Becoming a Primatologist in High School: An Introduction to a Questionnaire of Japanese Macaque Sightings in Kumamoto

Abstract

In school, students often experience a gap between theory and practice in many scientific subjects. A national assessment on academic ability in Japanese compulsory education has revealed a decline in students' motivation, achievement, and satisfaction towards science. To counter this, the Primate Society of Japan has promoted various primatology school programs by organizing visiting lectures and poster presentation awards at annual conferences since 2013. As a new endeavor to encourage primatology in school, the “High-school Student Meeting on the Environment in Kumamoto” was held on July 12th, 2019. Twenty-five students participated in a debate about current conflicts and future coexistence with Japanese macaques, as well as the anthropogenic impacts on wild orangutan populations by world-wide food supply chains. Student participants displayed sophisticated debate skills and dedicated attitudes towards tackling global environmental issues, impressing audiences and suggesting a high potential for the success of a student initiative in Kumamoto. The experience also enhanced the understanding of different educational systems. School students are often too busy to pursue their interests in depth, in part because of the curriculum system. Knowing this, we must design collaborative research programs closely with schools and improve their accessibility by encouraging fewer tasks and high flexibility. Following the meeting, we are now preparing a prefecture-wide questionnaire of Japanese macaque sightings to be available as an online wildlife and habitat survey application. We hope that this will lead to a fauna-flora database covering a broad area and various species, and that a voluntary citizen science project can be developed to further monitor biodiversity.