Action Research on Disaster Reduction Education: Building a “Community of Practice” through a Gaming Approach

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This paper reports a research study on disaster reduction education, at both a senior high school and in a local community in Japan. The research was guided mainly by the theory of “community of practice (CoP)” proposed by Lave and Wenger (1991). This theory provided a useful framework by which we achieved long-term and collaborative learning in disaster education, to deal with natural disasters with a long return period. A gaming approach was introduced in this year-long action research project, as a key medium to realize long-term and cogenerative learning by diverse stakeholders, ranging from high school students, local residents, local government workers, and disaster experts. This gaming approach covered the whole process, from co-planning, co-production, and co-dissemination of game-like education materials. The results suggested the clear superiority of cogenerative disaster education (along with a transformation of CoP structure) over conventional, knowledge internalization-oriented disaster education.