Mission

The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) serves as a bridge between Stanford University and K-14 schools by developing multidisciplinary curriculum materials on international themes.

As a program of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, SPICE reflects the scholarship of Stanford University in its curricula and professional development seminars for teachers. The curricula and seminars focus on contemporary issues in the context of their cultural and historical underpinnings.

Since 1976 the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) has supported efforts to internationalize elementary and secondary school curricula by linking the research and teaching at Stanford University to the schools through the production of high-quality curriculum materials on international and cross-cultural topics. Housed in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, SPICE has produced over 100 supplementary curriculum units on Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the global environment, and international political economy. SPICE draws upon the diverse faculty and programmatic interests of Stanford University to link knowledge, inquiry, and practice in exemplary curriculum materials.

SPICE recognizes its responsibility to present multiple perspectives and enhance critical thinking and decision making skills in subject areas such as geography, economics, political science, international security, the environment, history, science, foreign languages, language arts, and fine and applied arts. SPICE's interdisciplinary approach draws upon simulations and role plays, debates, readers' theaters, lessons involving the visual and performing arts, journal writing exercises, and cooperative group activities.

Attention to the unique needs of today's linguistically, ethnically, and socially diverse classrooms is of pressing concern to educators throughout the country. SPICE has made a strong commitment to creating curriculum materials that model effective ways of working with students of all backgrounds.

SPICE is a non-profit educational program and receives funding from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and several private and government foundations and programs.

View a list of SPICE staff members.