Contents

Have Fun Studying Mathematics Through Web Sites

Mathematics classes for seventh and eighth graders
Akira Arakawa, KEIO GIJUKU FUTUUBU HIGH SCHOOL

Purpose of using the Internet

Over the past few years, an increasing number of companies have started using the Internet, and newspapers feature articles about the Internet almost everyday. In the field of education as well, more and more schools have access to the Internet thanks to the NTT’s KONET Plan and the 100-School Networking Project run by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Local governments are also helping schools get connected to the Internet. The main reason for using the Internet in schools is not to make home pages or communicate with people who live in different countries, but to serve as a teaching aid in students’ lessons. As our school has the equipment needed for students to access the Internet by themselves, we decided to try using the Internet in mathematics classes.

Students are grouped in teams of two. Using one of the search engines, each team searches for an interesting mathematics problem on the Internet. The students then give a presentation in class that includes how to solve the problem they found, difficulties they had in solving it, and interesting aspects of the problem. They send their solutions to the respective home page via the Internet and communicate with teachers from other schools. This activity helps students become more interested in mathematics, solve problems by themselves, and learn about what other students in different grades and from different schools think. As a result, students learn about the diversity of people’s thoughts concerning mathematics.

We teach students about information ethics when searching for information using the Internet, how to use a browser (Internet Explorer) and search engine, and how to use the Internet in mathematics classes. We also make sure that students are aware of the mathematical meanings of web sites.

We conducted this project during the third school term to review what students had previously learned. This could also be done after each unit. Students chose the following home pages:

Mathematical problems with multiple answers (Fig. 1)

[Making numbers from 1998]

[Prove that the sum of angles of a star-shaped tetrahedron is 180]

[Explain why a negative number multiplied by another negative number always equals a positive number]

MOW MOW MOW page (Fig. 2)

[Problem A “What is the total number of circles required to make a square?”]

[Problem O “The hidden treasure”]

Mathematics Room (Fig. 4)

IES page (Fig. 5)

Students normally learn about each unit from a class teacher using a textbook. In this project, students can learn more spontaneously and actively. They choose problems that they are interested in, think of solutions, send them to the person who created the problems using e-mail, and then make their answers available to the public in order to get feedback.

Students studied more actively when using the Internet as compared to just solving problems in a drill book. Many students continued to work on the problems even after the lesson, saying things like, “I can’t wait for the next lesson,” “Is this solution correct?”, “It’s difficult to make this number,” “This home page is very interesting,” “It works if I click here,” and “This is great!” One student said, “I have used e-mail before, but this was the first time I used the Internet to study mathematics. I’m very glad I learned how to do this. Now I plan to do it at home as well.” Students tend to be quite passive in their regular classes, but they became more active and spontaneous during this lesson because they could apply the knowledge they had learned in the past. The home pages we used in this lesson were made by mathematics teachers. They were well made and had effective illustrations. While most traditional home pages are constructed using only letters, pictures, and photos, more recent home pages include JAVA, JAVAScript, and CGI to allow for more interactive learning. This makes them more interesting to students. Students also enjoyed sharing their ideas on the Internet. It’s very important that teachers make sure students ask questions, make worksheets, and discuss or give a presentation about what they have learned. Otherwise, the students will end up just looking at home pages. Teaching materials are important even in regular lessons. Successfully promoting the Internet depends on the content of the materials that are available on it. I hope that the available materials will continue to improve in the future. This type of study is also possible in the home, so students can study using the Internet anytime and anywhere. I hope more people will have the ability to study jointly using the Internet.

We have to tell students that all the information on home pages is not necessarily correct and teach them about rules when using the Internet “netiquette” before they use it by themselves. Some students look at educationally undesirable home pages during free browsing. Teachers will have to do something to prevent this by using filtering software.

YAHOO Kids is a good search engine to use because it only registers home pages that are deemed acceptable for students, although it has less home pages to search from.

To use the Internet at home, we have to buy peripheral equipment such as modems, make a contract with a provider, and pay expensive access fees. Students look forward to using the Internet in class, yet they sometimes fail to use it meaningfully while trying to meet all of the above stated conditions. However, it’s important to let students use the Internet by themselves so they can learn how to sift through all the available information and find what they need.

Recently, people can communicate interactively via the Internet thanks to CGI, JAVA, JAVAScript, and VBScript. In addition, most home pages can be accessed for free. Therefore, given the proper equipment, people can collaborate with other people anywhere in the world.

