ENIS Model of Environmental Education for Elementary School Students in Japan

Abstract

Japan is a country whose people have a high awareness of the importance of environmental preservation. The environment in Japan can be maintained well not apart from the cooperation between the government and the community together to preserve and protect the surrounding environment. One of the keys to Japan's success in protecting the environment is the consistent and dynamic implementation of environmental education since elementary school age. Environmental education in primary schools in Japan is taught directly through experiments and direct observation in the surrounding environment. Environmental education in primary schools in Japan is associated with several subjects, one of which is the subject of Natural Sciences (rika) and Social Sciences (shakai). Environmental education is also taught through integrated study activities (sougotekina gakushu), through efforts to maintain cleanliness together, through assignments during the summer holidays. The model of environmental education is implemented consistently and with full awareness by elementary school managers in Japan and their students so as to produce students who have a high awareness of the importance of protecting the environment.