

我們的學生都是5年級，是所有參賽者里年級最低的，但他們在自己參加的類別里橫掃了重要獎項，出乎我的意料！”

“拿到第一名，我們特別興奮！另外在比賽現場，我們也通過其他參賽者的展板、紀錄片了解了其他的研究題目和知識，這些也是我們的收獲！”5年級學生高小龍說。

本學年英文增益項目的主題是“歷史”，參加“國家歷史日”比賽是項目的最后一環：學生們選擇自己感興趣的“改變歷史的大事”作為研究題目，在增益項目課堂上學習研究、收集、分析和總結的知識，最終以論文、紀錄片、網站等形式，把自己對歷史大事的研究成果展示在“國家歷史日”的裁判面前。比如：

黑死病除了影響歐洲的政治版圖，原來也影響到他們歐洲的建筑，因為瘟疫帶來的經濟凋敝，讓之前奢華的建筑風格難以為繼；

源于美國的IQ測試被納粹用于迫害其他族群，這項測試不是被用來測試IQ，而是作為判斷某些人是否比較低等的依據；

這些收獲是增益項目學習的結果——孩子們的英文水平在提高，也開始掌握查找文獻、撰寫參考文獻注釋和引用資料的知識，他們也鍛煉了團隊合作能力、公眾展示技巧、和別人溝通的技巧等等在更高年級學習、乃至步入社會也需要掌握的知識和技巧。

回顧英文增益項目整體學習帶來的收獲，5年級學生Matteo Morano和郭光雅反思說：“我想增益項目的意義不只是教授我們英語語言，也幫助我們應對在更高年級和未來生活會遇到的挑戰……”

激發學生的興趣和想法，同時給予他們嚴格的學術指導——這樣的教學思路同樣貫穿在北皋小學部的中文增益項目中。

這個學年第一學期中文增益項目的主題也是“歷史”，4年級增益項目的主題是“論中國古代帝王”，5年級的是“品中國古代文人”。

柳慧是中文增益項目老師，她為學生們提供書目，讓大家根據已有知識和個人熱情自由選擇感興趣的人物資料來閱讀、研究，最終分別以個人演講或辯論會的形式展示學習成果。

就拿4年級學生來說，他們的主要閱讀資料是《少年讀史記——---帝王之路》。孩子們從這本書開始，延展和補充資料，寫下很多閱讀筆記，在以“歷史人物”為杠桿提升中文增讀寫能力的同時，也因為接觸到更多的信息而提升了認知水平。他們意識到可以從更多角度來考察和評判一個歷史人物，從而構建起批判性和創新性思維的雛形。

經過多輪討論，大家選擇漢武帝劉徹的功過作為辯論主題。他們把漢武帝做過的大事一一記錄下來，分別從帝王管理國家的立場和百姓生活的立場思考這些行動的對錯，比如征兵、比如大興土木、增加賦稅等……

柳老師也鼓勵學生自己探索和認識辯論：“我沒有給他們講辯論賽是怎么回事，而是給了他們觀看2023年“縱橫杯”國際學校中文辯論賽的現場比賽。孩子們特別好學，他們反復看視頻，然后在課堂上一起討論、總結、研究，完全靠自學弄清了辯論的意義、程序和每一位辯手的角色。整個過程持續了1個月。”

“在他們身上，我看到了哲學地、辯證地看問題的萌芽。他們一開始是輸贏心理，后來漸漸意識到，看待人物和事件的標準都不一定是非黑即白的……還有孩子們突破舒適區，通過在公眾面前表達自己，明顯自信起來了，連身板都挺起來了！”柳慧老師說。

柳老師說，要把類似的學習體驗繼續下去。現在，她正在籌劃第二學期的中文戲劇，還是在增益項目課堂上，還是以“不同的歷史階段”為大背景，6月下旬揭曉，向同學們和家長們展示！

讓我們一起期待吧！

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一線教師解碼增益項目：什么樣的學生可以進入這間培優課堂？

General Information about Daystar's Enrichment Program

One of the best ways to teach is to inspire and to support students' interests, and this is proven again by our learning results of Enrichment Program :

In mid-March, good news came from the National History Day 2024 affiliate contest in Shanghai:

The 10 5th graders from Beigao Campus who represented Daystar Academy did an outstanding job —7 of them placed 1st or 2nd in their respective categories, earning them a "ticket" to the US national contest in June!National History Day is a leading academic event in the Humanities and Social Sciences typically for secondary school students, which began in 1974.

