Abstract
This paper reports on an empirical study implemented in 5 classes for fourth-year elementary students using the "Education Program for Thinking about Life and Death Regarding Oneself and One's Family" developed for second-year elementary school students. In this program a validation was carried out from the consideration of three points: 1) analysis of the responses written by students reflecting upon the lesson, 2) analysis of the results of the program of study by a survey conducted after the lesson, and 3) evaluation by the instructors regarding the incorporation of this program into the fourth grade curriculum. Looking back on the lesson, 125 out of 194 students had written about how precious "life and family were" and about being aware of "being alive at this moment." From the results, it was deemed possible to incorporate this topic into the fourth-year students' education program. Furthermore, according to the analysis of the results from the survey, there was a significant correlation between "the death of a family member" and "their own death", and that of the lesson. According to measurements of "self-esteem of the student" and "self-esteem of the family" before and after the lesson, the average value of self-esteem of the family increased marginally after the lesson. In addition to obtaining an overall positive evaluation of this education program from the five instructors, no difference in experience variation was observed, and we concluded that it was possible to incorporate this program on the topic of death into the fourth grade curriculum.
