Aims of the symposium

Aims of the Symposium

Kazuyuki Mikami*I would like to express my warmest welcome to all participants from overseas and Japan on behalf ofthe Symposium Administration Committee. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to Mr. Masayuki
Inoue from MEXT (Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), Mr. deputy
superintendent, Nobutaka Watanabe from Miyagi Education Board and Mr. superintendent, Yoshikichi Abefrom Sendai City Board Education for their kind and stirring remarks.
This symposium entitled “Supports for School EE” is one of the subsidized projects of MEXT, being held
as an International Symposium in 2002 adopted by the Ministry. Now, I would like to explain about the aimsof the symposium and how it came about. The Environmental Education Center was founded in Miyagi
University of Education in 1997. The center aims to cultivate people of abilities to gaze with deep interestand anxiety, to have a high sensitivity and a strong sense of responsibility about environmental problems; tobe aware of the importance of prevention against environmental pollution and the destruction of nature andto act for the environment. Especially, we are asked to contribute to the environmental education at school.
Five years have passed since the foundation of the center, so we wanted to evaluate our achievement andthen decided to hold an international symposium as a new step.
We believe that environmental education is based on a high sensitivity to nature and affection forhumans. In this symposium, we want to know about the good practices of school environmental education
in foreign countries in collaboration with educational institutions on environmental education, and want todiscuss about how environmental education should be at school.
Now in schools in Japan, environmental education is carried out in some subjects such as social studies
and science or in the class of “integrated learning”.
“The integrated learning” started recently, but has already some problems. To the persons who wonder if
environmental education might be a kind of fashion, it is no more a main subject of the integrated learning.
Global education however has become the main, because parents expect that their children learn English as
an activity of global education in school. But people should notice that environmental education and global
education are one. Environmental education was based on a variety of wisdom and on real information.
I wonder if it is sometimes difficult for schoolteachers to acquire the variety of wisdom and the real
information. If there is a system to support activities of school EE, it must be helpful for schoolteachers.
Then, they can get a lot of information anytime they need. To build up the system, we have to discuss thecontents of a supporting system; how the system should be and what institutions such as universities can dofor them. For such reasons, we planned this symposium.
Now, I would like to explain about the contents of this symposium. After this opening session, Dr. JackT. Moyer will give us a special lecture on the ability of nature on environmental education. Then, Dr. Paul
H. Williams will also give us a special lecture on how the results of environmental science are reflected in* Chair of the Symposium Administration Committee, Director of Environmental Education Center, JAPAN－8－

Ann. Rep. Env. Edu. MUE. Vol.5 No.2, 2003

environmental education at school.
The first session of the symposium was entitled by “Challenges from Supporters’ Viewpoint”. Inthe session which will be held this afternoon and tomorrow morning, some case studies on practicing
environmental education will be reported on from Australia, Thailand, Germany, China, USA and Japan.
On the second day, the meeting place will be shifted from here to Izumity 21. In the session entitled“Expectations and Requests from Schools”, some remarks or comments will expressed by Miyagi Prefecture
Board of Education, Sendai City Board of Education and Kesen-numa City Board of Education.
In the afternoon of the second day, Sendai city will organize “Children’s Forum for Environment” that isco-organized by Miyagi University of Education. At the beginning of the Forum, Ms. Andrea Deri will give usa special lecture entitled “School, Community, Environment”. She sent questionnaires to all elementary andhigh schools by internet and obtained quite interesting results, I heard. We will have a good opportunity tonotice some characteristics of children.
After the special lecture, children will present their environmental activities at each school. All attendants
may have a chance to know about the present activities of children for the environment in Japan.
On the last day of the symposium, the meeting place will come back to this International Center. We will
have talks on “For the Future of EE”. This year, the World Summit on Sustainable Development was heldin Johannesburg. According to the paper, NASA published a simulation of the melting of polar ice. In sucha way, it is the important time now for environmental education. At this symposium, we would like to ask
you to discuss what universities and research institutes can do to support school EE. Based on the results
obtained, we want to expand the scope of our activities and contribute to school education.
Nowadays, we are living in the midst of intricate information networks. Some information is useful but
most others are unnecessary or incorrect. In the crowdedness of hasty urban life, we sometimes have anillusion as if we are in a honeycomb. To think about our environment, we have to get back a sense of wonderof nature, life and the whole environment around us. The difference of DNA sequences between a human anda chimpanzee is said to be only 3% or so. Nevertheless, their life styles are very different from each other.
I wonder if we lost something on the way in the development of civilization.
The attendants here from foreign countries might see yellowish-brown fruits, called “kaki” in Japanese,on the branches of persimmon trees. I heard that in the Sendai district, people leave some fruits on the top forbirds and give some on the low level to travelers, and eat the remaining of the middle level. Since old times,
we Japanese have had good customs to live with other people and also with other forms of life, though somecustoms are exceptional. We have to remember it.
We have to have a lot of discussion during the symposium but the time for it is limited. I would liketo ask you for substantial discussions. I am sure that this symposium will be very fruitful for exchanging
information and creating new ideas to support school EE. In addition, I hope this symposium will bring all
participants into a deeper understanding through good discussions for children, and into warm friendshipwith each other.
In closing, we thank Miyagi Education Board and Sendai City Education Board for their joint auspices,and also Kesen-numa City Education Board, IGES, the Japanese Society of Environmental Education, theEcosystem Conservation Society Japan, FMM and UNU for their special cooperation. We also appreciate
the support of Miyagi Prefecture, Sendai City and all communications including newspapers and television
stations.

Thank you for your attention.

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