Using data related to climate change, an education session was conducted with 597 fifth-grade students to promote statistical and information literacy and critical thinking. The contents of the educational program were as follows: (1) a lecture on the basics of climate change, (2) a practical assignment for making various graphs, (3) a lecture on misleading or deceptive graph techniques, (4) an exercise on interpreting data, and (5) a lecture on the science and uncertainty of climate change. According to text mining of the students' comments about their impressions of this program, the following educational effects were identified: (1) development of statistical literacy, (2) improvement in critical thinking attitudes and promotion of information literacy, and (3) a deeper understanding of climate change. An analysis of the relationships in the students' comments and answers to the closed-ended questions revealed the possibility that students who felt difficulty in interpreting data tended to recognize the necessity for critical thinking and information literacy. Based on the results of text mining, we developed the evaluation indices of environmental education to promote statistical and information literacy and critical thinking. Using these indices, a questionnaire survey or test can be developed to enable a quantitative evaluation of such a new environmental education program.

 This study was conducted to clarify the characteristics and relationships of forest-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among university students in Japan and China by applying the knowledge, attitude, and practice model (KAP model). The findings are as follows.

 First, regarding knowledge, both Japanese and Chinese students knew about the environmental functions of forests and tended to have less specialized knowledge related to the sustainable use of forests and forestry production. Regarding attitudes, both Japanese and Chinese students had generally positive attitudes towards the general environment and forests. Regarding behaviors, it was found that Japanese students were reluctant to pay for forest-related protection, but the active participation in forest-related events was significantly implemented, while Chinese students tended to take all behaviors positively.

 Second, significant positive correlations were confirmed between knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding forests among both Japanese and Chinese students. However, there were differences in the pattern of relationships between the two countries. In particular, Chinese students exhibited a stronger correlation between forest-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors than Japanese students.

 Third, knowledge, attitudes, behaviors towards forests differs by gender, academic field, and the area of current residence (studying area).

 These findings suggest that it is important to combine environmental education and forest environmental education together, both in Japan and China, in order to increase the consistency of environment- and forest-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of university students through the promotion of forest-related co-curricular activities and learning programs.

 Among the five subjects of childcare content in the Japanese governmental guidelines for nursery schools and kindergartens, “environment” could be largely covered via nature experiences. However, there has been insufficient consideration of the quality and quantity of natural experiences that should be provided in early childhood education. In fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the present study implemented an experiential learning program, “Anywhere Fish Market,” at a kindergarten in western Tokyo. The authors hypothesized that an intense experience could influence the content of a dream and that an observational experience enhances the details in drawings for related targets. To investigate these two hypotheses, the dream contents during sleep in 2020, and the fish drawings before and after the program in 2021 were analyzed. In 2020, 52 children participated, and dream records were collected from 32 of them. Based on the results of the state space model, the total number of dream records showed a decreasing trend overall, while the number of fish appearances in dream records increased after the experience. In 2021, 60 children participated, and fish drawings were collected before and after the experience. There were no significant differences in the number of species, individuals, colors, or expression of scales depicted in the pictures before and after the experience, whereas there was a significant increase in the depiction of fin rays after the experience (U-test: p = 0.0004). These results suggest that the experience could provide children with an opportunity to recognize fish in more detail and leave a lasting impression on their memories, at least for part of the children.

 In recent years, high schools and local communities have collaborated in many parts of Japan, and it has become clear that collaboration is useful for high school and community revitalization. However, no nationwide survey has been conducted to clarify the current status and issues of such collaborations. The purpose of this study was to conduct a nationwide survey of collaboration between public high schools and local communities using a questionnaire to identify current conditions and issues, and to make recommendations based on the results of the survey.

 The major results of the survey are as follows.

1. Municipal offices work extensively with high schools and are considered their most important partners.

2. Collaboration among universities, prefectural governments, and high schools is not very active.

3. Collaboration appeared to be more advanced in rural areas than in urban and suburban areas.

4. Teachers' overload and curriculum overcrowding are considered problems in most high schools. In particular, teachers' overload is by far the most frequently cited problem.

5. It is considered difficult for high schools on islands and in rural areas to continue collaboration owing to personnel changes affecting the teachers.