There are a lot of home pages that offer interesting teaching materials. I hope you will make full use of them.

URL we used

Dialect Studies Using the Internet

Japanese class for eighth graders
Masaaki Ichige, Kasama Junior High School

Purpose of using the Internet

We decided to use the Internet to teach students about dialects. We felt that students would be able to experience the warmth of currently used dialects from various areas. There are books about dialects in our library, but their contents are limited and students cannot hear what they actually sound like. Therefore, we decided to use the multi-media functions of the Internet so students could listen to what they sounded like.

Moreover, instead of just researching other prefectures’ dialects, we did research on dialects in our hometown, Ibaraki, made a database, and published it in our home pageso people all over Japan can learn about Ibaraki’s dialect.

We also used the video-conferencing function of the Internet to have a teleconference with a junior high school in Fukushima Prefecture. Students heard “real” dialects by talking with students from this school.

• Students become interested in dialects and conduct research on their own initiative. (Interest, motivation, attitude)
• Students can intelligibly explain the dialects they have researched. (Self-expression)
• Students understand the features of standard Japanese and of dialects and know when to use which according to the situation. (Understanding)
• Students think about the language they use while being aware of the differences between dialects and standard Japanese. (Language)

Dialects are essential in students’ communication activities and cannot be separated from their everyday lives. Although students systematically learn about dialects starting in the fourth grade, they generally use their own dialect without being aware they speak something different from standard Japanese. Some students also have a negative image about dialects in general.

In the advance research on students’ attitudes about dialects, a number of students wrote that they were embarrassed about their regional dialect and didn’t want to speak it when they visited large cities. On the other hand, some students wrote that dialects are interesting because each area has its own unique words that people from other places cannot understand. Some students were very interested in doing research about dialects used in various areas because they only know about their own.

We wanted the students to think about their own dialect by learning its peculiar intonations and comparing them to dialects from other regions. We also wanted them to think about the way they communicate by thinking about the differences between dialects and standard Japanese in order to help cultivate their attitude to improve their communicative ability.

In this project, we wanted to utilize information about the dialects of various areas using the Internet and to publish the data we gathered on our home page. We also wanted to improve the students’ ability to use materials and evaluate their own work during the research activity and realize the numerous differences between dialectic language and standard Japanese.

First stage: Learn about dialects (3 periods)

Second stage: Learn about standard Japanese and discuss our future communication
needs (1 period)

Students learn about dialects by reading the dialects of various regions that are available on the electronic bulletin boards and the WWW. (understanding)

Textbook “Japanese 2” published by Mitsumura Tosho, worksheet, computers (NEC-9821Cb), video converter, and self-evaluation sheet

First, students researched their own dialect to understand dialects in general. We put dialects that students researched individually in the dialect database on our home page. In class, students discussed Ibaraki Prefecture’s dialect. Some students couldn’t think of their own dialect even though they use it on a regular basis, so I told them to ask their grandparents about it. Students were surprised that their grandparents knew about certain dialects that they had never even heard of.

Next, students made groups and did research on dialects from other regions. Each group went about their research in a different way, for example, searching home pages that offer information about dialects, asking questions about a region’s dialect to people who wrote information on the dialect database using e-mail, holding a teleconference using CU-SeeMe, and using books about dialects. We found many interesting home pages that can motivate students, including one with audio.

Lastly, each group gave a presentation about their research. Then students discussed the differences between dialects and standard Japanese and how to choose appropriate words according to the situation. They also wrote their ideas on their future communication needs on a worksheet to summarize the lesson. (Fig. 4)

We had four objectives as I mentioned in 1-(1) in this project. I believe that we basically achieved all of them.

Students would have been unable to hear the way various regions’ dialects sound without using the Internet. Listening to dialects directly using CU-SeeMe also left a strong impression in the students’ minds.

In the pre-lesson survey many students had a negative opinion about dialects. Nevertheless, after the lesson they did feel that a “Region’s particular dialect is a part of its culture” or that “Dialects have a flavor peculiar to their region”.

Dialect-related home pages are increasing gradually. In the “Japanese Dialect List,” we can sample dialects from all over Japan using a clickable map. This home page is very convenient because we can hear what a dialect actually sounds like. However, this audio data is so large, we have to shorten access time by accessing the home page beforehand and use cache memory or proxy to use the contents fully in one period.

