I’m Ｈiro. Nice to meet you. Ms. Usiji is my schoolmate at junior high school. I asked her to meet a foreigner. Thank you for coming here for me. I have studied English every day for about 30minites. I read English books and I watch English TV programs. But I can’t talk with English speaker.
②自分のこと
I live in Shiga prefecture near Kyoto. Shiga has lake Biwa. Lake biwa is the biggest lake in Japan. I was born in Kumamoto and I grew up in it until 18 years old. After that I moved to O-city.
I was an elementary school teacher for 37years in Shiga. I love science. I retired from teacher this March. I have a dream. I’d like to change the science education in the world. I want to be able to speak English. I need more practice in English.
③相手のこと
May I ask you some questions?
Where are you from? Do you speak Japanese? What do you do? Do you have a dream? How long do you live in Kumamoto? How do you like Kumamoto?
④相手の国の科学の授業内容はどんな様子か
I’m very interested in ○○ science education.
How did you learn science when you were a student?
How did your teacher teach science to you?
⑤仮説実験授業のこと
I have been learning how to teach science.
I met the Itakura method 27years ago.
I intuited that it was very good method.
Let me explain the Itakura method. It is called Kasetu-jikken-jyugyo or Kasetu in Japanese. Kasetsu is Hypothesis-Verification-Through-Experimentation Learning System.
The theory of Kasetsu-Jikken-Jyugyo (Kasetsu;Hypothesis-VerificationThrough-Experimentation Learning System), which was advocated (developed) by Kiyonobu ITAKURA in 1964, enables everyone to perform enjoyable science lessons. In this theory, a specific plan is provided by Jugyosyo. Jyugyosho is Kasetsu work book, which includes a series of problems with a set of prediction-experiment.
How jyugyosho work in a Class?
Teacher prepare Jyugyosho. Jyugyosho lead students to…
-Pose a question
-Let them choose a prediction
-Discussion among different opinions
Then teacher conducts the experiment to confirm. There’s an array of questions of same theme in a Jyugyosho. Sometimes, the teacher explains the history of science, or show a movie in case the experiment is too difficult to perform as indicated by jugyosyo.
Questions
Each question is carefully considered to
-Relive the same questions as the scientists did
-Think because nobody exactly knows the result
-Get a clear theory/principle of science by completing a jyugyosho
Feedback from students
Basically the teacher is encouraged to take questionnaire from students about
-How interesting it was
-How useful it was
If the result is good enough, the class is considered to be successful
Many Jyugyosho (Kasetsu work book) are created.
Basically for elementary school and junior high school students. (Many of them are yet to be translated)
Natural Science domain
– Air and Water
-Objects and their weight
-If you can see an atom
-Burning
-Magnet
-Battery and Circuit
-Electrical Current and Magnet
-Light and Magnifying glass
-Spring and Force
-Pendulum and Oscillation
-Flower and Fruit
And many more…
Social science domain
-Japanese history of war
-World countries
-World flags
-World of Logarithmic chart
-Prohibition law and Democracy
And many more
Other domain
-Manufacturing Handbook series
-Kimiko Art method
-Trustful and Untrustful digits
-I like this General study
-Learning Japanese with fun
And many more…
I had opportunity to teach science using it at primary school in Perth Australia in 2014 and 2015. These are the results.
I need master speaking English within a year.
After that, I’ll teach science somewhere in America Canada U.K or New Zealand again. I have confidence that the Itakura method will change the science education in the future.
