Activity report 2015

～11 students of the 3rd year of Junior High School joined an experiential activity in a reed bed they had visited for fieldwork previously ～

11 students (5 boys & 6 girls) of the 3rd year of Junior High School joined “The 3rd activities: Let’s cut reed to regenerate the mouth of the river damaged by Tsunami” which is one of the activities of “Iwate/Miyagi prefecture; The everybody’s regeneration project of Kitakami River basin” & “Let’s make a new Kitakami River” hosted by TOYOTA marketing Japan coporation, co-hosted by Riasunomori, incorporated non-profit organization & cooperated by Kumagai Master Thatchers Co., Ltd.(Kumagai Sangyo) on 5 December, 2015.

They joined it with the thoughts, “What progress has there been with the reeds we planted when we visited for fieldwork in July?”, “Did the reeds take root & grow well?” They confirmed it from inside the bus.

After experiencing “Cutting reeds” & “Making KADOMATSU (New year’s pine decoration) with reeds”, they listened to a lecture about “Meaning of the activities to regenerate reed beds” & realized the major role that reeds play & the importance of an environment preservation. After the activity, they were given the opportunity to give a presentation to make use of their experience for the following year.
We will have them report it at the meeting next January. 

～Had contact with nature under the brisk autumn weather～

The 1st year students of Junior High School went to Izumigatake area as “Inspection of SR”. They observed “Our trees” which they set up in each group at the time of inspection in spring and gathered “Quartz” and “Fossils” at Yakegawara.

They departed Sendai Station by bus and as soon as they arrived at Izumigatake they went to see “Our trees”. We thought that it may be hard to find “Our trees” as the looks had changed from spring, but they undertook the many tasks smoothly such as the measuring of the height and diameter of the trees, and the observation of the ground and the shape of the leaves etc. They felt the change of their trees in the round of the seasons.

After taking an early lunch, they moved to Yakegawara from Izumigatake and began to gather quartz. They dug the lightning stone from the ground with hammers and chisels, one student gathered quarts with a 7mm length. After that, students moved to upper stream, “Ryu no Kousou” which was the marine bed. They were surprised at the fossil which appeared not only the top layer but also at the bottom of the river. They dug up the fossils with their whole heart without regard to being wet. Students found the fossils of shellfish such as “Takahashi Hotate Scallops” and “Sendai Nunome Hamaguri Clams” with their smile shining.

Thanks to the cooperation of highly?professional teachers who belong to Senior High School, students could also spend the fruitful and the fulfilling time in the inspection in autumn. It is a big strength for a coeducational and unified junior and senior education school to develop an attractive learning program.

　　
Ryu no Kousou, marine bed　　　　　Observation of “Our trees”　　　　　Gathering quartz

　　
Gathering fossils　　　　　　　　　　Gathering “Takahashi Hotate 　　　Cleaning of the gathered 
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  　　Scallops”　　　　　　　　　　　　fossils (in the class on a later day)

～They deepened the understanding about world countries’ situations through a food situation～

The 1st year students conducted “A dining table of the earth” which was the 3rd unit of “Learn about the world” in workshop style. Thanks to 10 lecturers includes staff of IVY, incorporated non-profit organization in Yamagata Prefecture and foreign students as same as the former “If the world were a village of 100 people”, the class was held smoothly with increasing students’ willingness and interests to learn.

Students made groups in each class and devoured the delivered pictures and discussed “Which country is it?”, “What kinds of features do foods have?”, “How is the family configuration?” “How much is the weekly food expense?”etc.

After a presentation from each group, the representative of students stated one’s impression. It included “Obvious things for Japanese are not necessary the obvious things for other countries.”, “I was surprised that the amount of food we ate was totally different in each countries.” We were able to think deeply about “What is true wealth?”, “What is the situation of Japan?”, “What is the international contribution which we Japanese can help?” etc.

This unit will link to “Trade Game”, the 4th unit of “Learning about the World”,“English Camp (3 days and 2 nights)” of the 2nd year, and “Study tour to Hong Kong and Macao” of the 3rd year systematically and developmentally.

Empowerment Program was held for 5 days from the 10th August to the 14th August at our school. 15 students of the 3rd Junior High School, 17 students of the 1st year and 1 student of the 2nd year Senior High School, as well as 2 students of the 1st year of Sendai Shirayuri Gakuen High School, total 35 students joined it.

This program was held as a part of “Language Activities” which was one of the 3 approaches of Sendai Nika SGH, the purpose was to learn a global mindset and communication abilities in English.

