児童・生徒のための大学における生物活用プログラムを開発することを目的に,小学生児童が大学訪問で体験した学習における学びの状態を,児童が訪問した大学に送られた児童のお礼文の分析から検討することを試みた。お礼文を記述したのは小学校児童3年生から5年生の3学年で,児童は農場での農業体験,球根の解剖と観察,植物のある庭の自由散策,そして馬と犬に関する学習を,それぞれ体験した。お礼文は全部で97編あり,記述された内容はどの学年も動物との体験を記述したものが多かったが,5年生児童は動物と植物の両方の体験を他の学年と比較して有意に多く記述した。動物との体験内容は「犬との挨拶の仕方」「犬のしつけ方」「馬の手入れ方法」などであったが,「ふれあった」という記述が最も多かった。5年生が記述したお礼文には,「学んだ」「わかった」など学習したという表現の記述や,人に何かをしてもらったという視点の記述が3年生や4年生のお礼文と比較して有意に多くみられ,さらに,体験内容を具体的に記述したお礼文もみられた。この結果,ほとんど同じ体験をしても学年で学びの状態に違いがあり,特に5年生児童の体験内容の把握力は他の学年より明らかに高いことが示された。以上のことから体験学習の立案の際には,学年ごとの把握力の違いを考慮した内容にすること,動物との体験学習は児童の興味が「ふれあう」ことに焦点が当たりがちで,学習内容を児童の意識に明確に残すには体験内容に工夫が必要であることが示唆された。

With the aim of creating educational experimental activity programs for children participating in a school trip at a university, letters of thanks written by the children were analyzed to clarify their learning statements after the activities. The elementary students (3rd to 5th grade) participated in activities such as farming on a plantation, investigating flower anatomy, observing flower bulbs, walking in a horticultural garden, and learning about dogs and horses. A total of 97 letters were written with most focusing on the activities with animals. However, a comparison of the letters from all grades showed that 5th graders wrote descriptions of activities with both plants and animals more frequently than children in other grades and the difference was significant. The children were given instructions on how to properly touch an unfamiliar dog, how to train a dog and how to care for a horse. Despite these instructions, the letters describing activities with animals written by 3rd and 4th graders focused mainly on simply petting the animals. In contrast, the letters written by 5th graders had significantly more information about learning and contained objective expressions, including help they received during the activities, than those of other grades. Some 5th graders expressed their impression of the flower-bulb activities in descriptions using their own words, showing that they understood and learned from the activities. Results showed that there were obviously different learning statements between grades even though the students participated in almost the same activities; 5th graders gained more understanding than 3rd and 4th graders. This suggests that educational programs for children should be geared towards their ability to understand the program contents and that programs using animals need further adjustments to include activities that are equally or more attractive to students than just petting the animals, to ensure that they are educational.

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