Abstract
This study's purpose is to make clear what the conditions and effectiveness/problems of the curriculum development are from the Partnership between Momochi Elementary School (at which Masuda was an elementary school teacher in 2003) and Seinan Gakuin University (Tashiro's students of education). First, we had common goals for our partnership project as below. (1) Supporting "Sougo Gakushu"/Student's Individual Study. (2)The students as good models for elementary children. (3) The school as a learning place for the students. Second, this is the summary for curriculum development from the partnership. The "Sougo Gakushu" consists of three elements which are: "the nature of the community," "the needs of children/parents," "the features of the teachers". Also it uses a "Unit method" which is always flexible, and the ideas have some concepts: "the children's dreams," and "communication ability". Tashiro developed the project "School Support Learning" that is valid for "Enshu I & II" for his students' development. In "Enshu II", the students modified the plan of the project, and participated in supporting activities for the school classes and events. After supporting the project, they reflected on their activities, and they could complete their dissertations for their Bachelor's Degree. This method for dissertations was very useful because the students could face the real educational world. In this study, we found out the following: 1) The conditions of the curriculum development by partnership. ・ Flexibility of curriculum planning which is not predetermined at the beginning. ・ "Flexible framework" based on "Voluntary Motivation" of both the elementary children and university students. ・ Planning which is feasible for both situations (the opinions of both sides, the conditions of busy schedules, etc) 2) The result ・ Extending discretion for curriculum development for "Sougo Gakushu". (especially, Sougo Gakushu is focusing on experience learning.) ・ The children's learning motivation is becoming higher. ・ The curriculum development is based on the integration between teaching theory and teaching practice. ・ The students could learn teacher's skills for their future. (Most of the students want to be a teacher.) 3) The issues for next research. ・ How to integrate between a "School Support Learning" project and an "analysis of the teaching" which is mainly the students' major. ・ How to collaborate other college teachers with the elementary school staff. ・ What is the meaning of SSL in teacher education of the research field. ・ How to convey the methods to develop the SSL curriculum to the elementary school whose organization is improved. ・ Creating a research method on how to develop the curriculum through a partnership between an elementary school and a university in general.
