Director of Education plays with Panda Bears in China

April 27, 2007

Dr. Sue Teele, director of Education at UCR Extension, fulfilled a lifelong dream when she traveled in April to Wolong Giant Panda Reserve near Chengdu, China.

"I have had the most incredible two days in Wolong," Teele wrote from China. "I got to play for fifteen minutes with baby pandas and I had four pandas that played with me on the ground."

Teele has been a devoted fan of the endangered black and white bear since she first encountered the pandas in China 18 years ago. When Teele created the Teele Inventory of Multiple Intelligences, a pictorial assessment that measures multiple intelligences in children, she selected 56 images of panda bears to represent the original seven intelligences. She collects panda images, sculptures and figurines for her office. And now she has had a real live baby panda sit in her lap. Pictured here having a blissful time with Teele is 7-month-old Xiao Yatou, which means ‘little girl.'

Teele, who travels to San Diego Zoo regularly to visit the pandas there, went on the panda tour in China with zoo members.