URL we used

Share Your Ideas about Volunteer Activities

? Preparing a unit that will make students think about global problems ?

English class for eighth graders
Koichi Hashiguchi,
Fuzoku Fukuoka Junior High School Attached to Fukuoka University of Education

Purpose of using the Internet

Subject matter that concerns global issues are being used more and more in various subjects including English which include environmental problems, human rights, and volunteer activities. However, it’s difficult for students to relate to these issues no matter how good the materials are. By using the Internet, students can relate more closely to the issues by collecting information about a particular issue and then introducing their own ideas and activities to people outside of the school. Activities like these help to cultivate students’ ability to express their own thoughts more clearly.

Program 8, “A Cleanup Campaign” of SUNSHINE ENGLISH COURSE 2, relates a true story that was published in the Los Angeles Times. The story is about Maple Park, a once beautiful park that became riddled with garbage and cans. A group of young people started a volunteer campaign to clean up the park and little by little the movement began to grow. As a result, Maple Park was restored and is now considered to be the most beautiful park in all of Los Angeles. The first half of the story has been prepared to teach students how to read sentences written in English and the second half is mainly presented in question and answer format.

First, I had the students collect information the volunteer activities that junior high school students in foreign countries participate in as well as volunteer activities in Japan by reading home pages. It was my hope that they would then be able to think of their own volunteer activities and express their ideas about volunteer work to people in other countries.

• Students become interested in volunteer activities by searching home pages in other countries and then making their own home page to introduce their work.
• Students learn about comparative expressions (the superlative, comparative, and equative) and use them appropriately when sending information.
• Students make a home page about volunteer activities in Japan and actively write e-mail using the “E-mail Expressions Guide.”
• Students learn to read English e-mail about volunteer activities overseas.
• Students compare the differences between volunteer work abroad and their own.

We constructed a unit that consisted of three stages: learn about what kind of information people are interested in concerning our volunteer activities (collecting information); practice writing English and think about what kind of expressions students need to learn (learning expressions); and make a home page (sending information.)

• UNIX Work Station for WWW server 1 unit
• Computer for teachers (NEC 9821V10) 4 units
• Computer for students (NEC 9821Cu13, NEC 9821V10) 29 units

• Digital camera Epson CP-200
• Scanner Epson GT5000 WINS

• Computers are connected to a LAN and the Internet using a private line (28800 bps) to Fukuoka University of Education.
• Computers connected to the Internet:
  Four computers for teachers: 2 computers in the computer room and 2 computers in the teacher’s room
  Eight computers for students: 8 computers in the computer room.

• Microsoft Word, Netscape Navigator, Paintshop Pro

Students can understand comments about their home pages written in English sent via e-mail and send thank you e-mail.

Student’s impressions

I didn’t know how important volunteer work was until I made a home page about beach cleaning. Although it was difficult to write English sentences and then type them in, I get excited when I think that people from various countries will send their opinions to our home page.

Our project broadened students’ way of thinking about volunteer activities and made them think about their own activities from a more global viewpoint. It’s important that students have their own thoughts and ideas about global problems when they compare their activities with those of students from overseas.

The home page of Ponahou High School (our e-mail tie-up school) was very useful. This home page is in both Japanese and English, so students were able collect information easily. When leaning expressions, collecting more information about the subject matter from e-mail sent from overseas and finding useful expressions in them are very important. When making a home page, we can reduce the time it takes by pasting images in advance and inputting only letters. We used Microsoft’s Word to make a home page this time, so we explained only the basics about HTML language and advised students to only save the file in HTML style. If you send e-mail and introduce your home page to a bulletin board such as E-mail Classroom Exchange (http://www.iglou.com/xchange/ece/index.html), you will get a lot of e-mail from overseas. We received 192 responses by the end of December.

References and quotations

URL we used

Using the Internet in a Mathematics Class

? Through the MATH-CUT STUDIUM project ?

Mathematics class for seventh, eighth, and ninth graders
Koichi Kawakami, Kazuyasu Otsuki, and Keiichi Hirano,
Junior High School Attached to school of education, Okayama University

Purpose of using the Internet

Our school participated in the 100-School Networking Project and started accessing the Internet in 1995. We started an experiment to use the Internet in mathematics classes in September 1995. We also made a home page called MATH-CUT STUDIUM and, starting in October ’95, researched how the Internet can be used in mathematics classes. On this home page, most of the information is based on the contents found in the “Challenge Page” and “For Math Teachers.”

