Radiation risk communication initiatives using the “Quartet Game” among elementary school children living in Fukushima Prefecture

Abstract

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, the Ministry of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan created supplemental texts about radiation. Teachers were then instructed to provide education on radiation, but many were unable to do so because they had not learned a sufficient amount of material. Therefore, we developed a “Quartet Game” that could be used by teachers in school as teaching material to make learning easier for students. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether elementary school students could acquire knowledge on radiation through the Quartet Game and clarified whether it was an appropriate methodology for sharing information. This study was carried out in 2015 in Fukushima Prefecture and included 89 students as study participants. We conducted a questionnaire test on the students before and after the implementation of the game. The results indicated that over 95% of the students understood the rules, enjoyed playing the game, and learned something new. Furthermore, the total knowledge score on the post-test was significantly higher than that on the pre-test. These findings suggest that the Quartet Game is an effective method for teaching radiation education among elementary school students.