Abstract
Japanese people learn the basics of nutrition in elementary and secondary education, but there is no survey research to clarify when and how vitamin is learned concretely. This study aimed to clarify the present situation and problems of vitamin learning through textual analysis of the educational guidelines and textbooks. The state of description of vitamin-related terms was examined in the educational guidelines and the textbooks for elementary and secondary education. Vitamin-related terms were defined as the names of vitamins, chemical substances, provitamins, and coenzymes. There was no vitamin-related term in the educational guidelines for elementary, junior high, and high schools, but there were seven words, i.e., vitamin, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin C, and ascorbic acid, in the explanations of the educational guidelines for home economics in elementary and junior high schools and for a part section of science in high school. Vitamin-related terms described in the government-authorized textbooks used in elementary, junior high, and high schools were 43 words including 34 words in home economics and 22 words in science. These results suggest that vitamin learning in elementary and secondary education is mainly conducted in home economics, the content of the learning focuses on menus preparation and cooking rather than physiological function, and the learning is limited to some of vitamins.
