"It allows kids to look at the lens from which they view the world," she said, adding that this enables students to be more empathetic and open-minded.

Strong brought the same philosophy to her work for the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council this summer, when she helped lead students on a three-week trip to China and had them research the similarities and differences of cultural systems in the United States and China.

Strong's commitment to incorporating multicultural, global and international studies into her curriculum has earned her the Hawai'i International Education Week-Honolulu Advertiser 2004 Outstanding Global Educator Award.

Strong will receive a $500 cash award and Kailua High will receive a $500 voucher to purchase global education resource materials.

Honorable mentions went to Ho'ala School teacher Bridget Bombard and the Punahou School Grade One Teaching Team.

This weekend, Kailua's global studies students will participate in a Hawai'i International Education Week conference where they will represent the United States in a simulation of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. In preparation, they have spent the first part of the semester researching foreign policy on this issue.

For the rest of the semester they will construct Web pages about other global issues, Strong said. After gathering the information, they will share it in the community. In the past, students have studied sustainability and homelessness, and created pamphlets for distribution in their community.

Strong's interest in teaching global issues stems from her own discovery that she could examine the perspective from which she viewed the world.

"I didn't really understand where I fit in with the rest of the world until I left Hawai'i and went to college on the Mainland," she said.