4:10 PM - 4:35 PM
★ [O02-05] My Expectations to High School Subject "Earth Science" under the New National Curriculum Standard in Japan
Keywords:science education, earth science education, global environmental issues, education for sustainable development (ESD)
The new national courses of study in science education of high schools implemented formally in 2013 have asked high school students to choose 3 science subjects from 4 subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology and earth science. This revision has led to following changes; First, the number of students to choose earth science has drastically increased and most of them tend not to study earth science deeply, but to regard it as sort of general education. Second, and what counts most is, their interests in the most important problems of the global environmental issues are increasing. If these tendencies are continued to be seen, new earth science as a high school subject shall have a very serious and critical mission to enhance student's general science literacy and their motivations for engagement or action in solving those real life problems, while they must be active to make effective conditions of the sustainable development in our human life as well as in all kinds of life on the earth.