In this project, teachers and students from junior high schools all over Japan and scholars of mathematics and mathematics education actively communicated with each other, clarifying the importance of interactive communication. Our students can now collaborate with students from all over the world to solve problems, and have improved their ability to express their thoughts logically.

Science and mathematics are not so popular among students these days. According to a survey done by IEA, Japanese students are good at math, yet they don’t really enjoy it or think it’s useful. This has been discussed a lot in the media recently.

To deal with this problem, we have to cultivate students’ attitudes to use mathematics positively and increase their interest in it. Mathematics lessons tend to focus on teaching calculation skills and logical knowledge, but these skills aren’t really a part of students’ everyday lives. We should create situations where students can use mathematics practically, enabling them to mathematically express the nature of things and express their thoughts more logically.

The Internet networks computers all over the world almost instantaneously. Because various people share and send the results of their research to others, the Internet can be a pillar of information education. In the near future, students will be able to share and send information instead of just receiving it.

Our school participated in the 100-School Networking Project and started accessing the Internet in 1995. We started an experiment to use the Internet in mathematics classes in September 1995. We also made a home page called MATH-CUT STUDIUM and, starting in October ’95, researched how the Internet can be used in mathematics classes.

On this home page, most of the information is based on the contents found in the “Challenge Page” and “For Math Teachers.” (Fig. 1)

In this project, teachers and students from junior high schools all over Japan and scholars of mathematics and mathematics education actively communicated with each other, emphasizing the importance of interactive communication. Our students can now collaborate with students from all over the world to solve problems. They have also improved their ability to express their thoughts logically.

Our objectives for this research are as follows:

For our students:

• Students become more interested in mathematics and learn about the benefits of having diversified viewpoints by sharing problems with many people and collaborating with them to solve a problem.
• Students learn to express their thoughts logically and clearly using mathematics.

For mathematics education:

• Jointly teach mathematics lessons by communicating in various ways while taking advantage of Internet features.
• Create a network for mathematics education by involving scholars, teachers, and students.

In today’s classrooms, we need to find better ways to motivate students and interest them in mathematics. We need to transcend the old-style teaching methods where teachers lecture and students passively listen. Every two months, we put problems on the Challenge Page and gave the same problems to our students as an optional exercise. In principle, students’ answers should be handed in without a lot of prodding from teachers. Problems should have the following features: they should allow us to think in diverse ways, be solvable according to the student’s current level, and be developed using the advice of researchers from different fields and from people interested in mathematics. Needless to say, we emphasize making the problems interesting and fun to solve. We make and solve problems in the class of optional mathematics during the ninth grade. We placed the first problem on our home page in November ’95, and we are currently posting the twelfth one as of January ’98.

For example, the eighth problem (fig. 2) was sent by a thirty-eight year old company employee who is a graduate of our school. We published this problem on the Challenge Page and let students who are interested work on it in the optional mathematics class. Students worked on it at their own pace and came up with a solution as shown in fig. 3. A student who lives in Gifu Prefecture also worked on it and sent us his solution by e-mail. This project created opportunities for students to communicate with various people.

Many people not involved with our school also work on the problems that our students work on. We received feedback about the first problem from various people, including students from other junior high schools and a postgraduate student who majored in information technology. One answer was researched completely using the software Mathematica. Our students compared the answers with their own and developed them further.

Collaboration between teachers is required to improve mathematics education. If we can develop teaching materials and learn about teaching methods using the Internet, it would enable us to communicate with each other more efficiently, saving time and effort. The biggest advantage of the Internet is that it allows people to communicate interactively, enabling us to compare each other’s exercises and comment about them immediately. We have 27 lesson examples as of January 1998.

The-mailing list NEKOPAPAKIDS opened up in April 1997. Junior high school students from all over Japan send problems and solutions to this home page mainly during their optional mathematics class. In August 1997, students sent problems to be used as NEKOPAPAKIDS’ summer homework for a wider range of students besides those who participate in optional mathematics classes. In our school, we printed out the problems and handed them out to every ninth-grade student as a voluntary exercise. Students enjoyed the fact that students from all over Japan worked on the same problems and had plenty of time to work on them. As a result, many students stated that they were able to improve their ability to think mathematically by working on the problems.

