This article describes an innovative teaching approach that can offer the changes needed for school improvement. When entering an Education: Basic and Interactive (EBI) classroom, one will see students focused on accomplishing self-guided tasks and eager to move on to the next challenge in their self-paced learning. The EBI Project described here…

As young children enter formal schooling, they are at various points along their individual developmental paths toward literacy. Generally, their egocentric speech is becoming more social and they are building their capacity for logical thought and concrete problem-solving. This is a gradual development and teachers can support children's literacy…

The project development school idea in Japan started in the late 1970s. Both public and private schools can become project schools. Public schools' districts and private schools' boards develop the project plan and submit the application to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Once approved, the project school…

Throughout the world, young children are introduced to some form of nursery rhymes. In Japan, the first type of rhyme a child encounters is called "warabeuta"--songs created through play. The English translation fails to accurately capture the degree to which "warabeuta" include body movement, touch, and interaction with other…

Many education critics, teachers, and parents have lamented the recent poor achievement scores of Japanese school-age children, and have sought the reasons for the decline. Some critics, including the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, and Science and Technology, blame the practice known as yutori-kyoiku (literally translated as…

Japanese nursery school and kindergarten activities are designed to facilitate the socialization of Japanese children. The culture of the home and the culture of the school (and by extension the rest of Japanese society) are so different from each other that it is believed the open and unselfconscious help of the education system is necessary to…

Presents the autonomous-learner model developed by George Betts and the Renzulli model as possible ways to facilitate creative thinking and personal development in Japanese students, whose culture typically emphasizes memorization. Concludes that developing the mindset to critically question learning will increase students' learning abilities and…

Describes the daily program of a highly successful Japanese preschool based on the Suzuki educational philosophy which emphasizes repetition and structure in teaching. Explores possibility of using program in other educational settings, particularly in the West, because of high cognitive gains by children. (DST)