Principal Investigator Shigeru Miyagawa
Project Website https://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/star_festival/
Project Start Date November 1993
Project End Date July 2006
StarFestival Inc. is dedicated to offering products that transform the classroom into a highly interactive learning environment. Smart use of new and emerging technologies, combined with a comprehensive curriculum package based on the national standards, make our products not only unique and innovative, but also practical and easy-to-use for the teachers. The line of multimedia products now available is called StarFestival: Exploring Cultural Heritage, which has as its core the award-winning CD-ROM, StarFestival...a return to Japan. These products were originally conceptualized and extensively beta tested in Shigeru Miyagawa's laboratory at MIT and the technology exclusively licensed to StarFestival Inc. Our aim is to have this line of products in major school districts around the country (USA) as well as in smaller districts and individual schools. We are delighted that the Boston Public School District, where we have done extensive pilot testing, has become the first large district to adopt it system-wide.
The overall goals of the StarFestival curriculum are several. Students are introduced to Japan through exploration of Japan's history, geography, cultural traditions, people and views of contemporary society. Students also learn to value their own cultural heritage and promote intercultural understanding through modeling and following the personal journey of Professor Miyagawa as he returns for the major cultural event of the year, the Star Festival.
In stride with technological advances, Dr. Miyagawa travels with a state-of-the-art device which records the sites and sounds of his visit. This high-tech, hand held Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) serves as a journal and video camera combined into one. Your journey begins when you find Dr. Miyagawa's PDA that was lost while attending StarFestival. In each of the twenty "sites," there is a common thread highlighted by the Professor as he rediscovers his Japanese roots and explores his own cultural identity. One of the most poignant, defining moments is when Dr. Miyagawa describes himself "as a bridge" traveling on a journey from his adopted culture back to his roots where he asks the question, "Am I American or Japanese or American and Japanese?" This question is what draws the user to Dr. Miyagawa's journey of self-discovery.
Several Boston Public School teachers implemented the curriculum into their classrooms and served in the pilot program to help develop StarFestival. Results of these pilot tests were similar: the students enthusiastically embraced this non-linear teaching approach because it used technology of the day -- the desktop computer. Each person is different in how one learns and retains information. In working through the curriculum, students learn research and critical thinking skills, group (team) work dynamics as well as presentation skills. Beginning in September of 2000, the Boston Public Schools will use the StarFestival teaching tools for all 210 first grade classrooms in 82 elementary schools.