A Study of Creating Lessons for Life Environment Studies During Their Establishment as a New Subject

― Focusing on Mito Nanbu Elementary School in Mito, Hoi District, Aichi Prefecture ―

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate how lessons for life environment studies were made during the period in which they were established as a new subject (1988 to 1990) and to elucidate the actual conditions at the time by focusing on Mito Nanbu Elementary School in Mito, Hoi District, Aichi Prefecture, as a representative of Japan’s research promotion school with life environment studies classes. This study made clear the following three characteristics of life environment studies classes at Mito Nanbu Elementary School during the period in which they were established as a new subject. First, unit development for the life environment studies classes was planned out in full awareness of “the four points for making lessons for life environment studies classes” based on spontaneous research topic setting. Second, the unit plans for the life environment studies classes were revised and improved based on the children’s actual educational situations without regard to the framework of existing subjects. Third, expression activities in class were emphasized to make use of the children’s ideas and things they noticed. Therefore, this study revealed that the elementary school worked on research practice by examing how teachers evaluated children.