本稿では，児童生徒の情報活用能力とSTEM/STEAM 教育に着目した授業実践について，３つの事例を紹介する．第一に，グループに１台のダブレット端末の環境下で行われた，中学校理科の物理「運動とエネルギー」の落下運動の授業実践である．STEM/STEAM教育の位置づけは，生徒は落下運動の規則性を導くための実験方法を身近な道具や機器を用いて設計，制作することと，実験結果から規則性を導くために，図式化して説明を行う学習活動であった．第二に，電磁石の性質を利用した手作りスピーカーを作成し，コイルの規則性を学習する小学校理科第５学年「電流のはたらき」の授業実践である．第三に，小学校図画工作の「表現」と「鑑賞」の学習において，造形活動で制作した児童の作品をロボットプログラミングで思い通りに動かし，これを撮影する授 業実践を紹介する．

As the three principles for a healthy lifestyle, the Japanese government recommends that all children maintain a balanced diet, appropriate physical activity, and enough sleep. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between absences from school due to the common cold as associated with healthy lifestyle characteristics among school-aged children, using a comprehensive index of diet, exercise, and sleep.

We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey that collected data on lifestyle habits and a 1-day dietary record among 168 students aged 6 to 7 attending three public elementary schools. Common cold-related absences from school during the first semester were extracted from each student’s school health records. The healthy lifestyle index (HLI) score was calculated for each lifestyle domain (diet, exercise, and sleep). Participants for whom all three domain scores were above the median were assigned to the high HLI group (n=60) ; all others were assigned to low HLI group (n=108). Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between common cold-related absences from school and HLI.

Fifty-nine students (35.1%) had one or more common cold-related absences from school during the first semester. Relative to the low HLI group, the odds ratio for common cold-related absences was 0.372 (95% CI ; 0.171-0.812) for the high HLI group.

This suggests that students living a healthy lifestyle were at a lower risk of being absent from school due to the common cold.

Snacks play an important role in supplementing the diet of children, but there is a lack of research examining both quantity and quality of snacks, from the perspective of effects on the evening meal, using dietary record methods. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the quantity and quality of snacks consumed after school, outdoor play, and consumption of vegetables at the evening meal.

A cross-sectional survey consisting of a questionnaire on lifestyle habits and a 1-day dietary record were conducted on 269 pairs of 6- to 9-year-old children attending three public elementary schools and their parents. In this study, “snacks” were defined as food consumed between lunch and the evening meal, “non-essential foods” were defined as confectionaries or non-essential drinks containing sugar, and “supplementary foods” were defined as other food items that could form part of a meal. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between consumption of vegetables at the evening meal, quantity and quality of snacks (supplementary foods/non-essential foods), and outdoor play.

Children’s evening meal vegetable consumption became significantly lower in relation to energy consumption from non-essential foods (standardized partial regression coefficient (β)＝－0.132, P＝0.036), and significantly higher in relation to frequency of outdoor play (β＝0.223, P＝0.001). In contrast, there was no significant correlation between energy consumption from supplementary foods and evening meal vegetable consumption.

This study suggests that increased frequency of outdoor play and reduced amount of energy from non-essential snacks after school is linked to increased vegetable consumption at the evening meal, showing the importance of considering the quantity and quality of snacks for children.