Outreach

The Yadunandan Center for India Studies has been involved in conducting annual workshops for K-12 teachers and curriculum

specialists in Public School Districts in Southern California.  In 2006-2007, YCIS collaborated with and supported the California

History Project and Long Beach Unified School District with workshops on Islam in India, Al-Biruni and India, and Colonialism

and Nationalism in India.

According to the History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools, India is currently taught in 6th, 7th and 10th

grades.  Each year, YCIS sponsors an institute on select themes in the California History-Social Science Content Standards.

Teachers receive lesson plans and materials to facilitate the teaching of India in the classroom. The modules that discuss India

as part of the curriculum are as follows:

Grade Six—World History and Geography: Ancient Civilizations

• West Meets East: The Early Civilizations of India and China
• Indus Valley civilization
• The Vedic Period
• Major religious traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism
• Mauryan and Guptan Empires
• “Silk Road”: Trade and cultural interchange between India, China and Rome
• Aesthetic and intellectual traditions: Sanskrit literature, medicine, metallurgy, and mathematics.

   

Grade Seven—World History and Geography: Medieval and Early Modern Times

• Growth of Islam
• The rise of Islam as a religion and as a civilization, and its expansion through Persia to India

Grade Ten—World History, Culture, and Geography: The Modern World

• The Rise of Imperialism and Colonialism: A Case Study of India
• The historical study of the Raj (British Rule)
• Independence movement: The roles of M.K. Gandhi, J. Nehru, and L. Mountbatten
• Indian independence and the creation of India and Pakistan

Beginning in 2007, the Center will collaborate with the newly established National Center for Asia in Teacher Education at CSULB

to further infuse India studies into the pre-service and teacher education curriculum both within California as well as in other

states across the nation. This project is to be funded by the Freeman Foundation.