We invited Mr. Guy Smith from New Zealand as a facilitator and 8 students of California University as tutors. Each tutor took care of several students and they made discussions facilitated by Mr. Guy who has many experiences.

Students introduced about themselves and their partners in the beginning, and they talked about their goals of this program in each group. They thought about leadership based on a speech from Ms. Malala, Nobel Prize winner on the third day. They also talked about an ideal society for elderly people and they made a drama in their group. It was a good rehearsal for their presentation on the last day. They presented what they learned from the program in front of everyone. Thanks to tutors’ preliminary check and appropriate advices, they were wonderful presentations.

They experienced not only fun things but also difficult things, but we thought they could achieve a feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment in the 5 days. They had grown up greatly.

　　
Self-introduction　　　　　　　　　　Discussions　　　　　　　　　　　A picture of all

～Used 1st year learning to deepen a recognition of the current world situation ～

The 2nd year students conducted “Trade game” by inviting lecturers to an integrated study class. “Trade Game” was intended to “show the mechanism of world trade and economy and to realize the problems and tasks (income gap between North and South, economic assistance, industrial waste and environmental destruction etc) that need to be solved”. Students were divided into groups of 5 in each class. The rules were only “No violence and no stealing”. Each group was delivered one bag. They went to sell the specified goods which they made from the contents in the bag at the market. Each group’s contents in the bag were different.

From the beginning, each group negotiated and dealt actively, words for dealing filled the classroom instantly. Some made the specified goods silently, some negotiated, and some spied on other groups. They shared their roles automatically, some groups acted just like a real nation.

Lecturers commented at the end of the class, “What is going on in this game is exactly what happens in the real world. It is important to use your imagination when you act toward it.”
Some students said after the class, “We want to continue this game more.”

How will Sendai Nika Junior High School students act in the real world? We are looking forward to their future growth.

SGH fieldwork was conducted by 6 students who selected SGH Research TaskⅡA in Thailand and Cambodia for 11days from August 1.

They conducted surveys on the subject of “water problems” relating vegetation status and cutting situation of mangroves, conditions of the land which was formally used as shrimp farms and change of local people’s lives after producing commercial crop in brackish-water region” in Ranong, south part of Thailand.

They visited Siem Reap in Cambodia and learned about “Water problems in rapid urbanized agricultural community” and “Angkor as an irrigated city” in collaboration with Sophia University and a local NGO. They also conducted interviews and water surveys with people who live in Tonle Sap Lake and in surrounding rural areas.

The 2nd Mekong River fieldwork will be conducted in December.

　　
A survey in a mangrove forest 　　　An interview with a mayor of a　　　　 Lake dwellings 
(Ranong, Thailand)　　　　　　　　village (Ranong, Thailand)　　　　　　(Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia)

　　
An interview with lake dwellers 　　　A water survey in Angkor Krau 　　　Angkor Wat (Cambodia)
(Tonle Sap Lake)　　　　　　　　 　village (Cambodia)

～The 2nd year students conducted research presentation with “Water problems” as the theme～

The 2nd year students conducted “SR poster session” at Nika Hall on July 17. This was the second presentation as they had already presented it on July 7 for their guardians. They explained it clearly and briskly.

Students set agendas with their free ideas such as “The difference of transparency according to the type of filter paper” “What is “floatation” which supports the world?” “Help TENTARO-kun ～The most powerful collaboration between water and starch ” “Let’s make soft meat with water!” “Project Z ～The fight against water and buildings ～” etc, tested their hypothesis by a steady amount of experiments and came to their own conclusion. The techniques used on stage were like a drama and some groups got a lot of laughs.

Professor Kenichi Tabata, Graduate School for Teacher Training, Miyagi University of Education commented for the 2nd year students, “Each group exercised their ingenuities in making a presentation and it was interesting. I think you had difficulty with digitalization but I want you to emphasize it as it is very important in research. I thought that the group that determined tenderness of meat by putting a certain weight on a toothpick was interesting. In addition, simplification is important to pursuit research. I want you to try not to get too complex in your research. ” He also advised “Preparation is important for research. I want you to use the 2nd year students’ presentation as a reference for next year” for the 1st year students.

It was a fruitful time for the 1st and the 2nd year students.

　　
A class　　　　　　　　　　　　　　B class　　　　　　　　　　　　　C class

The 1st year students asked a lot of questions positively

The 3rd year students conducted “Kitakami River fieldwork” at Osu, Kitakami-machi, Ishinomaki-shi under a cloudy sky during rainy season on July 5. We decided that the 3rd year students conduct fieldwork downriver of Kitakami River to deepen continuity of study between Junior High School and Senior High School as our 1st year Senior High School students conduct fieldwork upstream of Kitakami River in Hachimantai, Iwate prefecture.

