Results and subjects about compulsory school education in the Sanin Kaigan, UNESCO Global Geopark, Japan

In the Geopark, there is a need to foster an interest in the earth and a better understanding of geoscience for young people during educational programs. The ideal method would be to educate this in the classes, in schools to accomplish these goals, but the teachers are unfamiliar with the Geopark in Japan. Recently, some programs have been developed and presented by some teachers in all cities and towns in San’in Kaigan, UNESCO Global Geopark. The author surveyed the data in a real-life situation in educational practices and found some outcomes and subjects about the program. One distinctive outcome is the complete education at the elementary school level. Some subjects are enhancing middle-school level education and the evaluation of the program.

First, the author found good practices in some areas. All elementary school students study at the geo-sites, but junior high school students are presented with lesser opportunities. Second, there is a need for more efficient evaluation functions in the area because improvement methods for educational programs in Japan have not been developed.

There must be authentic educational programs and appropriate evaluation to promote the educational activities for students in the Geopark. In Japan, school teachers are responsible for curriculum design based on the course of study, which includes standard curriculum. They could request local specialists such as guides in the Geopark to teach the students. In such a case, the teachers must evaluate the learning results. However, they might not mark their students’ performances because they do not know the Geopark. Therefore, teacher training programs, focusing on the Geopark, must be promoted.