[M-ZZ43] Geoparks and Sustainability

[MZZ43-P18] Picture book teaching materials based on local folktales of the Nanki Kumano Geopark

*Koji Oe¹, Seiya Fukumura¹, Chuki Hongo¹ (1.Nanki Kumano National Geopark Promotion Council,Japan)

Keywords:Folktale, Educational material, Picture book, Frottage, Nanki Kumano Geopark

Nanki Kumano Geopark Promotion Council has created learning materials for children. One of them is a supplementary reader for 6th grade elementary school student in the geopark area. This supplementary reading book began to be created in 2016 in order to have a deeper understanding of the Nanki Kumano Geopark. However, the contents of this book were mostly specialized in geology and topography, which made it difficult for elementary school students. It was revised based on the opinions of the schools, but the schools did not know how to handle it, and there were almost no opportunities for this book to be used in educational activities. Following this result, we decided to create new educational materials with the aim of having fun and getting interested in Nanki Kumano Geopark, and we created a sugoroku in 2020. Due to the influence of the COVID-19, this sugoroku was not well known to children. However, as a result of the questionnaire, more than half of the answers were only distributed to children, but it turned out that about 60% of the children became interested in the geopark as a result of this distribution. In addition, it was found from the questionnaire that many teachers wanted teaching materials about the geopark. In 2021, we started creating a picture book, which is a teaching material that can raise children's interest in the geopark. The purpose of creating picture books is not only to deepen children's interests and understanding, but also to take pride in one's hometown, form a local identity, and inherit local culture. For that reason, we focused on the intangible culture in the geopark area and chose folktales in which geosites appear as subjects for the picture book. In order for children to visit the geosites, we have added commentary to deepen their learning of geology, topography, and local culture. One of the features of this picture book is that it uses a technique called frottage to express the textures of rocks and plants. In addition, with the cooperation of the local people, folk tales are expressed in the words used in the area, and explanations are provided with easy-to-understand diagrams and photographs. We distributed the picture book to kindergartens, nursery schools, certified children's centers, elementary schools, and public libraries. Local high schools used this picture book as part of their classes to learn about folktales and the geopark, after which high school students conducted educational activities in which they read picture books to children at the public library. In elementary schools, librarians did publicity in the library, and an exhibition of original paintings was held at the Nanki Kumano Geopark Center. In addition, they experienced frottage at the site of the folktale, created a video introducing frottage, and carried out public relations activities using SNS. These activities not only deepen people's interest in and understanding of the geopark, but also provide opportunities to learn about the wonders of nature and local culture and history. In the future, we would like to promote educational activities using picture books.