REPORT #3
NEE ANNUAL MEETINGS: MARCH 2007
Date: March 17 (Sat), 2007
Place: Economics Department, Nihon University, Tokyo
After brief opening remarks by Prof. Soichi Shinohara (Head, NEE) and Prof. Harunobu Onagi (Nihon Univ.), a keynote speech was given by Prof. Shinohara, who emphasized the importance of "messages" in economic education for the purpose of educating pupils to be good citizens in modern society. After the speech, a Q&A session took place regarding how to choose appropriate topics for economic education.
Then, the general meeting was held to approve the budget and activity reports as well as the revised fiscal year cycle (9/1-8/31) and the date for the next annual meetings (9/15/2007).
In the first afternoon session, Mr. Saegusa (Meguro Chuo Middle School) gave an experimental class by using a revised version of “Beef Bowl Shop Simulation” with more factors and flexibility in decision-making.
In the second afternoon session, a panel discussion was held, led by Prof. Kurihara (Shinshu Univ.) as the coordinator, with three panelists, Mr. Kikimaru (Yokohama-ichiritsu Ichiba Middle School), Ms. Masuno (Otsuma Middle-High School) and Mr. Hotate (Tokodaki-fuzoku Kagaku-gijutsu High School), who explained about their approaches and materials to attract pupils’ attention to such economic topics as corporate stocks, income distribution, industry and corporate management, etc. . Then, Prof. Otake (Osaka Univ.), as the commentator, pointed out that some more ideas may be needed to teach pupils about social implications of the topics and episodes that are taken up in class.
Then, a lively discussion followed, and continued at the party in the reception room.
Reference:
For a Japanese summary and some pictures, see:
http://blog.so-net.ne.jp/miyao-blog/archive/20070318