Rider BHP students take on Tokyo
By Grace Bertrand
The opportunity to translate lessons taught at Rider to classrooms around the world was made possible for a handful of Rider students that traveled over 6,000 miles to Japan this past May with the Baccalaureate Honors Program.
Last spring, Rider students enrolled in the BHP course, A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Play, were invited on a trip to Tokyo to observe children and note cultural and environmental connections and differences.
Psychology professor Cara Demant and child-play therapist Yi-Ju Cheng led the trip of 15 students to East Asia, where they explored various child-centered locations, including Sanrio Puroland, Tokyo Disneyland and multiple themed children’s museums.
Demant said she felt the trip was necessary in order for students to fully understand the role culture plays in how children interact and behave.
“Japan has very much restricted, organized and structured play,” Demant said. “They do a lot of academic-based play.”
Demant recalled that one of the most informative parts of the trip was when they visited an after-care program that allowed kids to have free choice over how they wanted to play after school. However, the options were limited to activities such as origami, homework, board games or tablet use.
Senior psychology major Krisantha Spencer remembered the trip fondly, explaining how beneficial it was to make a connection with the children in Japan by participating in their different types of play alongside them.
“One thing I really liked was, even though there’s a language barrier between us and the people there, there was a universal language through playing,” Spencer said.
The students were able to observe and interact with the children during activities and while watching them utilize cultural toys.
Senior psychology major Lex Wright found witnessing the change in culture for themself to be one of the best parts of the trip.
“It was really interesting to see how things transferred culturally, but also how much kids from America differed with the kids there,” Wright said.“Seeing the cultural differences and how respectful kids are to adults there was very eye-opening.”
The course previously offered a study-abroad trip to Sweden in 2022 before choosing to change the destination to Japan, as the professors wanted to switch locations to allow for different opportunities in all kinds of cultures.
As a part of the study-abroad course, students were required to complete a handful of assignments based on their observations to reflect on paper the real-life lessons they learned.
“I can put slides on a projector, I can write on a chalkboard and I can even show videos, but there’s nothing like the students being there hands-on and actually experiencing it in front of them,” Demant said.
Rider continues to offer a wide selection of study-abroad trips. This school year, there will be opportunities to go to a variety of places, including Thailand and Iceland.
