1) Outdoor education is needed in Japan to develop skills for children and educators through utilizing local communities. 2) It can help address declining populations in rural areas by promoting outdoor activities and nature tourism. 3) Evidence shows that outdoor education provides diverse learning environments and styles from textbooks to hands-on activities to foster problem solving, collaboration, and other competencies being emphasized in updates to educational guidelines in 2020.

1. Why do we need outdoor education in Japan?
Outdoor education can develop competency
for children and educators, using local community.
地域の連携によりアウトドア教育で育成される力
Kazuki Nishiura
Ph.D. in Psychology
Department Chairman, Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University
宮城学院女子大学教授 西浦 和樹
26 February, 2016 15:00-17:00
Project 2018

3. Tourism: Japan has developed “Educational Power and
Resources”, but …
地域の教育力の活用
Educational Power in Local Community
地域の教育力2)
Change them into the stay-type of leisure activities(ex.
Japanese Bed & Breakfast hotel “MINPAKU”) 滞在型余暇活動や民泊
Traditional leisure resources (or activities) in rural areas
農山漁村を舞台にした余暇活動
Rich green and blue 緑豊かな農山漁村
Nature and culture 自然と文化
Interchange between urban and rural 地域間の交流
Almost all the Japanese rural areas are just facing a declining
population and educational power 人口減少社会

4. Education: Japanese government tries to change
educational quality before 2020 アウトドア教育の特色
Evidence-based Outdoor Education
科学的な裏づけのあるアウトドア教育3)
Rich learning environment from indoor to outdoor: Authentic High-resolution
sensation 多様な学習環境の提供（教室からアウトドアへ）
Diverse learning styles from textbook to activity: Action-based
learning(Active learning)多様な学習スタイルの提供（教科書ベースから発見・体験型の学習へ）
Opportunities to learn sustainable society 持続的循環型社会に関する学習機会の提供
Problem solving learning: analyze, synthesize, evaluate 問題解決学習
Voluntary or collaborative: value, communication 能動的、協働的
Starting year 2020, but nobody knows the practices for active learning.
Japanese government promotes to renew the educational guideline.
The basic policy is “Active Learning”. 学習指導要領改訂とアクティブラーニング

5. Outdoor Education: expected outcomes
アウトドア教育3)：期待される成果
Expected outcomes and psychological effects with outdoor education
Health promotion for children 子どもと教師の健康促進
Decrease in mental stress for children 子どものストレス軽減
Increase in concentration for children 子どもの集中力の向上
Provision of collaboration among children 仲間との協働の機会の提供
We can think outdoor education as “Active Learning”,
because outdoor education
(1) is quite similar to active learning in the way of voluntary and
collaborative activities. アウトドア教育とアクティブラーニングの高い類似性
(2) is evidence-based educational science エビデンスがある教育方法
(3) can meet the needs of both tourism and education. ツーリズムと
教育業界のニーズへの対応

6. Why do we need outdoor education in our prefecture?
Because …
なぜ、今、本県の子どもたちにアウトドア教育が必要か？
 We have so many children who have
psychological problem and cannot go to school
after the disaster. 震災後の子どもたちが抱える心身の
健康問題（左図）
 The matter is poor family in not only economy,
but also lifestyle as below.
 We can think about not only Sweden, but
Japan from Swedish style.
Psychological
support in the
disaster area.
石巻サポートにおけ
る傾聴スキル心理ト
レーニングの様子
（石巻ビッグバン、
2014年6月7日実施）。
参加者からは、子ど
もたちの不定愁訴、
尿失禁などの心身の
不調を訴える事例が
紹介された。
Sweden Japan
Work-life balance Rank 6 Rank 34
Environment Rank 1 Rank 24
Life satisfactory Rank 10 Rank 27
Health Rank 7 Rank 29

7. We think about Japan from Swedish style
(1) Educational exchange project: Inside Sweden since 2012
Nature school in Linköping Outdoor preschool in Motala

9. We think about Japan from Swedish style
(1) Educational exchange project: Japanese style
from Sweden
「森のこども園」means outdoor preschool near Forest in Sendai-city
We have to develop a new outdoor curriculum for
children and a outdoor training program for teacher.

10. We grow some traditional and original vegetables in
Kyoto.
We eat Japanese traditional foods with traditional
cooking or in traditional house.
Swedish family visited Kyoto. We had a good time
to cook and eat them, supported by a university.
We think about Japan from Swedish style
(2) Tourism and Food project: From Japanese style
to Sweden

11. We think about Japan from Swedish style
(3) Animation project: From Japanese style to
Sweden
Animation Grand Prix of Miyagi prefecture. I will
show you one of products.
Grand Prix Animation in 2014

12. I’d like to have an effort to have
international communication toward 2018.
Thank you for your attention.