[G03-P04] A role of the Geological Museum, GSJ, AIST for elementary, junior-high and high school students on off-campus learning.
Keywords:Off-campus learning, Geological Museum, number of visitors
The Geological Museum GSJ, AIST in Tsukuba opened on 1980, to exhibit the valuable collections and introduce the research activity of GSJ to the general public. About 40,000 people visit here in a year. The admission of the museum has been free. The guide tour is available for weekday group visitors staying over one hour, in which the scientist staffs explain some exhibits and their backgrounds. Recently, many students, including high schools designated as SSH, visit here as a part of off-campus learning. Through the guide tour, we would like to let them, especially young students, know that earth sciences are interesting. This is because most of them do not have a chance to learn earth sciences at high school, although Japan is a tectonically active country. However, 40% of schools visited here see the exhibits without commentary. Half of them visit here on weekends as school trip and the others visit on weekdays but stay only for 30 minutes like restroom break. We have a program named “Chisou no hanashi” for 6th grade pupils of elementary school. This program consists of a lecture on topography and geology around the school, flume experiments of sedimentation and visiting the exhibits. About 600 pupils join the program in a year. Last year, we constructed a new explanation system using QR codes on a mobile device. It is helpful for visitors on weekend and foreigners although the system is still under developing.