We selected the problem shown in fig. 4 from the summer homework and used it in a lesson for seventh graders at the end of the first school term to summarize positive and negative numbers and improve the use of a calculator. Many students sent solutions, an example of which is shown in fig. 5.

Ninth graders at our school go to Kyushu for a school trip and stay in Aso. While researching about the trip, they started to correspond with the students from Choyo Junior High School, Aso, and soon were communicating during lessons as well. In some of our mathematics classes we studied the folds of an origami crane using a drawing tool and tried to make a crane using various shapes of origami paper besides a square. Eighth graders at Choyo Junior High School did the same thing in a lesson about shapes, and we did the same in our optional mathematics lesson for ninth graders. Teachers and students worked on this common theme and attempted to solve the problem and share the results through inter-school communication. Teachers taught this lesson with their own objectives in mind and published the project on a home page of the school, as shown in fig. 6. Students exchanged their opinions about the lesson and the cranes that they made. The exchange of real objects supplemented the virtual communication we experienced via the Internet.

A graphing device allows us to measure various things with sensors, record the data, and analyze it mathematically. For example, in the lesson about quadratic equations, we drop a ball on the floor and measure how far it bounces back with a sensor while a device makes a graph of the data. We received e-mail from Professor Bartwaites of Ohio University, the inventor of the device, and as a result, decided to teach the above lesson. After we published our intention to conduct the lesson on a mailing list, a university professor in Ishikawa Prefecture sent us another interesting problem.

As shown in this example, study activities that used to be done only in a classroom can now be shared with scholars of mathematics and mathematics education, students, specialists of other fields, and the general public.

Carrying out a project like this on a network allows us to develop various ways to study that are free from the limits of a school or a classroom. Various networks have been organized and numerous study exercises have been accumulated. Teachers have organized these networks and the information available on them can now be transmitted to students through lessons. When students are confident about their finished work or an idea, they ask us to publish it on the Internet.

Many schools have optional mathematics classes. Using the Internet to collect and send information in addition to students’ voluntary studies allows for more freedom beyond the confined limits of the classroom. NEKOPAPAKIDS is a mailing list that supports this type of study.

Mathedu is a mailing list about mathematics education in general.

By actively using these-mailing lists a network about mathematics lessons can be established.

URL we used

Environmental Education Using the Internet

Optional science class for ninth graders
Yuriko Sakuma and Kazuhito Orita, Daiyon Junior High School in Maebashi city

Purpose of using the Internet

When dealing with a large theme such as the environment, the Internet is a very useful tool for collecting and sending information and communicating with other people. We used the Internet with the assistance of industrial arts teachers. We taught students how to use a computer in the industrial arts class while teaching them how to collect information, make observations, conduct experiments, and summarize results in the optional science class. We also needed the assistance of English teachers to help send e-mail overseas. All the teachers discussed the lesson plan and carried it out professionally.

In the optional science class, we can develop study activities that match the students’ personalities. We can choose themes that suit the students’ diversified interests, think about appropriate ways to study, and conduct interesting experiments and long-term research activities. We established a study course that covers mainly environmental problems, taking advantage of these benefits.

More and more people in Japan and other countries are becoming concerned with environmental problems. If we continue to consume things at our current rate, we will exhaust our resources and environmental pollution will reach serious levels. The whole earth will be destroyed and as a result, the human race may perish. Therefore, every one of us needs to be more aware of environmental issues in order to protect the earth. The report of the Central Council for Education pointed out the importance of environmental education to increase awareness of the issue. Environmental problems are widespread, ranging from issues such as garbage disposal to more global scale issues such as the destruction of the ozone layer. We have to acquire the latest technical data in order to teach about these problems.

From this viewpoint, we decided to use the Internet to collect information so students become more motivated, learn more about what is actually going on in the world, and think what they can do to help. In addition to data acquired by visiting a meteorological observatory, a university, and the city office, as well as asking for advice from specialists and conducting experiments, students can acquire more information from a wider range of sources by using the Internet. A benefit of the Internet is that students can exchange e-mail and hear various opinions of people who live in Japan, other advanced nations, and third world countries. This helps students realize that all people need to think about ways to protect the earth’s environment.

We taught this course to introduce practical science based on the above mentioned issues. A process in which students become interested with their natural environment, look at the reality of things, collect and analyze information using their own research methods, and think about what they can do to protect the environment helps to cultivate their skills to solve problems.

