The second session of \”Place-based Education\” Project was held on 30th-31st, July in Kosuge village, Yamanashi.

The second session was held in Kosuge village, Yamanashi prefecture on 30-31st July. Three committee members, Dr. Kimata, Mr. Yokoyama, Mr. Sakuma participated in the session.

Kosuge has a headstream of Tama river which supplies drink water to Tokyo area. On 30th, members visited around the village and saw a closed elementary school, which is now used as a place for interaction between locals and universities in Tokyo area. At the village office, members got lectures about educational activities from village officers and related organizations. At night, members had a discussion with local people, some of them had moved in from Tokyo. They introduced their activities on \”food\”, \”farming\”, \”experience in nature\” and so on.

The committee is planning next discussion session in Kyushu in September, as well as symposium in Rikkyo university (Ikebukuro Tokyo) on 1st February 2014.

The first local symposium was held at Oguni-machi, Nishiokitama-gun, Yamagata from Saturday, June 8th to Sunday, 9th 2013 as one of the third year’s activities throughout Japan.
The first local symposium was held at Oguni-machi, Nishiokitama-gun, Yamagata from Saturday, June 8th to Sunday, 9th 2013 as one of the third year’s activities throughout Japan.
On the first day, we went to Kirisutokyo Dokuritu Gakuen, that has Christian ethics for nearly 80 years, and heard the explanation with Mr. Yamaguchi, who is a vice-town mayor. Then we also went and saw ex-Kotamagawa elementary school, that had been closed despite of renovation under advanced idea and now is used as an atelier by an artist.
On the second day, we had the local symposium. Takano explained the activities done in previous two years, and were given case reports from Mr. Inoue, who runs Kodomoen at Kaneyama-machi, Yamagata and Mr. Nishina in Oguni-machi. After that we had discussion under the following themes, “sustainable society,” “environmental education” and “community-based.”

January 27th, 2013, International Symposium \”Challenges and Possibilities of Place Based Education\” was held in Tokyo. About 70 People involved in Outdoor Education, Environmental Education, Academic field, Students gathered and made discussion.

January 27th, 2013, About 70 people gathered in Rikkyo University (Tokyo) and made a constructive discussion about \”Place-Based Education\”.

In Keynote Lecture, our special guest Mr. Ardhendu Chatterjee gave a presentation about current Indian Educational situation, Importance of education in regional society especially Agricultural aspect.
Next, Takako TAKANO, chair of Ecoplus, presented 2-year-project status and introduced the result of questionair which were gatherd from schools and educational organization all over Japan.

In Case Report Section in the afternoon, Mr. Hasegawa (Suyama Junior High School, Shizuoka), Mr. Inoue (Kodomo-en \”Mego-Tama\”, Kanagawa), Mr.Sakamoto (Nome Nature/Environment Educational Office, Katsuyama, Fukui) made presenataions about their daily work.

Lastly in Panel Discussion Section, Mr. Chatterjee and PBE committee members sit on the stage and discussed with audience for more than two hours. Some young generation audience asked about a mind concern Environment and Sustainable Society, definition of Region.

Ecoplus will make a report on this symposium. Please contact info@ecoplus.jp for distribution.

Also, The Symposium is uploaded in Ustream.
(Presentations)
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/28836568
(Panel Discussion)
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/28842505
(Q&A)
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/28845149

With Prof. Greg Smith from the United States, the symposium \”Place and Education\” was held at Rikkyo University, Tokyo, on January 21st, 2012.

Including non-Japanese nationals, a wide range of people participanted in the event at Tachikawa Memorial Hall, Rikkyo University.

Greg Smith, a researcher of \”Place- and Community-Based Education\” at Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling, the US, gave an opening keynote lecture.

Firstly, Prof. Smith pointed out that \”placelessness of modern society and isolation of place and society is a global phenomena. As global culture that is disengaged from nature and tradition has been increasing in many countries, there is a growing tendency among young generation to have little concern about local issues\”.
The tendency was suggested by American educationalist, John Dewey, more than a half century ago that the great waste of school is its \”inability to utilize the experiences children gets outside the school in any complete and free way within the school itself\”.

Following the argument, he introduced some examples across the US to reconnect local society and schools. For instance, in Massachusetts, high school students found that a higher proportion of asthma in their region was caused by the gas emissions from vehicles. They investigated the issue and made a plan for improving the environment, including a suggestion to the local school bus center to reduce the length of time to idle the engines. As a result, the center al

tered the bus fuel from light diesel oil to natural gas. Through the examples, Prof. Smith explained that young people learned about their own local nature, the environment, society and tradition in the process of investigation of the local issues, and became a part of the communities.

Accordingly, Dr TAKANO Takako introduced the brief overview of the history of \”Place-Based Education\” both in Japan and the world.
TAKANO mentioned that from Meiji to Taisho era, there was also a movement in Japan that focused on communities, such as \”education of soil\” and \”homeplace education\”, and after the World War II, pollution education became popular across the nation which was led to environmental education. However, community or society education has remained divorced from the school education, and community retired to the background of education.

