August 1 to 31.2004
Sony Science Education Program for Children & Sony Science Teachers Association
Leadership-Development Workshop
The SSTA held its second Leadership-Development Workshop in Chiba City over a three-day period beginning August 6. The thirty-eight teaching staff representing 32 SSTA chapters gathered at this workshop to focus on the following two primary objectives.
- To develop in teaching personnel the abilities to propose research themes for science education on the basis of actual experience and adopt ground-breaking new approaches to conducting science classes.
- To develop in teaching personnel the abilities to take a leading role in promoting science education and serve as the driving forces for developing science education of the future in their respective regions.
A key feature of the Leadership-Development Workshop is that a single team of workshop members has conducted research together now for a period of two years. With the main focus of the research on curriculum and unit structure, participants at this workshop were in divided into ten groups to study suchcommon themes in science education as "the human body," "how things dissolve," "electricity," "astronomy" and "energy." Each group has set specific targets for both individual members and the group as a whole for the two years of reserch The work itself does not stop there, however, as group members will be exchanging information and opinions on the work in the coming months by e-mail.
Researchers will also be holding classes for practical application of research results. One member will be selected from each group to hold an open practical application class that will also serve as one workshop session for the chapter to which he or she belongs.
In addition to the various in-depth group discussions, workshop participants heard presentations given by 6 special speakers, including (in order of presentation) Kozo Ohsone (former Vice-President of Sony Corporation : speaking on "Devising a Framework for Making Something from Nothing"), Toshie Suzuki (educational scholar: speaking on "Project Study Methods and Portfolio Evaluation"), Mitsuhisa Hioki (from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: speaking on "How Knowledge of Nature Leads to Scientific Knowledge"), Yoichi Kiyohara (from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: speaking on "Human Nature in Relation to Technical Expertise"), Masao Hamanaka (from Tokyo Gakugei University: speaking on "Techniques For Practical Application of Research Results Designed to Improve the Quality of Science Classes") and Katsunobu Matsumoto (from Osaka Kyoiku University: speaking on "What It Means to Be a Leader and The Nature of Research").
Theme-Development Workshop
SSTA chapters holding workshops are free to choose their own research themes and methods and conduct research with SSTA members from other prefectures. Theme-Development Workshops were held at five locations across the country during the month of August.
+Science Explorers in Fukushima (August 2 to 4,Kooriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture)
--Enhancing the Sense of Wonder in Teachers as a Way to Better Foster Children With Appreciation for the Sciences
Workshop participants conducted field research studies in the seven areas of astronomy, mineral resources, nature watching, plant life, animal life, water quality and energy The aim was to incorporate the renewed sense of wonder experienced in these areas into the teaching curriculum and class instruction. The researchers in the seven workshops made good use of locally available facilities, including a wind-power generating station, an abandoned mine pit and an applied bioscience engineering research laboratory.
+Creating Science Classes That Foster Character Development (Aug. 3 and 4, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture)
--Creating and Evaluating Class Structures Capable of Fostering Children with an Appreciation for the Sciences
+For this workshop, the Ishikawa chapter prepared proposals (models) for first, third, sixth and seventh-grade science classes. Each participating SSTA chapter then conducted practical classroom application of those models, held in-depth discussion of the results and proposed their own improved class instruction models.
+Research on Developing Curricula for Teaching About Living Things and the Skills That Enable Children to Make Things by Hand (Aug. 9 to 11, Kumamoto Prefecture)
--Building Curricula Based on Educational Values Derived from First-hand Study.
This workshop represents the third year of an ongoing research project. Activities involved practical application of the instruction models created from the cumulative research in actual classroom settings, making improvements based on those results and applying the results to develop a working curriculum. The practical application classes involved teaching children how to create prototypes of sensor circuits and providing children with experience in dairy farming. The causes were made possible through the cooperation of the Kumamoto National College of Technology and a dairy education farm.
+Primary and Junior High School Education Workshops in Hyogo (Aug. 10 to 12, Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture)
--Teachers Bettering Their Vocational Skills through Fieldwork and Applying the Results to Classroom Learning
Total participation exceeded 100, with the workshop divided into 11 workgroups covering a total of six school grades. The junior high school group focused on geology, the sixth grade on electricity and power generation, the fifth grade on running water, the fourth grade on the phases of the moon, the third grade on sunlight and the first and second grade on life sciences (with emphasis on nature). The primary goal was to conduct research on developing teaching materials based on their experiences in fieldwork. Likewise, this workshop make good use of locally available facilities, including a power station, science museum, astronomical observatory, a nature classroom, a dam and an ancient burial ground.
+The Ibaragi III Workshop (Aug. 18, Tsukubayama City, Ibaragi Prefecture)
--Enhancing Teacher Appreciation of Science as a Way to Better Foster Children With an Appreciation for the Sciences
Research on the use of Mt. Tsukubayama as a source for teaching material focused on observing the insect life on the mountain and the flora and fauna in the Buna Virgin Forest. Where last year's workshop focused on researching the Kasumi-ga-ura area, activities this year focused on mountains within Ibaragi Prefecture
Sony Preschool Education Program for Children
1.Project Information Exchange Making for Advanced Awardment Schools
The Project Information Exchange Meeting held August 10 at a museum dedicated to natural and human history located in Kita Kyushu City. Two hundred twenty eight teaching personnelrepresenting nursery, kindergarten and primary schools attended the project information exchange meeting at the Inochi no Tabi Museum held by the Yahata Higashi Municipal Nursery School of Kita Kyushu City. This also marked the second year in a row for the Yahata Higashi Municipal Nursery School to qualify for the Advanced Awardment.
The open-house meeting gave the younger children who had visited the museum on three previous locations the opportunity to make use of their experience and work together with older children in the fourth grade on their favorite activity, which happens to be creating replicas of dinosaurs.
Joining the nursery school and kindergarten teachers at the meeting were teaching staff from primary schools, as well as two university professors. Assistant Professor Yokoyama, a specialist in pre-school education at the junior college of Showa Women's University, and Professor Nakayama, a specialist in science education at Miyazaki University, participated in discussions in their fields of specialization. Professor Nakayama was active in multifaceted discussions on the theme of "fostering an interest in the sciences."
2. Workshop on "Fostering an Interest in the Sciences"
This workshop was held at Nagaike Kindergarten, marking the first time that a pre-school educational support program event was held in the Kansai region. A total of 17 schools (with 52 representatives), including four project submitting schools from the Kansai region, attended this workshop focusing on the theme of "fostering an interest in the sciences."
All participants at this comparatively short session (3 hrs. 30 minutes) were given an opportunity to participate in highly stimulating discussions comparing the different teaching experiences.
