School of Education professor represents IU at Indian education conference

IU School of Education professor Terry Mason traveled to Delhi on Oct. 25 to participate in a ceremony discussing the most recent achievements in an education partnership between the U.S and India.

Mason, a professor of curriculum and instruction and director of the IU Center for Social Studies and International Education, joined U.S. Ambassador Tim Roemer, among others, for the Project Citizen Student Showcase.

Project Citizen is a program that helps students examine public policy issues in their respective communities. It is part of the larger Civitas International Education Exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the Center for Civic Education.

The IU School of Education has been involved with the project since 1995. It involved partnerships with Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The exchange with India began in 2008.

Mason’s most recent trip to India involved a series of workshops designed to help teachers create civic education curriculum. The U.S delegation, along with Mason and Roemer, included Arlene Benitez, associate director of CSSIE, Rebecca Reeder and Scott Frye — both retired teachers from Indiana, and Dan Prinzing, education director for the Idaho Human Rights Education Center.

The October workshops occurred both in Delhi and the southern Indian state of Kerala.
Students from 25 Indian schools attended the workshops to discuss their work dealing with some of the most pressing public issues facing India today.

— Molly Johnson