Stories of Tomorrow : Practice in Elementary School and Its Reflection

ヨーロッパで試験的に実施されていた、火星への旅と移住というテーマの STEAM 教育・ICT 活用の小学校高学年向けの問題解決型の課題 Stories of Tomorrow を、和歌山大学教育学部附属小学校6年生、三重大学教育学部附属小学校3年生のそれぞれ1クラスで、総合的な学習の時間等を活用して試行した。この課題をそのまま実施するのではなく、日本の授業の中でどう活用するかというカリキュラム・デザイン的な研究の視点も持ちつつ実施した。わかるとわからないの境界にあるという適度に難しい課題、児童にあった操作性を持ち合わせた教材、そして協働の雰囲気に満ちた学級の人間関係づくりが問題解決型学習を成功に導くこと、また、問題解決を通して、協働の心、失敗を恐れない心、そして科学の研究、技術の開発に対する深い理解が育まれることを、今回の実践で児童の感想からうかがい知ることができた。

A pilot program in Europe, Stories of Tomorrow, STEAM education and ICT-using problem-solving practice for upper elementary school students, was conducted with one class of 6th-grade students in the Faculty of Education, Wakayama University, and one class of 3rd-grade students in the Faculty of Education, Mie University, on the theme of travel and migration to Mars. We tried it out by making use of the time for integrated studies and other activities. We did not just implement this task as is, but also carried out it from the perspective of curriculum design to see how it could be used in the Japanese classroom. We found that the moderately difficult task of being on the borderline between what the students know and what the students do not yet know, materials that were easy-to-operate for the students, and the creation of classroom relationships filled with a collaborative atmosphere led to success of problem-based learning. We were able to learn from the students' feedback that through problem-solving, the spirit of collaboration, the spirit of overcoming failure, and the deep understanding of scientific research and technology development has been nurtured.