International Collaboration

May 9th is National Train Day in the United States. On that day a 13-strong delegation from UNC boarded train number 56 in Moscow’s Yaroslavskiy station headed for Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University in Siberia. The faculty members were on their way to attend the second leg of a teacher education conference. The first leg occurred in October 2008 when faculty from the Schools of Teacher Education, Special Education and Psychological Sciences hosted a group of Russian faculty during a conference at UNC. The focus of both conferences was to share information and learn more about the educational systems and teacher preparation programs in Russia and the United States. In both Greeley and Novosibirsk faculty and students came together for academic presentations in the morning followed by visits to schools and other educational or historical institutions in the afternoon (including an evening at the Novosibirsk ballet). Presentations covered an array of topics with UNC faculty sharing expertise on topics including ethnomathematics, field placement, teachers’ beliefs about child development, teaching reading and the organization of the American educational system. Dr. Sasha Sidorkin, who needs much credit for organizing both meetings, served as translator and international mediator throughout the trip.