This study explored the relationship between schoolteachers' beliefs and the frequency of teaching misinformation literacy for critically evaluating online information. Teachers’ beliefs included acceptance of misinformation, awareness of risks of believing misinformation, and the management of misinformation in teaching contexts. The questionnaire survey (n = 462) identified four factors related to misinformation literacy instruction: "verification of information," "characteristics of misinformation," "source reliability," and "control/non-use." For the beliefs regarding the management of misinformation in teaching contexts, two factors were extracted: “misinformation countermeasures” and “educational significance”. Stronger beliefs in “misinformation countermeasures” related to more frequent instruction on "verification of information," "source reliability," and "control/non-use." Beliefs in “educational significance” were associated with instruction on "source reliability" and "control/non-use." Notably, we found an interaction regarding the instruction on "characteristics of misinformation": the effect of beliefs in “misinformation countermeasures” was significant when acceptance of misinformation was low.

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The intercultural simulation game “Ecotonos” was launched online in 2021 in Japan and has been provided as pre-departure training for employees assigned to overseas posts. This study examines the program's educational effectiveness using the “Developmental Profile for Intercultural Consciousness (DPIC),” which focuses on information processing, perceptual structures, and response characteristics related to differences in underlying behavioral changes among participants. The target participants were 196 employees scheduled for overseas assignments from 48 affiliated companies of a major manufacturing company. The survey results confirmed that, despite the constraints of the online training that requires stable network connection and limits non-verbal communication, the program effectively promoted perceptual changes among participants. Additionally, “Ecotonos” was effective across a wide range of participants, regardless of their attributes.

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This study focuses on young children's autonomous photographic activities and aims to clarify how children generate meaning through these activities and how such processes influence kindergarten teachers’ perspectives and reflections. Based on this aim, the study adopts the generative view of culture and conceptualizes children's photography as a form of cultural practice, using Photo-Elicitation Interviews (PEI) as a methodological approach. The research was conducted with five-year-old children who freely used tablet devices to take photos and videos in their everyday lives. Data were collected and analyzed through dialogues between children and teachers, as well as semi-structured interviews with teachers. The findings highlight that children’s creation and sharing of photography rules facilitated their autonomous meaning-making. Furthermore, reviewing the photos and videos together enabled children’s narratives and interpretations to emerge, prompting teachers to recognize children as active agents of meaning-making and to deepen their own reflections. The study concludes that ICT tools function as cultural resources that support reciprocal meaning-making between children and teachers.

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In this study, we designed and implemented a group learning-type practice activity making use of the classroom environment to deepen the understanding of undergraduate students in a teacher training course with respect to the creation of task analysis diagrams. In Practice 1, we adapted existing learning content to create a hierarchy, and in Practice 2, we practiced the identification and creation of a hierarchy of tasks for use in group activities. Over a period of three years, we improved and organized the content of the activities in a design study. It was found that knowledge sharing and mutual complementation in group activities effectively improved the understanding of the creation of a problem analysis diagram. In addition, the use of checklists and ICT tools improved accuracy, and a positive attitude was confirmed toward the activity. However, dealing with the anxiety of learners continued to be an issue, and further support measures were suggested, along with the possibility of using ICT.

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