Abstract:

To accomplish social sustainability that ranges from local to global level, the focus of industrial heritage is currently on the historical narrative from the dawn of Japan’s science and technology to its advanced state. In the spring of 2020, the Industrial Heritage Information Centre was opened in Tokyo to support the interpretation strategy (submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in 2017) for the “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding, and Coal Mining” and the industrial heritage across 11 cities in 8 prefectures. Regarding sustainable development, science and technology play a pivotal role in establishing people’s safe daily life with equity and wellness.

Moreover, it is acknowledged that the exhibition of old machinery in a functional setting has been highly valuable for industrial education. Thus, large objects, including textile machines in a setting where they can be handled/operated, are regarded as precious treasures. The presenter, a curator in a university textile engineering museum, faced difficulty because of the COVID-19 pandemic during the curatorial course/exhibition for students/visitors. There are serious problems associated with preserving antiquated textile machines in a functional setting not only because of the degradation of mechanical parts but also because the technical staff who understand the machines are aging. Generally, in the past, the presenter has narrated using material objects in the curatorial course/exhibition. However, owing to the pandemic, the in-person/on-site interaction using material objects between students/visitors and museum staff was limited to protect individual health throughout 2020. Here, it is described how attempts centered on substantial and virtual interaction using functional material objects could play a crucial role in providing fruitful opportunities. The presenter utilized the digital content, including the flip video learning and web exhibition, which was assessed for its collective educational efficacy using antiquated but operable textile machines.

This study explores object-based learning while mainly focusing on digital narrative for industrial education with objects. This study aims to demonstrate the efficacy of digital narrative during the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve it, textile machines in functional settings were adopted as learning materials. After the lecture, it was shown that it is suitable for industrial education with digital objects to deal and interact with learners who have different science and technology specialties. In the future, the presenter wishes to explore the relationship between the learning efficacy in both physical (in-person) and virtual museum settings (online).

Keywords:

Digital narrative, object-based learning, industrial education, textile machines, COVID-19 pandemic.