For nearly 20 years, I was involved with a project that started in the 1980’s with people to people exchanges between educators and psychologists in North America with colleagues in the Soviet Union. We made annual visits and conducted seminar-type sessions with schools, universities and research institutes. After several visits, we started an exchange program with educators from schools and research institutes in Moscow and St. Petersburg (at the time, Leningrad). What emerged from these early exchanges was the Global Thinking Project a hands-across the globe program that involved students and teachers with research projects on various environmental problems such as ground-level ozone and water pollution. We developed a curriculum, and published in English and Russian, and through our work, were approached by educators from other countries to join up with our initial work. Soon educators from Spain, Australia, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Canada, England, Botswana, Japan, Argentina, and Chile were part of the project.

One of the highlights of the GTP was a series of student-to-student exchanges funded by the U.S. Department of State (USIA) designed to foster relationships among American and Russian educators, students and parents. In the mid-90s, hundreds of students and educators participated in the GTP exchanges. The exchanges involved 50 students and about 10 teachers from five different schools in Georgia exchanging with the same number of Russian students and teachers in Russia. Two exchanges per year, each lasting three weeks, took place. Students were hosted by families in each of the respective communities, and not only went to school each day, but participated in the family life of the host family.

Yesterday I received an email from one of the American students from Lafayette Middle School (Walker County, GA) who participated in the exchange. Here is what she said:

In the spring of 1998, at 14 years old, I traveled to Russia (Puschino) as part of the GTP project. I learned so much about myself, the Russian culture and humans in general on that trip. I have carried the memories with me for years and hope I will never forget them.”

It was wonderful to hear from this student and to know that the project is still apart of her memory, and that it had an impact on her. One of the studies that we did during the project was entitled The emergence of global thinking among American and Russian youth as a contribution to public understanding. One of the conclusions of our study is certainly supported by this former student’s comments. The interpersonal experiences, and the cultural knowledge contributed to the real outcomes of the project, not just the cognitive ones that emerged from our emphasis on environmental science.

I want to thank one of the former GTPers who took the time to contact us. We always felt that these exchanges were valuable. It’s very gratifying to hear from someone who experienced the project.