Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
20.5.2.3
Disaster Prevention, Education, and Geographical ESD Lessons
A review of events immediately following the Great East Japan Disaster presents
many lessons regarding disasters and their processes that can foster student knowl-
edge and skills for surviving similar events in the future. In 2005, the United Nations
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD) had already stated
that disaster prevention education was one of the ESD themes, making it clear that
disaster prevention education is an important fi eld in ESD.
Recently, geography lessons are increasingly concerned with ideal methods to
restore devastated areas or ways to rebuild Japanese society resistant to disasters. These
lessons are frequently discussed in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
ESD has recently been in demand in Japanese school education. It borrows from
the theory and practice of geography, making geography a central and contributing
subject. Productive examples of this synergy include the development of a book
called
Jizoku kanou
-
na syakai to chiri kyouiku jissen
(Sustainable Society and
Geography Education Practices) (Nakayama et al.
2011
). It consists of ESD expla-
nations, theoretical discussions about relationships between ESD and geography
education, and proposals of Geography-ESD lesson plans from kindergarten
through university. This publication is also considered a compilation of Japanese
Geography-ESD research and practical achievements from the recent past to 2010;
however, there are no lessons dealing with disasters.
One year after the disaster, the same editors published a guidebook for Geography-
ESD lesson-making (Nakayama et al.
2012
) that includes 15 recommended Geography-
ESD lesson plans. Three of these are on disaster prevention, spanning kindergarten
through university. For example, a lesson plan titled
Tunami
-
de shinsui shinakatta
rekishi
-
kaido
(The Ancient Road Where Tsunami Never Reaches) considers tsunami
damage in the Sendai plain from the 2011 disaster. If an ancient road map is overlaid
on the inundated area map, it clearly shows that tsunamis never reach the ancient road.
This suggests that ancient people applied their knowledge about the geographical
environment and its associated hazards and risks to construct the road where it was safe
from tsunamis. The plan proposes a Geography-ESD lesson in the hope that this
discovery will inspire students to learn to apply disaster prevention practices.
More recently, in August 2012, a geography teacher group published a practical
book on Geography and Social Studies related ESD lessons that reference the 2011
disaster. This publication is forward looking and attaches much importance to social
participation. In particular, in a practice called
Nihon
-
no enerugii
-
mondai
-
wo kan-
gaeru
(Thinking about the Energy Issue in Japan) (Izumi et al.
2012
, pp. 41-49), stu-
dents refl ect on Japanese energy policy through mock national voting about nuclear
power issues and then they evaluate the results. In the days before the 2011 disaster,
few teachers would take up issues about nuclear disasters in Japan. However, there are
real risks associated with nuclear power plants because they are located in tectonic
zones like Japan, posing serious global issues (Crowley and Elliott
2012
). Therefore,
it is important to include the younger generation, who will one day be decision makers
in the discussion of energy policy. The aforementioned lesson practice encourages
geographically informed citizens to participate in creating a sustainable society,
through discussion of key controversial issues.