Themes of each group (every group made a home page)

Students were separated into eight groups according to their interests. The themes of each group were as follows:

Cultivate students’ skills and attitudes so they can do research in a variety of ways and think scientifically. Improve their ability to express themselves through the process of establishing a theme based on their own interests, doing research independently, summarizing results, and giving presentations.

• Computers (server)
• WWW server: PC/AT compatible (FreeBSD + Apache)
• PROXY server: PC/AT compatible (FreeBSD + Squid)
• MAIL/DNS server: NEC PC-9821Xn (PANIX + sendmail)
• File and printer server: Fujitsu FMS-2500 (Windows NT Server)
• Live camera server: AXIS Neteye 200, Macintosh Iici + QCAM
• Computers (20 client machines for the students installed in the computer room)
• Fujitsu FM/V-575 (RAM: 16 MB, HDD: 850 MB)

• Students express what they learned intelligibly.
• Students continue their research using the Internet.

Report on currently available study and preparatory materials for making home pages and sending e-mail.

We carefully thought out how to conduct our lessons when conducting theme studies using the Internet. We especially took care about the following:

<Notes on conducting theme studies in groups>

<Notes for making a home page>

• To improve the contents of the home page, plan it thoroughly before writing and making images. Don’t simply worry about its appearance.
• Teach students about copyright issues in advance. Tell them that reproducing other people’s data without their permission or using pictures from a book for image data are infringements of copyright law.
• Tell students to not publish personal information on their home pages, such as their home address.
• Make sure students realize that making a home page is not the end goal but a means to send information to other people.

<Notes for communicating with students from other schools and people not directly involved with the school>

• Teach rules and manners regarding e-mail.
• Tell students to not only ask questions or write their own opinions but also attempt to really communicate with people.
• Keep in close contact with teachers from partner schools to guarantee that students have an ongoing relationship.

• Was the Internet fully utilized in environmental education?
• Did using the Internet encourage students to students work on the themes actively and independently?

Although it was our first time to conduct a lesson where students chose their own themes and worked on them using the Internet throughout the year, the students diligently worked on the project through its entirety. For example, during the research stage, students enthusiastically went out and collected information in the community and visited various places during their days off. They also used digital cameras and willingly surveyed other students.

Computers and the Internet have become individual tools for obtaining and providing information. Using them in the existing curriculum, where all the students learn together and then are evaluated, is not very meaningful. Computers and the Internet can be very effective tools when used as part of a problem-solving class. To utilize them effectively, we should prepare lessons where students can attain the necessary skills to solve problems by using the Internet, instead of just simply trying to use computers and the Internet in the lesson.

The Internet creates opportunities for collaboration with other schools and to get the advice of specialists. I hope more schools will be connected to the Internet and conduct various joint projects in the future.

URL we used

Virtual Shodo (Japanese Calligraphy) Lesson

? A collaborative project based on traditional Japanese culture ?

Optional industrial arts and home economics class for ninth graders
Hironao Nakamura, Chofu Junior High School

Purpose of using the Internet

We created this project to offer students an opportunity to experience international collaboration. People felt that conducting this kind of project at schools would be very difficult, yet the Internet enabled us to carry it out successfully.

“Using information” is a unit of basic computing in industrial arts, and home economics classes. According to teaching guidelines, the purpose of this unit is for students to learn how to utilize information using software programs.

We wanted to teach our students how to use a computer as a communications tool based on the knowledge that students already acquired. We also wanted students to realize that people lie behind all the information they receive. We hoped students could become more responsible in regards to how they deal with the information they have access to. Therefore, we planned a lesson where students could realize the necessity of collaboration by exchanging information with other people.

A virtual shodo lesson can be very meaningful if each student learns the necessity and difficulties of international collaboration as a result of the project, and this project has become a good starting point for students to learn about the collaborative process. We believe this project bore some fruit by the uniting of two classrooms from different countries and having them work together on a common theme. We hope that the students who participated in this project will meet again in the future, renew old friendships, and improve international relations in the real world.

We used computers during the following stages.

Students experience the exchange of information on shodo (Japanese calligraphy) by writing traditional Japanese cursive characters referred to as hiragana. Hiragana was invented by female writers during the Heian period (794?1185). In the process, students introduce traditional Japanese culture to students in foreign countries and learn how to communicate with people via computers.

