The "Climate Change Education" research group of the Japan Society for Environmental Education has been conducting studies on the necessity of climate change education, related trends and challenges, the desired direction and requirements, and the development and trial of specific educational programs over a three-year period from the fiscal year 2021. This paper summarizes the key points of the "Guidelines for Advancing Climate Change Education," which are the achievements of this research group. The summary includes personal interpretations by the author.

  It is believed that current university students and working adults have not received sufficient climate change education in their school education. Even if they have, the education is often based on traditional knowledge transmission. There is also a problem in the field of adult education where the actual situation of climate change education is not even grasped.

  For the future direction of climate change education, the following five points are proposed. It is essential to develop practical learning programs and systems that are linked with policies related to zero-carbon and climate change adaptation.

  (1) Acquire ways of living in a crisis era, taking into account concerns about the climate crisis and rapid countermeasures.

  (2) Foster individuals who will build a sustainable and better society through learning and practicing about climate change.

  (3) Provide a foundation in compulsory education and various learning paths throughout life.

  (4) Promote the co-evolution of climate change education with ESD (Education for Sustainable Development), environmental education, and pollution education.

  (5) Create a system where the interaction between people and society begins to move through the promotion of climate change education.

  Evaluating environmental education practices using a single psychometric scale is challenging. This study aimed to address this difficulty by analyzing the three significant relationships: students' attitude during the practice, their attachment to nature, and their conception of learning. A questionnaire survey was conducted on students (n=217) who participated in a class conducted at a high school in Tokyo that encouraged students to pay attention to nature and take pictures. As a result, while no clear relationship was found between attachment to nature and students' attitude, attachment to nature and the conception of learning were correlated in many respects, and students' attitude could be explained by their conception of learning. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for teachers to effectively implement environmental education practices. However, it is important to note that the results are based on a case study and require further elaboration and additional verification.

  Most of the research on Biosphere Reserves, which are registered as model areas that have rich ecosystems and promote sustainable economic activities utilizing local natural resources, is related to biodiversity conservation, and not enough research has been conducted into education for sustainable development (hereinafter referred to as ESD). The purpose of this study is to examine the factors for promoting ESD in the Aya, Tadami, and Minakami Biosphere Reserves, which is managed and operated by a single municipality, from the discourses of the Board of Education and Biosphere Reserves staff. In this study, we considered the factors that promote ESD ([E: promoting ESD]) to be derived from the interaction of five factors: [A: implementation factors], [B: upgrading factors], [C: inhibiting factors], [D: improvement factors], and [X: ideal state]. Questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted with school boards and Biosphere Reserves personnel in each of the target municipalities. As a result, to promote ESD in single municipality Biosphere Reserves, it is important for the town to strategically set ESD as an objective, rather than viewing ESD only to utilize the Biosphere Reserves. In addition, comparison and verification with school sites and other Biosphere Reserves, which were not covered in this study, will enable us to identify the factors promoting ESD from a unique perspective, and we hope that this will contribute to further research development in this area.

  Experiences with nature are an important part of educational programs, and much time is available for such learning activities in school. Phrases such as “rich sensitivity” appear in courses of study for many subjects, and instructional activities that incorporate sensitivity are considered important. The concept of rich sensitivity is emphasized in Japanese moral education, but there are few studies of sensitivity-education content based on experiences with nature. We used the “Symbiotic Values with Nature Scale” and the “Feelings toward Nature Scale” to investigate elements of sensitivity such as “preciousness of life”, “protection of nature”, and “feelings of awe toward nature” in three examples of experience-based nature education for elementary school students. We looked for differences in outcomes resulting from the abilities of the teacher, and between outdoor and indoor experiences. We found that experiencing nature cultivates an appreciation for the preciousness of life, protection of nature, and feelings of awe toward nature, but the effect on sensitivity toward protection of nature might be slightly lower that on the other sensitivity elements. The abilities of the teacher did not cause big differences in the outcomes, but it was not clear whether outdoor and indoor experiences had different effects. Experience-based nature education is promising as an educational method in Japanese moral education, and its continued practice will provide additional results.

  This study aims to clarify children’s learning experiences during “kogai” (pollution environmental disruption) studies using the “Black Water Incident” as the main teaching material. “Kogai” is represented as a “difficult past incident” related to human suffering. Reexamining the educational value of “kogai” is essential because its study encompasses environmental education. This study considers the example of Urayasu, which has thrived in the seaweed and shellfish farming industries since the Meiji era. However, due to rapid economic growth, the “Black Water Incident” occurred, when pollution caused by wastewater from a paper factory caused enormous damage to the fishing industry. Moreover, Urayasu’s fishing rights were abandoned due to the Tokyo Bay Large-scale Development Project which developed the area as a tourist city. This study analyzed the fifth-grade social studies class video and the children’s worksheets at an elementary school. The findings show that children could associate the meaning of the “kogai” with the people of Urayasu through their views and ideas acquired as evidence when understanding the essence of the material. Therefore, the study of “kogai” does not focus only on social structure but also people’s experiences. The bird’s eye view of the spatial configuration of the subsequent development of towns to protect the environment can help us learn properly about the experience of people who lived through “kogai.” This study may pave the way for new paths of Japanese moral education.