December 1 to 31.2006
Science Education Program for Children
Educational Plan and its Implementation for "Fostering Children with an Appreciation for the Sciences"
The following two schools have been selected as the Full Awardment Project Schools.
education subsidy for the Educational Plan of 3 million yen and Sony 's audio-visual products will be granted to the two schools.
Eimei Elementary School (Chino City, Nagano Prefecture)
Principal: Mr.Masao Komatsu
Izumiya Junior High School (Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture)
Principal: Mr.Toyoharu Mine
- Advanced Project Awardment Schools (21): education subsidy for Educational Plan of 500,000 yen and Sony 's audio-visual products
- Fine Effort Awardment Schools (57): education subsidy for Educational Plan of 100,000 yen and Sony's audio-visual products
- Lord Mayor of London Awardment (2): 200,000 yen for purchase of books and Sony's audio-visual products
<General Comment>
Chairman of the Screening Committee: Yasushi Mitarai
(Chairperson of the University of the Air Foundation/ former Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology)
This year we received 174 applications from 35 prefectures in the country, with about a half of the applications being made by schools that participated in this program for the very first time. As our aim is to encourage as many teachers as possible to develop and learn through the challenges of this program, we are extremely pleased that so many schools have decided to take part for the first time.
This program focuses not only on education theories and concepts, but also on how to learn from the outcomes achieved by putting those logic and concepts into practice, and how they can improve and guide the next steps. This year, we once again received many creative and intriguing ideas that suit the individual circumstances of each school.
For example, one of the suggested approaches for developing children's curiosity was to be creative in identifying and devising teaching material that effectively encourage children to question "why?" or "how?". Another suggestion was to encourage children to acquire skills, attitude, different ways of thinking and points of view to identify events that arouse their curiosity, and by doing so encourage them to seek new challenges and stimulations in otherwise familiar situations.
Yet another approach was to make effective use of everyday material in lessons so that children will understand how science is applied and used in our daily lives. One approach also suggested making use of "learning cards" on which children are told to write their thought process as well as their learning process so they appreciate how much they have grown to like science as a subject. Alternative suggestion was for the children to write what they have learned, understood and felt in an interview-style report using a conversational format. These are ingenious ideas that can be implemented relatively early.
Through the assessment of these applications, we were able to see that although all the ideas and suggestions ultimately shared a common goal, the methods and procedures to achieve this were various, depending on many factors such as the region and the children's needs.
We hope that the suggestions made to this program will be useful to many teachers and schools, and we also hope that as many teaching staff who share our wish to foster children with an appreciation for the sciences to participate in this program, and in turn, for this program to help strengthen the participants' teaching abilities and leadership qualities.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers who participated in the program with passion for teaching. I sincerely hope that by pursuing your efforts in implementing and developing each of your wonderful ideas, you will continue to encourage children to learn with joy, to be close to science, and to grow to appreciate the subject.
Preschool Education Program for Children
Implementation for Preschool Education "Fostering Children's scientific mind.
The following three schools have been selected as the Advanced Project Awardment Preschools. education subsidy for the Educational Plan of 500,000 yen and Sony's audio-visual products will be granted to the three schools.
- Aizu Wakaba Kindergarten (Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture)
Principal: Mr.Tsuyoshi Nakazawa - Midorigaoka Nursery School(Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture)
Principal: Ms.Kazue Ichikawa - Izumo Chuo Nursery / Kindergarten(Izumo City, Shimane Prefecture)
Principal: Ms.Yoko Sano
- Encouragement Awardment Preschools(12):education subsidy for the Educational Plan of 200,000 yen and Sony's audio-visual products
- Fine Effort Awardment Preschools(21):Sony's audio-visual products
- Lord Mayor of London Awardment(1):100,000 yen for purchase of books and Sony manufactured equipment
<General Assessment>
Chairman of the Screening Committee: Dr.Hideaki Koizumi
(Corporate Chief Scientist, Hitachi, Ltd., Research & Development Group Research / Research Supervisor, Japan Science and Technology Agency)
This program aims for the healthy development of 3-5 year old children, with a theme to "developing a scientific mind ~developing sensitivity and creativity~". The program invites applications from nursery schools and kindergartens from across the country.
This year (2006) marks the 5th anniversary of the program and we were pleased to receive as many as 67 applications from 21 prefectures, and following a careful assessment process, 37 schools have been awarded with a prize.
This program is based on the principle that a scientific mind should be fostered from early childhood when children learn and acquire the basic knowledge and skills of life. This is a new concept that is only just beginning to get the recognition it deserves. I would like to offer my greatest respect and gratitude for the efforts and passion of all the teachers who took part in the program and challenged this difficult but exciting new concept.
For the purposes of the assessment, we focused especially of the following points:
- How "a scientific mind" is defined and how this is identified in children and their behavior.
- With the above in mind, how the children's thought processes and realizations are taken into account to develop a scientific mind.
- What kinds of growth were observed as a result, and whether if it had led to a lively and proactive attitude of the children.
This year, we once again received many project essays of high quality, which made the assessment process an extremely difficult but a rewarding and meaningful experience. As a result, we were encouraged to further our discussion of the program's main theme.
I hope that through your participation to this program, presentation or workshops, you will have the opportunity to think about the importance of developing a scientific mind from early childhood, and that more and more people will implement this in preschool education.
