Abstract
Fukuoka city has been trying to improve regional water cycle system including flood control and water utilization as Fukuoka city has experienced water problems such as floods and droughts. For the proper water cycle management, the city should grasp how people understand their efforts on the water problem. In this study, a questionnaire survey was performed for the elementary school students in Fukuoka city to investigate their understanding and interests on water. The Self-Organizing Map (SOM) was employed as a method of analyzing the questionnaire. SOM makes it easier to recognize the relationship among the high-dimensional data.
As a result, the elementary students living near the ‘River Greening Plan’ area made by the city tend to have more interests on water environment than the students in other area. Even though staying in the urban area, the students belong to an elementary school which actively works on the environmental education have also high interests on water. It is expected that location and education of elementary schools is highly correlated to their interest level on water problem.