This project was very meaningful because we were able to teach about an aspect of Japanese culture to people in a different part of the world. Although it was only an exchange of student-level work, it was very significant for me. This project created a chance for students in both countries to learn the other’s culture.

We were very impressed by the Brazilian student’s work. I also think that a good rapport between both sides was established by the advice as well as the encouragement given by our students.

Through this collaborative experience, we discovered the joys of mutual study and of finding new ways to express ourselves. I noticed our students had a very positive attitude to learn, something I have not seen in our regular classes. I also realized that students have many unique ideas that adults are not likely to think about.

Our students had the following impressions about the class:

“I wrote a copybook of shodo because I wanted foreign people to know about Japanese calligraphy. Although it is very Japanese, I hope that foreign people will also be interested and continue to learn about it. I was so happy to communicate with people from a foreign country during this project.” “I wrote a copybook and corrected foreign student’s work. To be honest, I was very impressed with the high quality of their work. I think their attitude to write wholeheartedly transcended their skill. We really want to spread Japanese culture throughout the world. We also have a lot to learn from other countries.”

Impressions of Brazilian students are as follows:

To smoothly carry out this sort of project with schools from overseas, communication between teachers and scheduling are very important. We also have to inform students about the purpose and methods of the project. I feel that it’s more important to support students by emphasizing the content of the information they send and the quality of their collaborative efforts, rather than emphasizing how to use a computer and software.

URL we used

Let’s Grow Tomatoes Together Using the Internet!

Plant cultivation and basic computing in industrial arts
and home economics classes for ninth graders
Shunji Kin, Daini Junior High School

Purpose of using the Internet

Cultivating plants takes a long time, so it’s difficult to keep the students interested until the fruit is harvested. Our school is in Yamagata Prefecture, so we decided to cultivate tomatoes with a school from Nagano Prefecture and a school from Toyama Prefecture so our students could compare growing conditions and exchange information using home pages. We created a unit by combining two lessons, cultivation and basic computing, and also did research about agriculture in the community. We then published what we learned on the Internet.

Plant cultivation, which is taught as part of industrial arts and home economics classes, is meaningful because students can learn about Japanese production technologies that have been developed as a result of Japan’s long agricultural history and can cultivate their aesthetic sensitivity.

Students normally cultivate plants or flowers according to each area’s geographical conditions and their interests. In our project, we decided to cultivate cherry tomatoes with two other schools. Students observed the tomatoes’ progress by exchanging data and comparing the geographic features and climate conditions of each area using home pages on the Internet. This project covered both basic computing and the cultivation of plants. We thought we could create an opportunity for students to use what they learn about computers in basic computing class with a clear purpose in mind.

We also did research on specially grown products of the region so students could learn about cultivation from the viewpoint of farmers.

This lesson combines plant cultivation and basic computing. Items with an asterisk (*) are for basic computing.

Our school’s computing equipment is not that great. Windows 3.1 barely works on the computer and only one computer for teachers is connected to the Internet with a 14400 bps line. Moreover, none of the 207 students had access to the Internet at home either. However, we somehow were able to teach the students about the Internet and how to search and collect information. Students were able to make home pages as well.

Students maintained their interest about cultivating tomatoes because they constantly heard what students from other schools were doing via the Internet. They often talked about the progress saying things like, “Tomatoes in Toyama may be harvested earlier than the ones in Yamagata because rice is harvested there earlier as well.” “It’s about time for other schools to renew their home pages. Let’s take a look.” “Maybe we planted our plants a little too late.” Students also worked on making a home pages more enthusiastically than they would have in the basic computing class because they could constantly update information on the cultivation process.

Because of the limited capacity of the computers’ hard disks, students were unable to use the Internet freely. They only searched the home pages that we picked for them and saved them on their hard disks. It’s regrettable that they couldn’t experience searching information from the enormous data available on the Internet.

There are various mailing lists (MLs) these days and people can exchange information about a particular field using e-mail. Our project started by exchanging e-mail too. I believe that the Internet will be used more to communicate with other schools instead of for simply collecting information. By using the Internet to communicate with each other, we can develop students’ abilities to collect, understand, express, and transmit information. Lessons where information is exchanged with other schools using the Internet will be more and more common in the near future. For example, during the robot sumo festival, if students could exchange information to improve the robots or share ideas with students from various schools, their horizons would be broadened.

References

URL we used