Abstract
The purpose of this research is to clarify the effectiveness of Integrated Studies education in the curriculum of Japanese senior high schools. To begin with, the researcher defined "effectiveness" of Integrated Studies education in terms of these concepts: self-efficacy, self-esteem, cross-curricular competence and life course development. Based on this framework, a questionnaire was created and given, and data was collected from 1304 respondents of senior high school students. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed and three points were concluded. Firstly, there were three factors of the effectiveness of Integrated Studies classes: (1) awareness of the value of learning; (2) awareness of the learning process and (3) concern for the actual life course and for society. Compared with standard school students, these advanced school students exceeded in the average scores of in all factors. This showed that Integrated Studies classes heighten student interest, volition, and social awareness capabilities that advance the learning process. Secondly, comparing the number of university applicants among the three levels of these advanced schools, the effectiveness of Integrated Studies education was acknowledged most highly in middle level schools. Middle level schools showed significantly high average scores in the 1st and 2nd factors, while high level schools presented the highest average score in the 3rd factor. So in high level schools, Integrated Studies classes effected most the student concern for life courses and for society. Lastly, it was found out that the higher the student self-assessed his/her performance in the class, the more apt s/he was to have overall feelings of self-efficacy and self-esteem. Since self-efficacy and self-esteem are considered measurements of the effectiveness of Integrated Studies education, this finding proved the effectiveness of Integrated Studies classes. Furthermore, recognition of the effectiveness of both Integrated Studies classes and also self-assessment influenced occupational understanding and self-efficacy and also built a bridge toward self-esteem. In other words, the more value placed on Integrated Studies education and self-assessment, the more in depth occupational understanding and self-efficacy become. The research reveals this: both recognizing the effectiveness of Integrated Studies classes and also creating high self-assessment heighten occupational understanding and self-efficacy which leads to self-esteem. This is the novelty of this research that previous studies have not illustrated.
