Research
Kids on Campus: Optimal Learning Environments in Japan
By Frans Ørsted Andersen
At Saitama University, a few elementary schools and a growing number special afternoon schools in Japan, a new, exciting concept for ”optimal learning” is being developed. In this article researcher, Frans Ørsted Andersen from the Danish University of Education (www.dpu.dk) calls this concept “kids on campus” – a name Mr. Masao Ishihara, Japanese educational consultant and conductor of these teaching sessions, uses for some of the “optimal learning” activities. Thus the term ”kids on campus” is covering a variety of learning programmes for children of all ages (3 to 13) in different Japanese institutions.
The programmes also have something to offer the university students involved, who get a chance to practice, rehearse, communicate, “turn around” and reflect on their knowledge and coming profession, often in “alternative ways” when confronted with the “undisciplined” questions and solutions offered by children.
At the core of the new concept is a kind of collaborative learning setup where pupils (children participating in these activities) and teachers (mainly university students) both learn and develop. Traditional educational roles change dynamically during the learning process, “flow” periods are frequent and conflicts, boredom or performance pressures seldom. Another achievement of these “optimal learning environments” could be described as “action competence”, a construct that deals with achieving “deep” knowledge going beyond mere reproduction and memorizing, and which has learning perspectives involving creativity, innovation and an expanded understanding of problems (here technical / scientific), their causes, effects and solutions. Obtaining “action competence” can also be linked to “flow”-processes.
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