Recently observers have pointed to the significance of the study of history as a source of alternative solutions to contemporary social problems. Nevertheless, effective learning methods and teaching materials to achieve that goal have not been produced. The objective of this research paper was to design and evaluate the card game which would allow high school students to apply the historical events of various famous individuals in world history to the creation of policies capable of revitalizing Japan's economy. Verification of the learning effectiveness of these educational materials revealed that after their use the number of policies offered by the students to invigorate Japan's economy increased after the play. That was especially true for policies addressing the problem from cultural and social perspectives. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the game rules helped them to create policies adapting historical events to the modern context. Especially noteworthy factors promoting this change were there membering of existing knowledge connected to the policy themes through the use of educational media and the establishment of connections between the policy themes and existing knowledge.

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This paper investigates the definition of media literacy education as reflected in the syllabi of media literacy courses of universities in the three central Japanese prefectures of Aichi, Gifu and Mie. The paper analyses the syllabi in terms of the main types of media focused on and the stated aims of the courses. In broad terms two definitions are identified. The first focuses on the mass media and aims to cultivate critical readers. The second covers both mass and other media and aims to cultivate not only receptive ability but also productive and expressive ability too. It is argued that the second form of media literacy education is preferable in the present age but that the difficulties involved in teaching productive and expressive skills constitute a barrier towards achieving this. In addition, teaching productive and expressive skills are less commonly taught in common educational courses and liberal arts courses than in specialized courses.

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Recently, the digitization of school education has become increasingly common. For example, currently, the introduction of digital textbooks in the classroom is been discussed. However, the systematic development of media literacy in the classroom has not been realized as yet. It is necessary to examine the effects of teaching programs and digital lessons, in order to develop integrated curricula and teaching materials. However, in Japan, only the practice of such programs in the classroom has been reported, but their effects have rarely been investigated. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the effects of digital education programs to promote media literacy in Japan. The effects of following types of curricula that are been conducted in classes in other countries were investigated: programs introduced in classes, long-term curricula, and educational channels, such as Channel One in the United States. Results indicated that the following three factors were required of media literacy programs: (1) research on attitude change, (2) understanding the social and cultural background, and (3) the establishment of an integrated guidance method.

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This exploratory study reports on students' online behavior within an environment that allows monitoring of their and others' work performance in an online learning community. Previous research showed that group dynamics can both foster and inhibit online participation. It has also been suggested that visualization of the performance (such as a picture) of all members of a group works as an "external feedback," which can foster higher performance. Students in this research could see others' blog postings both in textual and visual formats. In this study, a blog viewing tool was implemented in the middle of the semester to observe changes in students' behavior as reflected in the frequency of their blog posts. Two methods, quantitative blog text analysis and post-course questionnaire administration, were used. The questionnaire was utilized by the students to evaluate the usability of the blog viewing tool. Analysis revealed that students' blog posting frequency remained fairly high in the latter half of the semester. The study suggests the possibility that visualization of online performance could function as a self-regulatory mechanism to encourage regular online participation in a class community.

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After the new course of study was put into operation, it became to be put emphasis on teaching ability of information utilization from elementary school to high school. However, there is no concrete guide line for elementary school in the course of study, Therefore, the target and the contents of the information education was discussed in this article. For the purpose, (1)operation by information devices, (2)communication, and (3)thinking, were set as the connotation of information utilization. Moreover, contents of instruction were examined from five points of view: (1)skill, (2)knowledge, (3)attitude, (4)sense of values, and (5)behavior. As the perspective on the information education in elementary school, the placement of the information education in the curriculum was discussed.

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