Chiharu Tanaka, Yuta Kato, Yosuke Yamamoto
Faculty of Education, Shizuoka University, Japan
Abstract. We visited Miyako and Rikuzentakata Cities in Iwate Prefecture which was severely affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (2011) as a member of the Iwate Kakegawa Exchange Group in August 2019. We learned the damage caused by the disaster from affected people. Many said that the tsunami which swallowed all the towns, houses and schools was much higher than expected, and everything was gone. Despite catastrophic power of nature, preparing for a disaster will save lives and protect our community. We want to tell the children that even children can protect their lives by knowing the area they live well and checking evacuation sites and managing disaster prevention goods. So, we developed a class plan for elementary school children based on our experience in the disaster affected area. We are given an opportunity to teach this proposed plan in Yokosuka Elementary School, Kakegawa City in Shizuoka Prefecture. The class name is Disaster Prevention for Sustaining Towns and Living. This class aims so that the children become aware ‘What can we do now for earthquakes and tsunamis?’. The basic concepts on teaching and teaching materials is another earthquake bigger than the Great East Japan Earthquake is anticipated in Shizuoka. Children will explore how they and their town will be affected by the earthquake and consider what they can do now to reduce the damage, referring to the damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. They explore about earthquake and tsunami by cross-curriculum leaning. By having a sense of alert about the earthquake disaster, we will cultivate an attitude to continue thinking about the earthquake disaster. Students learn the actual situation of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the fact that the geographical features of Yokosuka Town and Rikuzentakata City are similar by reading maps and pictures, and they feel the sense of alert and the need for self-help for earthquakes and tsunamis. After that, children think over what they can do in preparation for earthquakes and tsunamis in small groups and share the ideas with the whole class. The goal of this class is that children grow attitude to continue thinking about disaster prevention and earthquake disaster. It is important for children to look for things they can do. For children, to know the area they live well and grow attitude of preventing disaster by themselves is the first step for sustainable community improvement. In addition, we believe that through this learning as ESD, we can aim to connect the learning with the SDGs’ 11th goral “Sustainable Cities and Communities”. Keywords: community, cross-curriculum learning, disaster prevention, elementary schoo
