2023 Volume 48 Pages 61-72
This study examines the process of starting a social studies learning assessment at the elementary school attached to the Nagano Normal School for men, focusing on its relationship with Performance Appraisal during the national elementary school period. This study takes the following process using historical documents related to the Ministry of Education and the Nagano Boys’ Elementary School. First, we examine the details and methods of the Performance Appraisal during the national elementary school period from the perspective of the Ministry of Education’s response to the national elementary school system under the leadership of Seishiro Aoki (1894-1956). Second, we investigate the process of constructing perspectives and methods of social studies Effective Assessment based on social studies- related information in the early postwar period, and the nature of these perspectives and methods in relation to Effective Assessment. Third, we clarify the nature of social studies Effective Assessment by focusing on its introduction to social studies instruction research in 1948. We found that (1) Performance Appraisal during the national elementary school period was established as a method to ensure objectivity by developing perspectives according to the objectives to consolidate children’s learning and improve teachers’ instruction. (2) Social studies Effective Assessment shows the perspectives of “understanding,” “attitude,” and “skills,” as well as methods that consider the learning process and the assurance of objectivity. (3) Research on effects based on “understanding,” “attitude,” and “skills” are appropriately positioned in the learning and teaching process. We believe that the elementary school attached to the Nagano Normal School for men was able to start social studies learning assessment, which had not been explored earlier, by collaborating with the Textbook Bureau and collecting information as an experimental school in 1947, based on the examination research conducted consistently under Aoki’s guidance since the national elementary school period.
