2017 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 12-22
The present study aimed to clarify the current status of and issues related to radiation education in a junior high school after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster. The study participants were five junior high school teachers. Data were collected through interviews, and the interview transcripts were analyzed using text mining. Junior high school teachers responded that the negative radiation-related images from the nuclear disaster had faded from the memories of students, and that the knowledge necessary for students to remain vigilant was insufficient. Teachers felt that, depending on the age of the student, showing concrete data was an effective teaching strategy, and that appropriate educational content could be assembled with grade progression. However, teachers lacked the knowledge necessary for education on some topics, particularly the effects of radiation on the human body, and, in consideration of responses from individual parents, hesitated to deliver education involving security or risk judgments. We instructed teachers in small group settings in order to help them acquire sufficient knowledge about radiation and resolve these problems. As a result, an increase was seen in the degree of understanding of the teaching items, and a learning effect was produced. These findings suggest that educating teachers about uncertain radiation-related knowledge allows them to teach with greater confidence.
