2010 Volume 50 Issue 3 Pages 91-100
To clarify the process wherein the use of certain science teaching materials or educational activities is discontinued, the author focuses on the practice of "visiting factories" as part of the science curriculum discourse in Japanese schools from the early Taisho to early Showa period. This study aims at examining the intentions behind and restrictions on the practice of visiting factories, and divides them into various types. First, the intentions behind visiting factories were categorized into three types: A. The inclusion of more practical content in the science curriculum and out of school activities; B. The movement to emphasize on locality and science teaching materials; C. A war time regime and visiting factories. Second, the restrictions on visiting factories arose from difficulties with regard to school hours and budget, and the concerned persons tried to overcome them. These restrictions were encountered in the following four areas: A. Surveying factories that could be visited by students and/ or teachers; B. Gathering specimens of industrial products and calling for industrial products from local factories; C. Using audiovisual aids such as educational movies; D. Undertaking school excursions involving visits to factories as part of extracurricular activities. Finally, a hypothetical model of the practice of visiting factories as part of science curriculum discourse in Japanese schools from the early Taisho to early Showa period was suggested.
