Project-MOONSHOT ACADEMY

Family Memoirs: Recording the individual stories of ordinary families in the big time

Disciplines/Subjects: History, Chinese, Media, Design Key Themes: Nonfiction Writing, Modern Chinese History, Microhistory “What can a small individual or a small family tell us? How much can it aid our understanding of Chinese history? We believe that the experiences of ordinary people can reflect the changes of an entire era, and we can genuinely feel the turning points of significant times through the vivid, detailed small histories. Without a micro perspective, our history would be unbalanced and incomplete.”—History does not float in the air; it is all around us, in the daily meals and routines of every family. Each family is a book, and if we can salvage and collect these memories, they too can be the magnificent voice of the times. In this project, learners explore modern Chinese history by tracing family stories and ultimately complete a “family memoir.” The project integrates multiple disciplines such as history, language arts, media, and design, aiming to document the individual stories of ordinary families against the backdrop of significant historical periods.

Moonshot Academy High School Commencement 2024

Disciplines/Subjects: Graphic Design Key Themes: Graduation Ceremony, Branding Design, Packaging Design, Book Design Graduation is one of the most important events in a school, and we created a full set of branded visual identities for the ceremony. The main visual design centered around the “Orange Ladder”, an element derived from Moonshot Academy(MSA)'s landmark, the Little Theater, which is the most familiar symbol to every MSA learner. We abstracted the theater as a three-step ladder, echoing the graduation ceremony theme of “3, 2, 1”. We simulated the projection of the light on the stairs from a vertically downward perspective and summarized it as a minimalist graphic with only orange and black. The orange steps remain unchanged, while the shadows cycle through time, from no shadow at all to a narrow projection, symbolizing the graduation of each student from the MSA, leaving behind a trail of shadows, echoing the time of the graduation ceremony, the Summer Solstice. Utilizing 3D printing technology, we pasted the physical ladder onto part of the material to create a realistic projection through natural light, breaking the boundaries between static and dynamic, two-dimensional and three-dimensional.

Lost & Found: Leaving our campus memories in 99 lost items

Disciplines/Subjects: Graphic Design Key Themes: Creative Design, Exhibition Design These are 99 lost items that were left behind at 129 Nangao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, a place once called Moonshot Academy(MSA). The school was forced to move out due to the Covid-19. Most of the campus is now empty, but there are still a lot of items that no one packed or were just too hard to move, so they were left there forever. We chose 99 of these lost items, the largest being graffiti on a wall and the smallest being a marble on a bookshelf. No matter how big or small, each item was a testimony to our real life there. Later, we launched a special “Lost & Found” campaign: we collected all the stories of people with these 99 lost objects, and as long as you have a story with one of them, you can be one of the “adopters” of it. After the event, we designed a set of postcards with all the “adopters” and stories collected at the exhibition. We used four different styles of fonts to form the main visual of “Lost & Found”, as if the 99 different items were piled up together, twisted and turned, seemingly unappreciated and about to be abandoned. The 99 items have also been individually keyed out of the photographs they were originally in and filled in with gray squares that represent “transparent, no content” in the design software to indicate that they are all lost. When you hold each card up to the light, you can retrieve the lost objects and stories, and we hope to convey the idea that although most of these objects are indeed lost, as long as we can find memories of them, their appearance will always be there.

Kapuscinski's Iran: A Poland in Disguise?

Disciplines/Subjects: AP English Language and Composition Key Themes: In his reporting on the Iranian revolution, Ryszard Kapuscinki created a narrative that seemed to speak beyond that singular moment. Under the surface, readers found allegories, parallels, and universal truths about the nature of revolutions, political power, continuity, and change. Framing these (and controversially potentially compromising the reportage on them) is the artistic power of Kapuscinski's poetic imagination which in turn opens questions about the conventions and responsibilities of the artist and reporter in their relationship to language itself. We read this text in the second semester as a way to deepen our reading and writing skills for the course. It allowed for the presentation of a range of texts (historical writing, speeches, conventional journalism, opinion writing, and literary work) and allowed for a deep examination of the conventions of them - something we began in the previous unit with the conventions of scientific texts. At the same time, this unit allowed students to learn about two important parts of the world that they might not be too familiar with. The summative assessment for the unit provides the learners with the opportunity to refine and extend their skills on an AP-style assessment: either the synthesis or analytical essay.

A Collection of Micro Novels "One Corner, One Observation, One Writing"

Disciplines/Subjects: Chinese Language Arts Key Themes: Fiction, Creative writing, Exaggeration, Alienation, Metaphor From a corner of the world, observing people and society. Art originates from life, higher than life. "Novelists from ancient and modern times, both domestic and foreign, reflect social reality through their writing, describe it with warmth, criticize it sharply, or depict human nature through unique artistic techniques. They transport readers to a whole new world and showcase different life experiences. This power is not based on argumentation or facts, but on the illusion that life is happening on paper, which is the life of their characters. Through the intensive reading of each unit's representative novel and relevant supplementary materials, learners can understand the expression techniques and techniques of various novels, choose one of the following three topics, imitate and learn from its artistic techniques, understand the basic methods of novel creation, create a mini-novel, and present their attitudes and reflections on certain social phenomena, trends of thought or popular culture. A. What phenomena in real society do you want to criticize? Please shape a typical character based on this, using exaggeration, contrast, and satire techniques, designing necessary plot conflicts, showcasing their core characteristics, and writing their story and your stance B. The alienation of human beings "reflects the alienation of the body and the misalignment of thoughts, as well as the dilemma of human survival. Based on your observation, in real life, which person/individuals have you seen facing survival difficulties? Please write a story about 'human alienation transformation' through passive explicit transformation, showcasing their struggles and difficulties, as well as the inner world of the characters. C. The metaphorical technique helps us better understand the connections or behaviors between specific things. By observing and experiencing life (historical events, small things that reflect truth in life, social hotspots), you can choose a theme and use metaphorical techniques to create a group story through the setting of images, scenes, plots, and details. This will reveal the essence of something or the truth of life, or subtly express your views and positions on a sensitive event.

