Multi x Education
Animal x Education program @ Sus juku
Summer program
Creating a villege sceneary with people and nature living close-by
June 2012
For the summer theme of Sus juku's sustainability education program, I have designed a typical scenery of Japanese villege where people are living close with the nature. In this scenery there is a classic old farmer's house and their rice field, a pond and a shinto shrine where the old tree is protected as a simbol of God (kami)'s area.
In the program students learned about the importance of rice field for the diversity of small creatures such as frogs, insects and birds, as well as about the food chain in the rice field ecosystem. They also learned that the rice they are eating everyday is thanks to the blessing of nature.
Creating ecological pyramid
(=The chain of life in the rice field ecosystem)
(=The balance of life in the rice field ecosystem)
After learning about the food chain, students learned about the balance of what is called 'the ecological pyramid'. Students learned that if one particular kind of the animal (frog was used as an example) declines, the whole ecosystem can lose its balance of the number and it can affect the rice production as well.
They have also watched a video about biotope that is providing a place for frogs and other aquatic creatures that are essential for the healthy rice ecosystem.
The program report is available from Sus juku's blog