The Journal of Social Studies Education in Asia, Vol.10, pp.39-40, 2021

CONFERENCE REPORT

Report of Symposium on Education in the Social Studies
Department’s Research Association in 2021
Yoshihiro Iwahashi

Graduate Student, Hyogo University of Teacher Education, Japan,and Geography & History Teacher, Hyogo Pref. Akashi High School, Japan

Symposium: Background and Issues
The 32nd annual meeting and symposium on Education in the Social Studies Department’s Research
Association (ESSDRA) were held online on 13 Feb 2021. The topic of the symposium was “Coming of Age ofOne-Person, One-Device! Exploring Possibilities of Online Classes in Social Studies Education.” Global andInnovative Gateway for All (GIGA) School Initiative, proposed by MEXT. This initiative has been accelerated
by the Corona pandemic, which has forced schools all over Japan to adapt to remote learning. As a result, theICT environment in schools has improved, and simultaneously, the learning environment with one tablet PC per
student is becoming a reality. What is the role of ICT in social studies education, in which information selection
decisions, values, and exploratory learning are becoming increasingly important? How can ICT be used foroptimum effect?

Overview of Each Report and Discussion
On the day of the symposium, four speakers reported on their ICT-related practices. Later, twodesignated discussants, a social studies researcher and a researcher in educational methodology, presented
arguments on this topic, and a lively discussion took place with the participants. The speakers reported on theircreative teaching practices, such as online classes utilizing LoiLoNote and remote classes that connect classrooms
with local communities and experts. They also reported on the utility of online classes and ICT terminals andnoticeable problems when teaching while using them. It was emphasized that both teachers and students haveto get used to ICT environments by actively using ICT terminals. Also, the three stages of ICT routinization were
described: (1) “The exciting stage,” when new and expected effects increase; (2) “The challenging stage,” whenproblems in daily guidance increase; (3) “The stable stage,” when excessive expectations of ICT are eliminated,
and the role of ICT terminals in the school becomes almost routine.
ICT is helpful for teachers because they facilitate presenting color material, including photographs andpaintings, without having to print them. Moreover, ICT use could become a movement that changes teachers’
working styles. Students also have merits in accessing media individually and working together using informationexchange tools and learning portfolio functions. The ability for students to see learning material on their devices
and the ease of processing text on the screen makes it facilitate their understanding of relationships and sequencesin the learning material. It is also possible to immediately reflect map data, allowing students to understand39

Yoshihiro Iwahashi

regional trends and makes it possible to analyze and summarize such data. Moreover, regional comparisons are
facilitated by examing whether regional trends can be generalized to the national level. Furthermore, social
studies lessons utilizing ICT terminals are designed to foster, pursue, collect, compare, classify, and correlate
information and develop conceptual knowledge. In doing so, it is essential to realize that students should not
only collect “visible objects” but also discover “invisible things” and pursue “their questions” to achieve“proactive, interactive, and deep learning.” In this regard, teachers reported that practices encourage students to
notice “the joy of connection” and “diverse ideas” through dialogues with students in other schools during
remote classes. Furthermore, students listening to experts’ explanations in dialogues with experts also learn
about their real feelings, which helps them reconstruct their knowledge. Teachers reported that this has becomea process of pursuing students’ own “questions,” presenting their ideas, and reflecting on the entire learning unit.
Therefore, dialogues with others using ICT enable external personnel’s participation and connect multiple
points, allowing students to consider issues like students’ own “questions” and network and expand their factual
knowledge. As a result, students can reflect on their learning methods with a sense of empathy and achievement
and adapt their knowledge, skills, and thinking methods to other learning units, which result in “deep learning.”
On the other hand, several problems encountered while using one device by one student were also
identified. For example, specific trends were reported when online classes were first conducted. These included
a reduction in assignment submission, comprehension and retention, and polarization of regular examination
scores. Several schools also reported broken iPad screens and students’problem behaviors, such as photographing,videoing, and recording lessons. In response to these events, it was indicated that visualizing, sharing andfocusing on thinking were essential for improving the lessons. It is also crucial to encourage students to think
about using ICT terminals and develop rules for their use, which could be a turning point in whether the daily
use of devices takes root or dies.
One of the discussants emphasized developing indicators in each school to cultivate information use
skills and evaluate students’ abilities in these skills. He also suggested that a transition to blended learning mightoccur in the future, with remote classes being used to provide explanations only, whereas face-to-face classes
would be used for exercises, experiments, and collaborative work. Moreover, students would be required todevelop information for society from social studies education perspective, aiming at social participation.
Therefore, teachers must teach their students how to judge the content of information based on the reliability ofits sources and information morals. Another discussant in social studies stressed that using ICT terminals should
not make social studies classed mere activism but rather should approach the nature of social studies and achieve
the aims of lessons. The use of ICT to achieve the aims of social studies can help students develop their social
recognition and citizenship, and therefore future teachers and educational administrators would be asked totackle the management of the above-described stages in the daily use of ICT.
Based on the discussions, one of the coordinators stated that examining the organizing principle of ICT
use in social studies by critically considering ICT content could lead to research within curriculums andinstructions (subject pedagogy). Another coordinator at the symposium concluded that the opportunity tointroduce ICT tools to social studies education is expected to deepen and broaden the scope of social studies’
lesson studies.

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