So-called Active Learning Classes

The current school year is almost over.

We studied Ogasawara Village in social studies. Although I am not a specialist in social studies, I personally feel that it is a subject where it is easy to structure interesting lessons.

This time, as we proceeded with the study of Ogasawara Village, I was thinking of conducting a workshop-style lesson, which is the type of activity-centered class I often do.
Perhaps it would be appropriate to call it so-called active learning.
The teacher's manual seems to suggest following the problems presented in the textbook one by one through whole-class instruction.
(That is what the homeroom teacher of another class said.)

I would like to record the appearance of the children through active learning, such as a workshop-style lesson, while briefly reflecting on the social studies class about Ogasawara Village this time.
1. While looking at the photos and graph materials in the textbook, I just picked up the children's murmurs.
2. I had them write down what they 'want to investigate more' in bullet points in their notebooks.
3. I had them present what they wrote and wrote it on the blackboard.
4. From there, we discussed common points and topics with high interest, and decided on four problems.
・What kind of endemic species are there in Ogasawara Village?
・What kind of agriculture and fisheries are there in Ogasawara Village?
・What is Ogasawara Village doing to boost tourism?
・What are the characteristics of the nature in Ogasawara Village? Also, how do the villagers interact with nature?
The problems were set up like this.
The first period ended here.

5. From the four problems, they discussed within their groups which specialty they wanted to work on and decided on their own specialty. (For children who wanted to do two, I allowed it as long as they finished one and it wasn't too much.)

6. Once their specialty was decided, it was time to gather information. I told the children, 'I think you know this, but since others don't know about your specialty, let's do our best so that the people in your group will look at what you've summarized and say things like "I see!" or "I want to go there in person." When you're troubled, ask your friends or teachers for help.'
Even though it had been so noisy, it suddenly became quiet, and they faced books, textbooks, and computers. I was surprised by the amazing energy of children becoming absorbed in their work, as some children were frantically taking notes on whatever caught their eye regardless of neatness, and others were taking notes on documents or slides from what they researched on computers (I told them not to copy and paste, but to clearly identify sources and treat them as citations). It felt like individual time had started all at once.

7. During individual activity, several children grumbled, 'I don't have any information at all,' 'How can I find good materials?' or 'Everyone is doing so much, how are they finding so much?'
When I asked, 'That's a problem. What do you want to do?', they said, 'I want to interact with people who have the same specialty.' I asked, 'If so, does that give you some hope?' and then asked the whole class, 'Can you stop what you are doing for a moment? Sorry. [Name] wants to exchange information with people who have the same specialty. How about it?' and voices saying 'I want to do that!' and 'That sounds good!' went up.
I said, 'Then shall we hold an expert meeting next time?'
Child: 'What is that expert meeting! Sounds fun!'
The second period ended here.

8. We held an expert meeting. Beyond my expectations, the children were very eager to engage in this activity. Every child was serious. Along with the joy of discovering strengths I hadn't seen before at the end of the school year, such as 'I didn't know this child could listen so seriously,' there was also some self-reflection.

9. After the expert meeting, it was time for individual work again. After about 5 minutes, a flow of 'How is your specialty going? Shall we all summarize it together?' began to move in groups here and there.

10. First, they read what they had summarized in their groups to learn about each other's specialties and broaden their knowledge. Also, while looking at the contents of other groups, they exchanged impressions on how to summarize (how to convey information) and what they had researched.

I proceeded with the learning in this flow, and I felt once again that active learning overflows with the seriousness of the children.
I have been studying the research of the Nara Women's University Elementary School in a small way. Among the learning methods in Nara, they value 'independent learning -> mutual learning -> further independent learning,' and among them, they emphasize the importance of 'independent learning.'
This time, while incorporating the concept of the Nara learning method, I valued the 'individual' time.
When I saw the energy of mutual learning from there, I was able to feel the effectiveness of the Nara learning method a little.

I want to continue to practice what I have learned and make it my own.

This article took almost a month to write.
The end of the school year is indeed busy...

Thank you to everyone who read this far!!
Since I finished it in a series of writing sessions, I think it might have been difficult to understand, but I hope that this simple record of mine will be of some reference.