Environmental Communication

Kumon Publishing, in collaboration with JFE Engineering Corporation and Science Education Lab, held the "Social Studies Tour with Science Eyes" on March 19, 26, 27, and 30, 2023, with the theme of carbon neutrality for third grade elementary school students and above.

The event included a tour of a food recycling plant and science experiments to learn about the principles of methane fermentation of food waste and power generation using methane, both of which are being conducted there. We also planned an event where children could comprehensively learn about society and science while having fun playing a specially made board game to think about how a carbon-neutral society should be.

Twenty-eight people participated throughout the four days of the event, and the board game to raise environmental awareness, developed especially for this event, was well received. Divided into environmental warriors and economic warriors, the participants were engaged in heated discussions, using their brains to prevent the increase of carbon dioxide and methane, and calculating funds and costs (e.g., building a recycling power plant) to avoid game over (i.e., the disappearance of the earth). They also learned that microorganisms behave like humans, visited a plant that actually generates electricity using biogas generated from food waste, and tried their hand at generating electricity in the experiment at hand, and were surprised to see that electricity was really generated.

The Global Immersion Camp (GIC*), where children spend several days together using only English and which began in 2001, was held for the first time in three years,.

In FY2022, 29 elementary school students from all over Japan and 21 leaders from 12 countries and regions enjoyed communicating in English and learning about the world during the 5-day online program.

This time they also learned about "water," which is listed as Goal 6 of the SDGs. With the help of Ms. Katsura (at the time) from the Japan International Cooperation Agency Shiga Office, the children tried their hand at a role-playing game in which they had to deal with an imaginary village that was shaken by a dilemma between economic development and environmental issues related to water.

By listening to various people's stories, they learned about water-related problems and how to solve them, and also thought about what they can do now and in the future for the world. Many interesting ideas that adults would not have thought of were developed.

* Global Immersion Camp (GIC): The name “English Immersion Camp” (GIC) has been changed to in 2022.