2025 Volume 80 Issue 3 Pages 108-119
Japan's current curriculum guidelines for elementary, junior high and high school geography education prescribe geographical inquiry as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). ESD pertains to the development of civic qualities and abilities, employing "sustainability" and five geographical concepts to inculcate a geographical perspectives and ways of thinking among learners.
In this study, in geography ESD lessons in which geography inquiry as ESD is taught, I systematically demonstrate the development of geographical values and attitudes toward creating a sustainable society by relating current world issues reflected as priority areas of ESD to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, as an outline of the elementary, junior high and high school geography curriculum as ESD, four categories in which geography inquiry as ESD is systematically possible under the current curriculum guidelines, are presented: sustainable community development, intercultural understanding, global issues, and disaster prevention. Using a case of sustainable community development centered on regional survey, the researcher clarified the system in which elementary, junior high, and high school students consider and envision regional issues, focusing on the sequential nature of the concepts taken up, the types of SDGs that correspond to the ESD theme of "sustainable urbanization," and the types of fieldwork.
In geography ESD lessons that conduct geographical inquiry as ESD, it is necessary to be aware of the "transformative action" emphasized in UNESCO's "ESD for 2030," consider how to foster the "ability to create new value," and consider how to respond to indicators of work–life balance and subjective happiness.
