A research on students knowledge, awareness and interest about environmental issues ; a case study at a high school in Japan

Education for Sustainable Development(ESD)-Environmental Education, has been a major concern at most UN summits. The 2002 Johannesburg Summit broadened the vision and re-affirmed the objective of the Millennium evelopment Goals (MDS) and proclaimed the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development for the period 2005-2014. This emphasized that education, is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving capacity of the people to address environment and development issues. This paper seeks to report, a finding on the level of student awareness and interests in environmental issues at a High School in Japan (a Super Science High School). A curricula unit was developed in the area of environmental education on soil. An actual chemistry class has been conducted in English. Pre & post lesson questionnaires were administered to the students. The result of the analysis indicates that, students are aware of environmental issues but need to be exposed to these issues in the form of activity-based classroom lessons. This we believe, will enable the students appreciate the fact that ESD is a life-wide and lifelong endeavor which challenges individuals, institutions and societies to view tomorrow as a day that belongs to all of us. This we presume is the main challenge of the MDS.

持続可能な開発と環境教育は世界的な課題であり、2002年のヨハネスブルク環境サミットでも議題として採り上げられ、特に教育によって持続可能な社会の発展を進めることが合意された。本研究は日本のある高校で1年間にわたって、土を題材とした単元を実施し、その事前事後に環境問題に関する調査を行い、生徒の環境に関する知識、意識、関心についてどのような水準にあり、授業によってどうかわるかを調査し、明らかにした。