The materials presented on this web-site mainly represent the work of Joe and Sayuri Adams over the last twelve years (1995-2007) while working together and raising a family in Isawa-cho, Japan and Dahlonega, Georgia, USA. Since graduating in 1995,  from the University of Hawaii with an MA in History, Joe and Sayuri began developing materials for kids ages 5-and-up while teaching in the public schools, grades 1-9 in Yamanashi-ken, Japan 1995-1998. Sayuri was already a veteran primary school teacher, having taught in every grade, 1-6; and Joe was a participant in the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) program 1995-1998, a G.L.O.B.E. Japan teacher and local club leader of the Children's Ecology Program (Kodomo Eco-Club) program in Nakamichi-cho 1996-1998. Joe and Sayuri authored and illustrated several stories for introducing Japanese kids to global studies and English-as-a-second language that we recently adapted for teaching Japanese-as-a-second language. They also conducted follow-up research on their curriculum in 1998 for the Yamanashi-ken University Center for Educational Research (Yamanashi Daigaku Kyouikugakubu Kyuikujissen Kenkyushido Center) The materials for kids ages 14-and-up, including materials for teachers and researchers, stem from teaching experiences since 1999 at North Georgia College and State University (Chinese and World History), Gainesville College (American and World History), the University of Georgia (2001 AP World History workshop), Oglethorpe High School 2000-2001 (World History, English Composition, and World Geography), and Walton High School 2001-2002 (a new two year pre-AP and AP World History program for ninth and tenth graders). Since 2003, Joe has been an national exam reader for the College Board on the annual AP World History test. Just Right Construction and Revival Gardens Organic Produce sponsor for the web-site and ecology programs. The International Appalachian Academy, an after-school and Saturday program for  students and their parents in North Georgia is the main venue for the Language and Culture classes in Japanese, World History, and Bible stories in a global context. World Class Learning Network is the umbrella organization for all of these projects, programs, and related groups that provide, or have provided, assistance and materials to make it possible in the USA and Japan. Our goal has been and continues to enrich our studies at the local level with relevant global perspectives to make a better world. While the local schools are the appropriate channel to conduct some studies and exchange projects, extra-curricular programs are also essential to bringing more global perspectives within reach. Private operations like the International Appalachian Academy allies with local and regional ecology groups, like Lumpkin Coalition, Georgia Adopt-a-Stream, and international organizations like G.L.O.B.E. Japan and G.L.O.B.E. USA to conduct studies that would otherwise not be possible for students in the North Georgia region.

Alliance Links with explanations:

Joseph Adams' curriculum vitae
Revival Gardens Organic Produce (our family farm and sponsor of chemical and biological sampling, gardening and culinary events)
Lumpkin Coalition (co-collaborator on annual river clean-ups in Lumpkin County, Georgia)
The G.L.O.B.E. (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) Program (World Class Learning is a registered GLOBE school using GLOBE Protocals to submit data on our invertebrate studies done on sites along the Etowah River.)
Georgia Adopt-a-Stream certifying agency of the State of Georgia's Department of Natural Resources providing training in biological and chemical sampling of sites "adopted" by groups monitoring steams and rivers in the
Rivers Alive (main organizer and sponsor for the annual river clean-up World Class Learning Alliance, Revival Gardens, and the International Academy has been participating in since 2002
JET Program (20 years in operation, bringing over 5000 graduates of universities of English-speaking countries into primary, junior high, and high schools)
GLOBE Japan (in Japanese) (with schools in over 130 countries participating, this framework provides super support for data collection and exchange projects, and if you can't use Japanese, you can access the schools through the globe.gov site too.
Article on Japan's Kodomo Eco-Club (in English)
Kodomo Eco-Club (in Japanese) (sponsored by Japan's Department of the Environment, this program for primary school students, both in schools and private, is unique in that it promotes ecological observation and actions to improve the local environment)

Published Research in Japan

「みんなの誕生パーティー：AETとのティームティーチングによる小学校における国際理解教育の改善」山梨大学教育学部教育実践研究指導センター研究紀要　教育実践学研究　第４号.1998.7.pp.71-83