July 1 to 31.2007
500 Participants Attend the "Scientific Minds Developed in Childhood" Symposium
Many of you must have noticed a lot of parents pushing strollers in the middle of the business district in Shinagawa on July 21 (Saturday). As part of the Preschool Education Program for Children, we held a symposium based on the theme of "Scientific Minds Developed in Childhood" for the first time, at the Sony Corporation headquarters building. Approximately 500 child-care workers, guardians, administration-related educators, and students participated in the symposium. Most of the participants were those who closely interact with children in daily life, such as over 100 child-care workers from preschools around Shinagawa Ward, as well as parents and grandparents currently in the midst of child-rearing.
For 5 years, this program has been collecting essays regarding activities for developing "scientific minds" from a total of over 300 preschools, and shares the content of presentations, research, homepages and booklets made by schools selected from these applications. The symposium was held commemorating the publication of a book which contains the case studies of these applicants and comments from professionals under the same topics. We held a panel discussion with Kiyomi Akita (Professor of University of Tokyo, Graduate School), Hideaki Koizumi (Neuroscientist/Fellow, Hitachi, Ltd.), Toshiyuki Yamada (Professor at Shohoku College, Sony Institute of Higher Education), as well as the juries of the Preschool Education Program for Children, Kiyoshi Aoki (Head of DNA laboratory, Professor of University of Human Arts and Sciences), Mitsuko Kaminaga (Associate Professor of Tokyo Seitoku University Children's Department), and director of one of the selected preschools, Setsuko Otake (Director of Futaba Tsubomi Nursery School, Shinagawa Ward).
Comments from each member were varied; from a neuro-scientific perspective, they mentioned that "it is important for motivation/passion to be nurtured deep inside the brain, rather than merely building up knowledge"; from an engineer's perspective, they said that they "want people to offer an environment that accommodates children's instinctive desire for knowledge"; from a bioethical perspective, they talked about "the importance of communication between parents and children when nurturing the mind during childhood, especially developing a compassionate heart from early on"; people with teaching experience in preschools mentioned that "the characteristic of growth during this age group is that it must come from a proactive desire of the children". Also, we were able to see the development of "scientific minds" of children through presentations of case studies and environmental structures.
In the question and answer session, people asked so many questions relating to their own children and about interaction between children and adults in an educational setting, that the allotted time was too short to answer them all. It was a long symposium of over 2 hours, but the panelists and audience worked closely together to discuss about the awakening and nurturing of the "scientific minds" of children, and how adults around them should relate to the children.
Afterwards, we held a reception party for the panelists, guests, and participants. We hope this was an opportunity for people who are currently associating with children to interact with the specialists who they rarely have the chance to meet otherwise.
Sony Science Education Program for Children & SSTA
3rd Term Leadership-Development Workshop was held
The Leadership-Development Workshop was held by the Sony Science Teachers Association (SSTA) for 3 days during July 28-30th at the Overseas Vocational Training Association (OVTA) in Chiba City.
This workshop is one of the top level seminars that SSTA hosts, with 40 trainees who were each nominated by the regional branches participating in the training program which lasts over 2 years.
This year marks the second year of the course, and in addition to the trainees working in small groups, the workshop was further enhanced with lectures by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, university professors, and by Mr. Kenichiro Mogi from Sony Computer Science Laboratories.
Sony Preschool Education Program for Children
Project Report Presentation
Schools chosen as the Full Awardment Schools in 2006 will present their project reports.
Midorigaoka Nursery of Okazaki City/Aichi Prefecture
A project report presentation was held on June 30 (Sat) at Midorigaoka Nursery of Okazaki City under summery blue skies. With approximately 250 participants, we were able to learn the results of the past 5 years of research. Yellow swallowtail larvae were seen in the nursery.
Click here for more
Izumo City Chuo Nursery/Kindergarten (Shimane Prefecture)
A project report presentation was held at Izumo City Chuo Preschool on July 7, 2007 (Sat). 3 year-old children touched crayfish that they are familiar with, and played creative games such as imitating their movements and catching food. Meanwhile, the 4 year old children.
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Project Report Presentation, September 1 (Sat) - Now Accepting Applications
A project report presentation will be held at Aizu-Wakaba Kindergarten (Fukushima Prefecture) on September 1 (Sat).
We sincerely look forward to seeing you at the event.
Click here for more details and to apply. We are now accepting applications.
Projects held by Aizu-Wakaba Kindergarten
- 2006 fiscal year Case Study "Let's revitalize the forest - Making Coal - (Activities during fiscal years 2005-2006)"
http://www.sony-ef.or.jp/preschool/practice/vol4/3-1.html - Case Study: "Exploring Wakabanomori Foreset"
http://www.sony-ef.or.jp/preschool/practice/vol1/2a-6.html - Seeds of Words
http://www.sony-ef.or.jp/preschool/jirei/seeds/1-02.html
Comic "I see how it works now."updated
- No.8 "Burble burble"
A 3 year old who can't blow bubbles very well. But wait.now he can make so many bubbles. - No.9 "Salvia"
A 3 year old is in awe of a 5 year old whose nickname is "the insect professor". The 5 year old sees and chases an ant, and sucks the honey of the salvia that he finds. Soon, he notices that the 3 year old is following him..
Web Magazine "Did you see that!? Scientific Mind" vol.53, 54
Book "Scientific Minds Developed in Childhood"
"Scientific Minds Developed in Childhood"- 7 perspectives for nurturing healthy and rich minds and spirits
Authored and edited by Hideaki Koizumi, Kiyomi Akita, Toshiyuki Yamada
Published by Shogakukan April 27, 2007 (Fri) Price ¥1,470 (tax included)
This year in April, we published a collection of case studies that have been sent to our program, along with comments from the professionals. We have uploaded messages from the authors, comments from readers, and links to related issues on our home page. Please take a look.
Also, we held a symposium on July 21 to celebrate the publication of the book.
