The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of social support on coping styles of earlyadolescents who participated in an organized camping program. The subjects were 36 (4th-9th grade) studentswho participated in a five-day camp program. The educational goal of the program was to develop participants'confidence, social skills, and environmental awareness through challenging activities in the naturalenvironments. The main activity in this program was a two-day river canoeing trip.“The Stress Coping Scale”developed by Miura, et al. (1997), “Scale of Expectancy for Social Support”developed by Shimada (1993) and“Camping Stress questionnaire”developed by the author were administered everyday during theprogram. The major findings include that“informational support”from the group members was related with thepositive coping styles with stress during the program activities (β=47, F (1, 130) =36.86, R²=.22, p<.001). On the other hand, “informational support”from the group counselor was related with the positive coping styleswith stress in the outdoor living situations (β=.63, F (1, 15) =12.63, R²=.46, p<.01). In addition, “emotionalsupport”from the group members was related with the positive coping styles with stress in the social settings (β=51, F (1, 22) =7.63, R²=.26, p<.05). The results suggest that the group counselors should adjust theirsupport style depending on the nature of the tasks, and current group dynamics in order to maximizeparticipants'learning.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of program type at Hyogo Nature School on social andemotional development. Subjects were 1126 pupils in the fifth graders at 14 schools who enrolled in 6-daysnature school in Minami tajima Nature Education Center. Evaluation Scale of Nature-Experience Programs forelementary and lower-secondary school children developed by Tanii and Fujiwara (2001) was administratedbefore, after and one month after the nature school. Inventory of Organized Camp Experience for Children (IOCE-C) developed by Nishida et al. (2002) was administrated immediately after the each programs. Theanalysis indicated that social and emotional developments of the pupils who participated in-outdoor cooking“ or” free choice program improved compared with the pupils who did not participate. On the other hand, socialand emotional developments of pupils who did not participate in“ arts and craft” or“ recreational program” improved compared with the pupils who participated. The finding suggested that the Nature School whichincluded“ outdoor cooking” and“ free choice program” effected on social and emotional developments of thefifth grade.

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This is a report about emergency drills and first aid structures for classes held at the seaside. In order toconduct safe classes at the seaside, the Tezukayama-Gakuin elementary school has published a“seasidehandbook”. A flowchart displays an action plan and actions to be taken in case of an emergency. Emergencydrills are conducted according to this flowchart. The handbook is revised and updated every year, based on thelatest experiences/knowledge. All teachers are also updated with the latest knowledge, this assures that allclasses are conducted with the highest safety standards.
Furthermore emergency drills are held at both the school campus and seaside. All teachers participate inthese emergency drills.
During swimming classes at the sea it is very important to cooperate with other agencies and have a supportsystem in place. To avoid any insecurity of the students, emergency drills and actions during an emergency mustbe explained to the students.
These emergency drills are part of a safety education program that teaches the students safety skills whichcan be used in case of an emergency.

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