2018 Volume 21 Issue 3 Pages 185-196
An entomological education program has been carried out for upper grades of elementary school, junior high school, and high school students in the Kurashiki Museum of Natural History since 2002. The purposes are maintaining their interests in insects until they grow up and training talented persons who can contribute to the society through entomology in the future. The participants have various experiences with insects through the year such as field trips for collecting, breeding, observation, preparation, submission to journals, exhibition and oral presentation in the museum. In addition, they take part in museum events as volunteers. The entomological curator and some volunteer stuffs lead participants to field trips without their parents. Until now, 83 students joined the program, and more than half of them continued it for two or more years. Of 15 high school students joined the program so far, 12 went to universities to study biology or environment. Of them, at least 6 people keep the relationship to insects as workers or amateur researchers in society.