Documentary (Group)

First: Scars of Humanity

Lego Gao, Elsa Zhuo

Website (Group)

First: Watt a Great Engine

Ruirui Cui, Hugo Meng

(screenshot of website)

Website (Individual)

Second：Black Times: The Disease that Changed Europe

Emily Meng

(screenshot of website)

Exhibits (Individual)

Second：Fall of Imperial Russia

Cindy Chen

Paper

Second: D-Day

Nathan Wing

Julie Simmons, English Enrichment Program teacher at Beigao Elementary School, organized the students attending the contest. She was especially proud of the students' performance:

This is our first year attending the competition in Shanghai and we were the youngest group. The competition starts typically with the 6th grade till the 12th grade. But some affiliates to the competition would allow the 5th graders to join in.

Our students were the youngest in the competition and swept many awards in the categories we participated in, which is beyond my expectation!"

"We are so excited to win the first place, and we also learned about other research topics and knowledge when we looked at the exhibition boards and documentaries of other contestants, which are also our gains!" said Lego Gao.

This school year's English Enrichment Program focuses on history. And National History Day is the final part of the this program for this school year: students of the program choose"The Turning Points in History"that interest them as research topic, learning about research, information collection, analysis, and summarization, and ultimately presenting their work in the form of a paper, documentary, website or exhibition in front of the judges of National History Day. For example:

In addition to affecting the political landscape of Europe, the Black Death turned out to affect the European architecture as well, as the economic depletion brought on by the plague made it difficult to sustain the previously lavish architectural styles.

The IQ test that originated in the US was used by the Nazis to persecute other ethnic groups. The test was not used as a test of IQ but as a basis for determining whether certain people were inferior.

The students' achievements are the result of Enrichment Program learning: their English skills have improved, and they have begun to master the knowledge of searching for literature, writing reference notes and citing materials, and they have also exercised their teamwork skills, public presentation skills, communication skills and other knowledge and skills that they need to master in the future.

"I think the meaning of the Enrichment Program is not only to teach us the English language, but also to help us cope with the challenges that we will encounter in higher grades and in our future lives ......" reflected Matteo Morano and Elise Quek, Grade 5 Enrichment Program students.

Respect for students' interests and freedom is also reflected in the Chinese Enrichment Program of Daystar.

For the first semester of this school year, the theme of the Chinese Enrichment Program is also history; the 4th grade Program's theme is Ancient Chinese Emperors and the 5th grade's is Ancient Chinese Literati.

Liu Hui, the Chinese Enrichment Program teacher, provided the students with bibliographies and allowed them to freely choose character profiles to read, research, and ultimately present their learning in the form of speeches and debates, respectively.

In the case of the 4th graders, their primary reading material was "Shaonian Du Shi Ji". Starting from this book, the students extended and supplemented the information, wrote a lot of reading notes, used "historical figures" as a leverage to improve their Chinese language skills, and also improved their cognitive level because they were exposed to more information, learning how to understand historical figure through different perspectives.

After several rounds of discussion, the group chose the merits and faults of Liu Che, Emperor of Han Dynasty, as the theme of the debate. They recorded the great things that Emperor had done one by one and thought about the rights and wrongs of these actions from the standpoint of the emperor's management of the country and from the standpoint of the people's life, such as conscription, such as the great construction of the earth ...

Ms. Liu also encouraged her students to explore and understand debates on their own: "Instead of giving them a lecture on what debating competitions are all about, I gave them a link to watch the video of the Zongheng Cup Chinese Debate Competition. They watched the video over and over again, and then discussed, summarized, and researched together in class, figuring out the meaning of the debate, the procedures, and the roles of each debater. The whole process lasted 1 month."

"On these students, I see them looking at things philosophically and dialectically. They started with a win-lose mentality, and then gradually realized that the criteria for viewing both characters and events are not necessarily black or white ...There are also students who break out of their comfort zones, and by expressing themselves in public, they are visibly more confident!" Ms. Liu said.

According to Ms. Liu, she wants to extend learning beyond classroom. She is now planning a Chinese drama for the second semester, still in the Enrichment Program classroom, and still with "history" as the backdrop, to be unveiled in late June and presented to parents!

Join us in anticipation!

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一線教師解碼增益項目：什么樣的學生可以進入這間培優課堂？

General Information about Daystar's Enrichment Program

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