ACTIVE LEARNING IN CURRICULUM MANAGEMENT: A CROSS-CURRICULAR APPROACH FOR THE “PERIOD FOR INTEGRATED STUDIES”

The “Period for Integrated Studies” was introduced to the curriculum standards of Japan: the “Courses of Studies” in 1998. The “Period” aims to enable students to think about their lives through cross-curricular studies and inquiry studies, while fostering the qualities and abilities needed to find their own tasks, to learn and think on their own, to make proactive decisions, and to solve problems better. However, according to the results of the third “Basic Survey on Learning and Teaching,” 79.7 percent of the elementary school teachers mentioned that they have trouble in setting themes for the “Period for Integrated Studies,” and 72.8 percent of them mentioned that they worry about what to do in the “Period.” Moreover, 93.2 percent of the teachers replied that burden on teachers has increased.

In order to cope with such issues, the Japanese Education Minister proposed in “Curriculum Standards for Elementary and Secondary Education: Inquiry” to the Central Council for Education to promote effective curriculum management at each school by aligning the process of planning, implementing, assessing, and improving curricula along with the revision of the current “Courses of Study.”

The purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness and effectiveness of active learning in curriculum management for the “Period for Integrated Studies.” Participants were 66 pre-service teachers who were participating in a curriculum studies class. Participants studied the types and orientations of curricula, the aims and learning contents of the “Period for Integrated Studies,” and they learned how to design, implement, evaluate, and revise a curriculum for the “Period for Integrated Studies.” While designing a cross-curriculum for the “Period for Integrated Studies” participants worked cooperatively in a group of six.

An eight item questionnaire on a 4-point Likert scale was used for peer evaluation of participants’ performance in curriculum management, and a written form of open-ended self-report questionnaire was used to identify participants’ findings and impression of designing a cross-curriculum for the “Period for Integrated Studies.” As a result, most of the participants found that theme setting and considering correlation with other subjects are especially important in designing cross-curricula.