Online Learning Activities

Notable Asian Pacific Americans: An Asian Pacific American Heritage Activity

From a creator of Yahoo! to a famous musician, students can read the brief biographies of 10 Asian Americans who’ve made a difference.

In Scholastic’s “Notable Asian Pacific Americans” online activity (grades 3–6), students can read short biographies of the following ten notable Asian Pacific Americans who have contributed to American history in a variety of ways.

• Hawaiian native Duke Kahanamoku, the father of international surfing, who medaled at the 1912, 1920, 1924, and 1932 Olympics for swimming.
• Dr. Feng Shan Ho, who single-handedly saved thousands of Austrian Jews during the Holocaust.
• Dalip Singh Saund, who made history as the first Asian elected to Congress in 1956.
• The “Men of Steel,” nearly 12,000 Chinese railroad workers who performed dangerous work to construct the Central Pacific line, helping America become the first continent to have a coast-to-coast railroad.
• Steven Chu, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on cooling atoms.
• Yo-Yo Ma, who gained worldwide fame and more than a dozen Grammys as a cello player.
• Architect Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.
• Amy Tan, author of the best-selling novel, The Joy Luck Club.
• Jerry Yang, who created Yahoo! with a Stanford University classmate.
• Skating legend Michelle Kwan, who’s medaled at the Olympics and is admired for her athleticism and grace on the ice.

To learn more, students can click on related grade-appropriate links for further reading.

Learning Objectives

While participating in the “Notable Asian Pacific American” reading acitvity, students will:

• Use Web technology to access American history and the Asian-American experience
• Relive the Asian-American experience through biographies

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