After arriving in Hachimantai, students heard a lecture from Mr. Takeyama, an adviser of Riasunomori, incorporated non-profit organization under the title of “Reed bed in Kitakami River, then and now”. Professor Kazuhiro Yamada, Development of Environment and Energy Tohoku Institute of Technology, gave advance guidance for fieldwork and explained the arrangement of regeneration work for reed bed.

After his lecture, students went into tidal land and took out mud from a 50 centimeters square area. They rinsed the mud with river water many times and observed water creatures such as sandworms, crabs, common fresh water clams and so on. They could also scoop a lot of young goby and shrimp. They were delighted by it and felt joy and pleasure to communicate with nature.

Then the students started replanting reeds. They were divided into 3 groups, “Grubbing up reeds”, “Carrying reeds” and “Planting reeds” and acted aspiringly. The harder they worked, the more they lost their footing in the mud and some girl students were completely covered in mud. The replanted area was not large as we did not have enough time, but it was a very valuable experience for them.

After lunch, we moved to Kumagai Master Thatchers Co. Ltd.(Kumagai Sangyo) and heard a lecture about “reeds” from Chairman, Mr. Kumagai. “The construction of pit dwelling house in Jomon period is the same as the way we built reed beds. Almost all reed-screens which we can purchase at home centers are imported. Reeds have a multiplicity of uses. We, Japanese should review the ease of using reeds and should actively utilize it. The best way of preservation of reed beds is to clip and to use and the bad way are to neglect.” He also gave a message to us “A way to coexist with nature is a big challenge for your generation.”

Students could learn many things in this fieldwork which they cannot learn in classroom lecture.

　　
Setting square area 　　　　　　　　Screening out mud　　　　　　　　Researching water creatures
and taking mud.

　　
Grubbing up reeds, Carrying reeds, 　
Planting reeds

～Learned world circumstances through our experiences～

The 1st year students carried out “If the world were a village of 100 people” as the second unit of “Learn about the world” on Jun 19. We understood “diversity” of the world and developed our thinking with a view to a better way of the world. We did this by learning tragedy which was caused by the low literary rate and the harmful effects of expanding gaps between rich and poor. This activity was held by cooperating with IVY, incorporated non-profit organization in Yamagata Prefecture in addition to Sendai Tourism, Convention and International Association. As one of simulated experiences, they realized an imbalance of wealth distribution in the world by numbers of biscuits which they got (One group got about 70 biscuits against another group who got only half a biscuit) and we are surprised by the big difference.

It was a good opportunity to learn “An appropriate world view” for the 1st year students. It seems that they moved a step closer to being “Global Citizens”. We are planning to learn “The world food situation” as the third unit in second semester.

2 teachers cultivated cooperating organization this time. They visited Samakki withayakhom school (combined junior and senior high school) and Chiang Mai University at Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, Ubon Ratchathani University at Ubonratchathani in the northeast of Thailand and we decided to push forward linkages and cooperation for a research task which will start from 2015.

　　
Discussion about the world　　　　　Student who takes poison　　　　　Students who got biscuits
in 30 years　　　　　　　　　　　　not knowing it

Students who are surprised by wealth distribution

～Started study to develop global understanding and international sense～

The 1st year students of junior high school started “IS “International Study”” at integrated study classes on May 22. They learned cultural differences through communication with people all around the world, grasped current situations in the world and clarified the problems at the 1st year stage. It’s the foundation for “English Camp” in the 2nd year and “Overseas study tour” in the 3rd year.

We invited Ms. Carmelita joy Oja Mogami from the Philippines, Ms. Alise　Donnere from Latvia and Mr. Pornrungroj　Chanon from Thailand as instructors who were introduced by Sendai International Relations Association.

They explained about their home country’s history and cultures for Junior High School students. Our 1st year students were stimulated with their intellectual curiosity and were excited for their question time with the instructors. Mr. Chanon was surrounded by students even after his class and inundated with questions. It was a really good time for international understanding.

Our school was specified a SGH (Super Global High School) by MEXT*. Serious Research Tasks start from Senior High School but Junior High School students are required to raise ““An apporopriate world view” as a global citizen who lives in the modern world” and ““The power of empathy” by accepting other people’s feelings”. We are thinking to cultivate the basic power to take a leap towards Senior High School.
*MEXT = Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.