In the afternoon, Prof. ABE Osamu of Rikkyo University, Prof. KIMATA Mikio of Tokyo Gakugei University and SAKUMA Norio of Conservation Society of Dewa-Sanzan introduced respectively examples of current Japanese \”Place-Based Education\”.

Lastly, Prof. ANDO Toshihiko of Saitama University moderated the discussion with SASAKI Toyoshi of Kurikoma-Kogen Nature School and Greg Smith participated as a panel. The discussion on \”Place-Based Education\” was lively with exchanging ideas and opinions with the audience.

Followings are the video recordings of the symposium;
Keynote lecture by Greg Smith
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19895067

The other footage about \”Place-Based Education\” symposium:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/地域に根ざした教育/videos/2
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/地域に根ざした教育/videos

　The seminar with Professor Peter Higgins of Edinburgh University, Scotland, was held on February 4th 2011 in Omote-sando, Tokyo, regarding the significance and the challenges of outdoor and environmental education.

　36 people, mainly the outdoor and environmental educators, gathered at Global Environmental Outreach Centre (GEOC) on February 4th, 2011, for the seminar with Professor Peter Higgins.

　Prof. Higgins suggested that outdoor/experiential education influences emotional growth and health for many of us. He emphasized that outdoor education in modern days has to consider social and economic structure of global society.

　He pointed out that all educators should teach that various concepts are closely linked and the world today is very complex. Learning to respond for a change and hope for the future is needed, as well as the consequences of our actions.

　Having reported the educational policy changes and the recent trend around outdoor education in Great Britain, he introduced the practical examples from Scotland, which have shifted its focus from school-based to more local and outdoor elements oriented.

　Mr. Ono who is in charge of promoting the experiential activities at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology summarized the trend among Japanese young people today linked to experiences in general. He suggested that the participation rate of elementary school students in outdoor activities are declining year by year. For example, in recent 10 years children who have swum in the sea and the river has decreased rapidly from 30 % to 10 %.

　A discussion with the participants followed the two talks by Prof. Higgins and Mr. Ono. Issues raised included the necessity for a outdoor learning training course for teachers, how to secure the financial resources for outdoor education, the importance of outdoor experiences for parents, how to train the leaders of outdoor education, etc.

　Prof. Higgins emphasized the importance of research to prove the educational effect of children’s play and the necessity of outdoor experiences for parents. Finally he commented on the significance of accumulation of study results to further improve outdoor education.

　On February 6th 2011, ECOPLUS organized educational symposium titled ‘Self reliance of the local community and the power of learning’ in Minami-uonuma, Niigata with Professor Peter Higgins of Edinburgh University, Scotland.
　The symposium, held on February 6th at the auditorium of Minami-uonuma regional development bureau, attracted 49 participants including educators, city council members, and the residents of Tochikubo and Shimizu Village. Some came over from Tokyo metropolitan area.

　At the first session, ECOPLUS reported the activities of TAPPO and the study result which demonstrated the educational values of rural villages based on questionnaires and interviews of the program participants as well as involved villagers. At the second session, Prof. Higgins appealed the importance of outdoor and experiential education with the practical examples from Great Britain. Then the discussion among the participants followed.

　As the study result, Dr TAKANO Takako, Executive Director of ECOPLUS, reported that the participants‘ learning was linked to agriculture, living, and history of the village, which were based on the human-nature relationships, and their learning went beyond the life philosophy and values. She pointed out that rural village itself was full of learning elements.

　Prof. Higgins commented that TAPPO’s activities are the leading models in educational movement around the world, which connects the local community with school, children with adults, and social education with school education.

　Prof. Higgins lectured about the effects of outdoor and environmental education, and the connection with the local community. He introduced the words by John Dewey, ‘Education is not a preparation for life, it is life itself’, and continued to say that, for a growth of oneself, it is necessary to learn for the heart, then for the body, and finally for the brain in that order. He explained that just a thrilled experience doesn’t require efforts, and that therefore it hardly involves the sense of responsibility. It is necessary to spend a lot of time to think and strive for oneself.

　He said experience in nature increases concentration, reduces stress, and improves a problematic behavior. He introduced a concept of green, white, blue, and dark space, and emphasized that Minami-uonuma has green space, snowy white environment, beautiful blue sky and darkness at night, which makes Minami-uonuma a perfect place for learning.

　He also pointed out that place-based education should include not only nature but culture of a place, enterprise for self-reliance, and citizenship to take responsibility for ‘something bigger than themselves’.

　Then participants were divided into 10 groups, and exchanged ideas.
　A comment by high-school student struck everyone’s heart. She said ‘I had thought the education in big cities are far ahead of ours in rural area. But as I heard today’s discussion, I am convinced that it’s not true and there are lots of advantages in rural area. I’m very proud of this place.’ There was a round of applause as she finished her words.