The Development of an Elementary School Social Studies Lesson to Promote Awareness of Being Responsible for the Safety of the Local Community:

The Case of “Aiming for the Safety Community” for 3rd Graders

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop elementary school social studies lesson that promote awareness of students as members responsible for the safety of the local community. Previous research has not sufficiently considered how risks should be addressed in the 3rd grades unit “Protecting lives from accidents and incidents” and what kind of perspectives and ways of thinking about safety in the local community can be fostered. This study focuses on “safety science” and considers the following three points: First, we showed the position of safety science in community studies. Secondly, we clarified the structure of a unit for elementary school social studies classes that considers safety in the local community. Thirdly, we developed a unit for 3rd graders titled “Aiming for the safety community” and analyzed the results of the practice.