This study examines issues of residents’ participation in disaster recovery in the tsunami disaster area caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and this case study of locals’ confrontation with the issue of tide embankment, which is a social problem, poses the challenge of education for sustainable development (ESD). The study first explains how residents participate in community development by using the results of quantitative data collected and analyzed. Then, based on an analysis of qualitative data, it elucidates the process of residents’ participation by showing how relationships within the local community affected community decision-making and how the awareness of people who had recognized social contradictions transformed in the process of learning. The local practices used to confront the issue of tide embankment are the process of empowerment for political actors, and they illustrate the residents’ active participation in community development based on learning. However, ESD faces the challenge of how to encourage the involvement of people in society who do not clearly express their opinions in line with status quo power relationships and social norms. The key to solving this problem lies in creating local disaster prevention plans that involve residents. This could be an opportunity for local community revitalization and a driving force for establishing sustainable communities.

  To clarify the position of learning by experiencing nature in the history of education on pollution, this paper aims to clarify the time of establishment of learning by experiencing nature in the history of education on Minamata pollution.

  In the second and third chapters, attention is paid to the educational movement in the Minamata disease epicenter, one of the major pollution-affected areas of Japan, which has been working on the regional revitalization of Minamata while recognizing the existence of Minamata disease patients and the Minamata disease. It is possible to show the historical fact that the practice of the Minamata Nature School developed from learning by experiencing nature in the pollution epicenter of Minamata, indicating the presence of learning by experiencing nature that was developed as education on pollution.

  In terms of the contrast with the Minamata Practice School and the Minamata Life School of the 1980s, is it shown in the last chapter of this paper that learning by experiencing nature in the history of education on Minamata pollution was developed by the Minamata Nature School in the 1990s. However, the author shows that there was another kind of learning by experiencing nature in the 1980s, in which learners felt the suffering due to the Minamata disease. The author points out that several similar cases also appeared after the recent Great East Japan Earthquake. As a finding resulting from this paper, the author concludes that in education on pollution we should consider the aspect of learning to understand suffering through experiencing nature.

  This study analyzed support activities for an elementary school’s nature education classes to clarify the features of the reflections of the people conducting the support activities. University students and the community group members involved in nature conservation were interviewed about the support activities they had conducted for classes offering nature education activities for third-grade students. Further, interviews with teachers and three questionnaire-type surveys with children were carried out to know the effects of the support activities.

  It was clear that the support activities by the university students and the community group contributed to the children’s acquisition of knowledge of living things, development of feelings of intimacy toward them, and successful progress of subsequent inquiries of children. The university students and community group members reported similar narratives, such as recognition of children’s sensitivity and abilities, self-evaluations to their activities through support activities, and respects for and evaluation to other members having profound knowledge of nature and living things. The university students reported that they acquired the knowledge of living things through the preparation of class support. There were different narratives on educational methods due to different learning styles in educational activities.

  In this study, the author developed and applied a program for forest environmental education related to the unit “ecosystem” in the general science curriculum of an upper secondary school. It contained both classes to study the forest ecosystem and field studies utilizing the forest environment of Shiretoko Peninsula , which is registered as a World Heritage Site. From the results of examining students’ consciousness, the activities of the program contributed to understanding the value of biodiversity, increasing interests about forests and forest preservation, changing students’ consciousness about the value of nature and forming intergeneration ethics. Furthermore, detailed survey of students’ consciousness revealed the following: 1) Direct contact with rich forest environment urged changes in students’ value of nature from anthropocentrism to non-anthropocentrism ; 2) Experiencing forest conservation activities and studies on history about forest conservation activities in the past fostered intergeneration ethics; and 3) Cooperation with some experts engaging forest management functioned to change students’ environmental ethics in general.

  The purpose of this study was to identify the environmental consciousness of junior high school students who learned about production while working with wood in a technology education course. We prepared a consciousness questionnaire to clarify the level of environmental consciousness of the junior high school students. The questions asked were made using the answers to a precedent study and free description investigation related to woodworking production processes. We examined The validity and reliability of the questions and carried out the investigation with the cooperation of 500 junior high school students who studied the contents of "Techniques about Materials and Processing" in Aichi, Ishikawa and Nagasaki prefectures. Furthermore, we considered whether or not it is possible to suggest a curriculum that promotes environment-conscious behavior. As a result, the following issues were clarified.

  1) We were able to make a consciousness scale to understand the level of environmental consciousness of the junior high school students learning about production while working with wood.

  2) As a result of having examined the environmental consciousness structure of the junior high school students learning about production while working with wood, we were able to extract five factors by factor analysis.

  3) From the results of relevance regarding the average of factor scores and grades, we proposed a curriculum about the need for thinning and various functions of wood placing an emphasis on environment-conscious behavior.

  4) From the results of relevance regarding the average of factor scores and gender, we could show that it is necessary to put emphasis on design when boys are learning about production.

  In this study, a survey residents living in Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Nagano prefectures was conducted to deepen the knowledge required to develop educational programs on climate change mitigation and adaptation. The results are as follows: 1) The residents are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of climate change, and this awareness affects not only their adaptation behavior, but also their mitigation behavior. 2) Sufficient recognition of the causes of climate change affects mitigation behavior. An awareness of the effects of climate change on one’s personal life affects current responses, and an awareness of the effects of climate change on regions affects long-term responses. 3) Regarding environmental consciousness, the perception to give priority to an action affects current responses, and respect towards nature affects both current responses and long-term responses. 4) Females, especially over 30 years of age, have a strong consciousness of giving priority to an action and have a strong awareness of the effects of climate change. Consequently, their behavior towards adaptation and mitigation is stronger.

  Based on these results, we consider implementing educational programs on climate change adaptation and mitigation. In particular, consideration is given to developing educational programs for females who are more sensitive to climate change.