Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2018

Presentation information

[JJ] Evening Poster

G (General (Education and Outreach)) » General (Education and Outreach)

[G-04] Geoscience Outreach

Sun. May 20, 2018 5:15 PM - 6:30 PM Poster Hall (International Exhibition Hall7, Makuhari Messe)

convener:Takeyuki Ueki(Faculty of Risk and Crisis Management, Chiba Institute of Science), Jiro Komori(Teikyo Heisei University), Naoko HASEGAWA(お茶の水女子大学, 共同), Satoko Oki(Faculty of Environment and information Studies)

[G04-P08] How the Implementation of Disaster Prevention Education Affects Schools -A Case Study of Shirahata Elementary School-

*Nobutomo Obata1, Risako Tokoro1, Mitsuhiro Matsumoto2, Tosei Nagamatsu3, Satoko Oki2 (1.Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, 2.Faculty of Environment and information Studies, Keio University, 3.Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University)

Keywords:disaster prevention education

The occurrence and aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake revealed the significance of taking an educational approach to disaster prevention. Despite the urgency for improvements in taking such approaches, many schools have yet to change.

This research will discuss a case study of Shirahata Elementary School, located in the City of Yokohama. The research began in June 2016, aiming at practicing and implementing effective measures of disaster prevention education.

We have done significant qualitative research on the students’ behaviors throughout the disaster prevention education program, and were able to discover positive changes suggesting the effectiveness of it. Furthermore, various changes in the teachers’ attitudes towards disaster prevention education were observed. In this presentation, detailed analysis on three teachers will mainly be addressed. It will also aim at discussing what effects the implementation of disaster education prevention education had on the school community, as well as the challenges that still remain.

An analysis on the changes in the teachers’ attitudes towards disaster prevention education
The research revealed that it was the students’ learning behavior that was what motivated the teachers most in getting involved with the disaster prevention education program. In the very beginning, the teachers were not completely sure as to how they could facilitate the program. This was partly because they had difficulty finding value in implementing it. However, the students’ outstanding and positive behavior and growth in taking part in the program changed the teachers’ ways of thinking. Gradually, they were able to discover the values of disaster prevention education, and become motivated in teaching it.

The effects on the school community and challenges to be faced
Practicing disaster prevention education in the long run had the effect of gradually spreading the idea of disaster prevention throughout the school community. These effects were particularly seen in the evacuation drill that the entire school took part in, and can be seen as positive changes within the school community.

Despite the fact that the implementation of disaster prevention education and its programs positively influenced the school and brought upon changes, there are still some challenges. Through observing the evacuation drill, we discovered that the goal, of each and every student being able to make appropriate judgments to protect their own lives in the event of a disaster, had not yet been accomplished. Analysis on the factors of these challenges will be discussed in the presentation.