Based on these results, the following recommendations are made:

1. Policies should encourage local governments to work in urban and suburban high schools.

2. Policies are required to promote collaboration among universities, prefectural governments, and high schools.

3. It is necessary to take measures to secure appropriate human resources, such as increasing the number of coordinators and teachers involved in collaboration, and improving the compensation of coordinators.

4. The curriculum should be organized from the viewpoint that regional cooperation is not in competition with academic subjects, but rather is necessary for the academic skills demanded by society in the future.

 Several invasive plants exist in the surrounding environment. These were introduced as food plants, medicinal plants, horticultural plants, and ground cover. The authors performed a class activity with junior high school students, where they measured the coverage of wild plant vegetation using photographs and reflected on the naturalization of the horticulture plants introduced. It is difficult for students to measure the coverage of various plants monthly in a schoolyard. Therefore, over a period of one year, various wild plants within a quadrat were photographed, and using the photographs together with computer software, teaching materials were developed that made students aware of the changes in the wild plant coverage. In the software, each plant species was assigned a color, and students were instructed to apply the corresponding color to each plant in the photographs. The results of the questionnaire survey conducted after the class activity revealed the following. More than 80% of the students replied that they understood how to measure the plant coverage using the software and could see the percentage of coverage of each plant in the photographs. However, the remaining students could not comprehend how to count the outer parts of the small squares in the photographs. More than 90% of the students responded that they gained awareness of the changes in the coverage of various plants throughout the year. After measuring the coverage in photographs, the authors explained to the students about the naturalization of exotic horticulture plant species. More than 90% of the students considered the naturalization of exotic horticulture plant species as a starting point. However, the remaining students did not further contemplate on the naturalization of plant species around them. Further studies are needed in order to increase students' awareness of alien plants around them by having them measure both the wild plant coverage in the schoolyard by themselves and that of the plants in photographs.

 In this report, the outline of the “CYJ Kankyo [Environment] Café” held online in 2021 and the results of the six questionnaires in the “Climate Change” series were reviewed. First, an event was held at the café under the theme of “Climate Change and COVID-19,” where participants discussed 19 keywords of interest related to climate change and COVID-19. Next, under the theme “Climate Change and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” participants listened to each other's experiences based on four types of Venn diagrams regarding the relationship between keywords, the 17 goals of the SDGs, and climate change. In terms of themes related to the risks of water disasters and climate change, the keywords of interest for water disasters were similar in terms of self-help, mutual help, and public help. Participants were asked whether the keywords of “worries” and “barriers” when responding to climate change were related to “social system (S),” “economic system (E),” “culture (C),” and/or “politics (P).” They related the former to SECP, ECP, and SC, and the latter to SEP, SC, EP, CP, and P, respectively. Based on the results of the questionnaire in terms of “Points that I could deepen my understanding of” and “Points that I could sympathize with,” there were two cases that were considered to be grounded only in the provision of topics. There were four cases that were grounded in the dialog only, and one case that was grounded in both the provision of topics and dialog. Regarding empathy, all of the responses were considered to be grounded in dialog only. Through the dialog, the participants gained an ability to understand other people's point of view (i.e., “cognitive empathy”) in which they perceive things as their own.

 The ultimate goal of environmental education and education for sustainable development (ESD) is how to nurture people who will take concrete action, not just have an interest. There have been studies of psychology and life experiences as to what motivates environmentally responsible behavior. In this study, the author focuses on research in the area of life experiences.

 Experiencing nature has been cited as one of the important experiences leading to environmentally responsible behavior. However, it is difficult to say that the younger the age, the more the natural environment around one decreases, and the more people enjoy playing and experiencing nature. For that reason, it is thought that the young people who act as leaders for the environment and a sustainable society are greatly affected by their different experiences. In addition, experiencing nature, this study considers environmental education and experiences that change personal values.

 In a survey of young Japanese people who are involved in environmental activities, it was found that the impact of environmental education was the greatest. However, the influence of experiencing nature was also observed. In particular, workers in environmental groups and companies are often affected by experiencing nature and experiences that change their personal values, which may be one of the determinants of environment-related employment.