2024.07.25

Inquiry-based learning for high school students: ‘Presentation Forum for High School Students’

The initiative was organised by the faculty members of the SDGs Promotion Office of the Faculty of Environment and Human Science, The Committee of Public Information and the Junior High School-High School University Collaboration Committee. The plan began at the start of 2023, and through discussions with neighbouring high school teachers, the recruitment process began in autumn.

In high school education, inquiry-based learning has been a focus, its method includes setting topics, collecting data, analysing, and summarising information. As this is an important process that associates academic research at the university, the faculty organised a ‘Presentation Forum for High School Students’ to encourage inquiry-based learning.

The event invited neighbouring high school students to the campus, providing opportunities to present their accomplishments and feedback from the faculty’s teachers and students.

We invited 4 neighbouring high schools, resulting in 15 applications (7 groups and 8 individuals) from four schools: the University of Hyogo Senior High School, prefectural Himeji Nishi High School, Tatsuno Senior High School and Himeji High School.

The reasons for participation varied, some wanted to know how their research would be evaluated at the university level or to refine their content for the future.

Before the presentation, a reviewing session was held for groups and individuals each gave a 15-minute presentation on the content and progress of their exploration, after which teachers advised them on important points and areas for improvement in their research through a one-hour discussion.

 

On January 28th, the presentation was held, at the opening ceremony Professor Ayako Takahashi the faculty’s SDGs Promotion Office gave an opening speech and explained the purpose of the event.

The presentations were then divided into two groups, with one group presenting themes that were relatively liberal arts-oriented, such as language, learning and community, and the other presenting more science-oriented topics, such as environment and biology.

Associate Professor Yukinori Kimoto, who specialises in linguistics, gave a short lecture on phonetic symbols (diacritics): ‘The world of English through phonetic symbols. Useful tool for exams!’  Phonetic symbols are similar to musical notes and essential in language learning, yet it is often overlooked. Learning phonetic symbols helps not only understanding vocabulary but also verbal understanding and helps to make the learning process more coherent. After these explanations, the students learnt seven consonants and nine vowels by actually pronouncing it.

Professor Kazunori Nakajima commented, “All the presentations were excellent. I was particularly impressed by the high school students actively questioning and commenting on other presentations. In addition, many university students advised on how to further develop the research using their field of knowledge. How young people of the same generation stimulated each other was very encouraging”.

Dean Miki Yoshimura commented, ” I was impressed by the ingenuity in the research methods, many of which were unique and challenging. I was also fascinated with the way they tried to find new challenges through discussions. I hope this experience will connect to their future development.”

The faculty has been implementing initiatives that promote high school learning through tie-ups with multiple high schools. We intend to continue to actively engage in high school-university cooperation that contributes to the learning and growth of high school students in a various way.

 

See further detail “Presentation Forum for High School Students“(Japanese)