Universe of Contemporary Chinese Literature - Podcast Channel

Disciplines/Subjects: Chinese Language Arts Key Themes: Contemporary Literature, Textual Analysis, Close Reading This project aims to leverage cutting-edge AI technologies to develop a revolutionary conversational training system tailored for children with autism. We are building an AI product powered by advanced language models designed to enhance the social skills of children with autism. Traditional social skills interventions often depend on professionals, leading to high costs and limited scalability. Our AI system utilizes innovative natural language processing technologies to provide accessible, personalized socialization training. Through simulated conversations and emotional interactions in a virtual environment, children with autism can practice and develop essential social skills. At the heart of this product is a data-driven dynamic learning engine that continuously self-optimizes based on user progress, offering step-by-step support. By engaging in multi-turn dialogues, the AI system adapts to individual needs, creating a non-threatening, friendly interaction environment where users can practice skills for real-world social scenarios. With intelligent guidance and feedback mechanisms, this AI solution offers a sustainable, scalable approach to supporting children with autism in better integrating into society and improving their quality of life. Beyond being a technical tool, this product represents a transformative effort to leverage AI for social good. We believe that through innovative, scalable AI applications, we can address critical gaps in special education worldwide, becoming a bridge that connects technology with human care.

Let's write the "A Good Fall" manual together

Disciplines/Subjects: Chinese Language Arts, Sociology Key Themes: Immigration literature, new immigrants, mentality Homesickness is a small stamp. I'm over here, Mother is over there. Since 1978, batches of intellectual elites have chosen to cross the ocean to study in the US. Compared to the earliest group of Chinese labor immigrants who came to the US for "gold mining", the name "new immigrants" has emerged due to the huge changes in their knowledge background and immigration purposes. As intellectuals who are "new immigrants", some of them choose to return to China for development after achieving success in the US, while others choose to continue to realize their "US dream" and become residents. Over time, the social structure of Chinese immigrants in the US has gradually become richer and more complete. With the increasing diversity of Chinese immigrant society, "New Immigrant Literature" has gradually prospered. Nowadays, a group of new immigrant writers not only express their frustrations and feelings directly through narrative descriptions of life but also learn to dig out the insights of different groups and cultures on life and the examination of human nature from the complex details of life. Learners will determine the theme they want to explore about the living conditions faced by new immigrants based on personal experiences/interviews with Chinese people who have lived overseas, search for relevant information, and write a paper combining their understanding and analysis of new immigrant literary works (novels) related to the theme to explore the inner strength that can support the mentality of new immigrants. All the papers written by the learners will be compiled into a handbook that explores the living conditions and mindset themes of new immigrants. This not only examines the learners' understanding and interpretation, analysis and evaluation, focus and organization, and language abilities but also provides a better guide for learners who are about to study abroad to "take root".

The Chinese Classics Editorial Department has published a new book!——Study of Tang and Song Dynasty Poetry

Disciplines/Subjects: Literature Key Themes: Classical Chinese Poetry, Tang and Song Dynasty Literature "How can one speak without learning poetry?" Poetry, amidst nature and daily life, becomes the most authentic expression of human emotions. The Tang and Song dynasties represent the zenith of ancient Chinese poetry and lyrical composition, giving rise to countless distinguished poets, lyricists, and outstanding works. Poetry and lyrics, with their beautiful language and profound emotions, hold an undeniable value for our aesthetic tastes, emotional expression, and creative abilities. However, in this era of "fast entertainment," how many people would delve into the beauty of poetry and lyrics beyond what is required by schools for recitation and dictation? Do we truly understand the aesthetic and cultural connotations carried by poetry and lyrics? What can we do to deepen our appreciation of the beauty of poetry and lyrics, and also introduce the charm of Tang and Song poetry to more people? In this "The Chinese Classics Editorial Department has published a new book!" PA task, we will transform into editors of Chinese classics, planning, publishing, and printing a book for the study of Tang and Song poetry and lyrics according to the needs of our audience, and placing it in the library so that more members of the Moonshot Community can experience the beauty of poetry and the cultural connotations it contains. At the same time, each of us is also an author of this book. We choose a poet or lyricist from the Tang or Song dynasty that interests us, and based on "Know Others and Discuss Their World", we delve into their poetic works based on our understanding and insights, producing a text analysis article. In this text analysis article, everyone will interpret the themes and central ideas, structure, development, word choice, and the author's viewpoints and purposes of poetic works.

Project

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