Japanese Elementary Education Research Articles

Exploring possibilities and challenges of Lesson Study: A case study in a small island developing state

Lesson Study (LS) is a teaching improvement and knowledge-building process that has origins in Japanese elementary education. In Japanese LS, teachers work in small teams to plan, teach, observe, analyse and refine individual lessons called research lessons. This study examined a small sample of primary school teachers’ perceptions of LS as a professional learning endeavour. The benefits and challenges teachers experienced when attempting to engage in LS was further explored. The study focused on the Fijian primary teaching context, specifically on Year 8 mathematics teachers. Data was collected using a series of class observations and semi-structured interviews in two case-study schools. Analysis of classroom observations and semi-structured interviews confirms that LS provided a useful mode for teachers to talk about their mathematics lessons and open them for scrutinisation by their teaching colleagues. The findings suggest that all the teachers in the two schools found that LS is a powerful learning platform to improve teachers’ mathematical knowledge and pedagogical skills. These findings have important implications for the implementation of effective professional learning amongst practising primary school teachers.

Novel standing desk intervention in Japanese elementary education: mixed-methods evidence for health and pedagogical impacts

Novel standing desk intervention in Japanese elementary education: mixed-methods evidence for health and pedagogical impacts

Robust and real-time stroke order evaluation using incremental stroke context for learners to write Kanji characters correctly

Writing Kanji characters of Chinese origin in the correct stroke order and direction is still one of the important subjects in Japanese elementary education. So far, the stroke order evaluation was made by stroke-to-stroke matching without stroke context so that it was unrobust to Kanji characters having multiple similar strokes. Here, we employ shape context features around each feature point in not only conventional fan-shaped bins but also in square bins with applying a Gaussian function. We also propose simple incremental context and augmented context from future strokes. Our approach can judge whether the stroke order and direction are correct or not every time a new stroke is written on a tablet by matching a partially written Kanji pattern with the reference pattern written to the same number of strokes. Evaluation shows that the best-tuned method with square bins and the Gaussian function records the highest performance and correctly evaluates stroke order by 98.5% with the maximum time of 0.12 sec. /character for Kanji patterns after all strokes are written using an average desktop PC. The method is also shown to possess high reliability to detect wrong stroke order and direction incrementally every time after each stroke is written.

The Roots of Japanese Educational Achievement: Helping Children Develop Bonds to School

This article argues that Japanese schools succeed in promoting students' academic achievement because they meet children's human needs, thereby promoting strong, positive, emotional bonds between child and school. Based on the author's research and other sources, nine qualities of Japanese elementary education are outlined that make Japanese elementary schools extraordinarily responsive to children s needs for belonging, contribution, and competence.