Evaluation of Marine Education’s Effect inElementary and Junior High Schools—Analysis ofthe Value Consciousness Using Text Mining

Abstract

In Japan “Basis Act on Ocean Policy” was enacted in 2007 and then “Basic Plan on Ocean Policy” was enacted in 2013, which is advocated “to be enriched education about ocean in elementary, junior and senior high school.” However the learning contents of marine education, teaching methods and measurement of effectiveness are still remains an open research problem due to less practice cases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of marine education in elementary and junior high schools through an analysis of the value consciousness using text mining. This study was employed a questionnaire survey targeting all elementary school’s 4th, 5th, 6th and junior high school’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd grades in Noto town, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. Only one elementary school had received marine education, which is called satoumi learning, as a pilot school. A comparison was made between the students of the pilot school and the students of the other four elementary schools and the students of four junior high schools. The students of the pilot school have the highest motivation to engage in satoumi learning compared to other elementary and junior high school students. According to the structure of consciousness, the students of the pilot school used term of “precious” to present about ocean. The results appear to show that marine education affected their value consciousness. On the other hand, other elementary school students imagined a connection with ocean through daily life. The junior high school students recognized that satoumi learning is connected to their community, life, and future. Therefore, the study determined that implementing relatable learning content in a child’s daily life is required to foster their relationship with nature.