Method of Instruction in Elementary School Homemaking Education (3) : Supportive Classwork Geared to Pupils' Diverse Ways of Thinking by Using Purple Sweet Potatoes and White Potatoes

摘要

Japanese education at its turning point urgently demands to provide children with an "education to foster rich hearts." It will be a sort of "education to foster rich hearts" for schoolchildren to have first-hand experiences by familiarizing themselves with nature, getting close to mother earth, and cooking and eating farm products in group.From this point of view, the present study adopts Okinawan purple sweet potatoes and Hokkaido's white potatoes so that schoolchildren can learn about the local differences in climate and how people cook and enjoy them. For instance, they may learn about "devil rice cake,onimochi" made of purple sweet potatoes mixed with rice and wrapped in fragrant leaves in Okinawa and "butter on white potatoes" in Hokkaido.By employing a method of instruction encouraging our pupils' creative and diverse ways of thinking with these teaching materials, we have observed and evaluated an increase in our pupils' interests and eagerness, and their behavioral alterations in terms of the teaching effectiveness of the practical homemaking instruction.