Experiments Supported by Tradition and Ingenuity Among Teachers (Keio Futsubu School)

At Keio Futsubu School, we set aside two consecutive hours for experiments every week, and this is done across all grades from the first to the third year. The point we value most is "learning through the real thing."

You can learn theory by reading textbooks or, more recently, by watching videos, but there is no teaching material that surpasses the real thing. I believe this is a philosophy shared by all science teachers at Keio Futsubu School.

What we strive for is to select specific materials for teaching by connecting what teachers have learned in the past with what students will learn in the future, while making the most of each teacher's expertise. We naturally use materials that have been handled in Keio Futsubu School experiments before, but we also actively incorporate new things born from each teacher's specialty. I believe the current form exists as a result of accumulating such upgrades.

I was appointed to Keio Futsubu School in 2020, so this is my sixth year, but my impression now is quite different from when I first arrived. At first, I thought science experiments were typical things done according to the contents of a textbook. So I was surprised to hear that we perform dissections of living creatures (frogs). In the beginning, I was a bit bewildered, but now I try to conduct classes while paying attention to how to perform experiments, including dissections, and how to convey the significance of those experiments to the students.

That's right. For example, in my case, I am currently looking after the second-year students. There are six classes from A to F, and since experiments are not done with everyone together but in divided groups, I end up performing the same experiment 12 times a week. We do about 12 sets of entirely different experiments a year, so the total number of sessions is quite substantial.

First of all, as a premise, it is difficult for me to do all the preparation alone, so I prepare together with a partner teacher. In my first year, I was paired with Mr. Yazawa, and at that time, he taught me various things, from how to assemble experiments and their objectives to how to link them with classes, how to manage students during class, and even how to make handouts.

It's how to communicate with students. I demonstrate how to do the experiment in class and tell them how they should analyze the results, but I found it difficult to figure out how to convey that to students in an easy-to-understand way.

Yes. I started at Keio Futsubu School in 2006, and at that time, I was paired with Mr. Yoshimasa Onuki. Basically, he told me he would leave it to me, but I couldn't do everything right away. When I was struggling, Mr. Onuki said, "I'll take over this field." It was very helpful to be able to work with the sense of security that Mr. Onuki was backing me up.

Since then, whenever a new teacher joins, the style of pairing them with an experienced teacher and learning through practice while being taught various things has continued. Also, because there is an environment where you can immediately ask other teachers questions or get their cooperation if there is something you don't understand, I think new teachers can approach their classes with peace of mind.

The most important thing is to "ensure students conduct experiments properly." For example, in an experiment using a microscope, I make them properly search for what I want them to find or observe the characteristics of a living creature.

Some students cannot handle the equipment well, or they get bored with the experiment itself as time passes. I am constantly told that it is important to talk to those students and "make them clearly see the points they should be looking at in the experiment."

Regarding the preparation for experiments, it needs to be done well before the day of the experiment. At least a week before, you have to be able to reproduce the steps in your head. According to those procedures, you have to order or make the necessary equipment and materials for the number of people.

Of course, there are times when it gets close to the actual day and you realize, "We're missing that!" However, to prevent such situations, it's not "once the experiment is over, it's over," but rather preparing for the next experiment. For example, if there is broken equipment, if you order it at that point, you can use it for the next experiment.

It is also important to keep proper records of the experiments. That way, when you eventually perform the same experiment a few years later, you will know how long it takes to prepare the materials and equipment. Thanks to that, in the last few years, I have been able to prepare based on the contents of the records and improve the procedures to better ones by referring to the steps at that time.

The biggest change in the last five years is that students are now able to use personal tablets. Previously, even for taking records, they only had the option of taking notes or sketching, but thanks to the tablets, they can now take photos and videos. It's a big change that they can now write reports based on the footage and images taken at that time.

Being able to record videos and photos was a big change for us as well, as it made us think about how to maximize the use of such tools in experiments.

On the other hand, because there are tablets, some students think, "I'll just watch the video instead of doing the experiment and write the report." I try to convey to those students the importance of looking at the real thing in front of them rather than a video, and that there are things that can only be felt there. Otherwise, I think there would be no point in doing the experiment.

When we couldn't do experiments as we wanted during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were times in remote classes where we showed experiments in videos. What I noticed then was that with a video, I could show the students exactly what I wanted them to see in the experiment from the best angle and perspective. Since it's easier to understand through a simulated experience than an explanation, I now use videos when explaining experiments.

Tablets can be very useful tools depending on how you use them. For example, in an experiment on somatic cell division, when you have to observe something small that cannot be seen even with a microscope, it is very easy to see if you record it in a video. Also, some first-year students' sketching skills haven't caught up with their expression yet, and in such cases, having an image makes it easier for us to understand what that student was trying to see.

Of course, they must acquire sketching skills, but in terms of helping with observation, having images can be effective for some things.

To be honest, this is something you can only learn through practice. Of course, I sometimes ask veteran teachers for points to look for when grading—so-called grading criteria—but ultimately, I have worked on it while thinking in my own way, "I want to value this point" or "How can I convey the points for consideration to students during class so they notice that point?" However, I do sometimes talk to other teachers when they are doing similar experiments, saying things like, "I tried to make sure the students noticed these points."

Setting my own grading criteria is also something I strive for. However, the difficulty is that students sometimes do things that exceed my expectations, so I wonder what to do then. For example, they might read more materials than I have and include points I didn't know, so I always worry about whether it's okay to grade them based on the criteria I had envisioned.

Also, I try to give detailed guidance on sentence structure. Especially with younger students, many are still immature in this regard, so I make an effort to clearly convey "how to write logical sentences."

Since everyone has different specialties, I think the knowledge they possess is also varied, but I have an image of combining those to create "Keio Futsubu School Science." There are many things I don't know, and I can't count how many times I've said "I didn't know that" during casual conversation. While teaching students, I also learn from other teachers. In a way, you could say we are practicing the Keio University spirit of "learning while teaching, teaching while learning."

When preparing for experiments or classes, I often talk with other teachers, and just hearing that preparation methods vary by teacher and that they take different approaches to the same experiment is a great stimulus. Especially veteran teachers have accumulated various experiences, and some use experimental equipment that I have never used before. In such cases, I sometimes have them show me how to use the equipment and let me take a video of it.

Also, I feel there are many opportunities to provide each other with teaching materials. For example, when creating handouts to be used in an experiment, I often borrow handouts used by the teacher who most recently performed that experiment and get new insights like, "They are taking this kind of approach!" I sometimes use the insights gained there to help create my own teaching materials.

Dissection is, in a sense, a shocking experiment that involves cutting open the body of a living creature. I think there is a lot to be gained from it. I believe that having such an experience during a period of rich sensitivity—receiving the life of a creature and learning the mechanism of its body—has a very significant meaning that goes beyond just a class.

That's why careful preparation is necessary to maximize learning. I worked on frog dissection for the first time after coming to Keio Futsubu School, but thanks to other teachers teaching me in detail about how to perform the dissection, how to apply anesthesia, how to separate meat from bone, and how to make chemicals, I am now able to work on it without anxiety.

When I first performed a frog dissection, a senior teacher invited me to try a preliminary experiment together. Also, if the timing was right, we sometimes conducted the same experiment with two grades combined, so at those times, I was able to learn by watching the behavior and progress of other teachers during class.

As I learned that way, I gradually became more confident. Then, at that timing, new junior teachers would join, and I would be in a position to convey the methods and know-how. Of course, ultimately you have to learn for yourself, but I hope to continue conveying what can be conveyed in the future.