Round Table Com Inc. has launched a series of workshops in Iwate Town to consider practical projects in the community on the theme of the SDGs.
The first basic workshop was held on Sunday 16 May at a public facility in Iwate town for the general public, and on Monday 17 May at Numakunai High School for students in High School 1, High School 2 and High School 3 to take part in the same workshop. The teachers were online due to the state of emergency declared in Tokyo.
In the first half of the session, children worked on familiar issues from the picture book Stella, the Seagull and the Plastic: The Umibe Cleaning Party (written by Georgina Stevens, illustrated by Izzy Burton, translated by Nobuko Ito, Iwasaki Shoten 2020).
In the first half of the session, children worked on familiar issues from the picture book Stella, the Seagull and the Plastic: The Umibe Cleaning Party (written by Georgina Stevens, illustrated by Izzy Burton, translated by Nobuko Ito, Iwasaki Shoten 2020).
Local People Participants
In our town, junior high school students participate in river cleaning activities, but they don’t take the initiative.
In our town, we have a river clean-up activity, and junior high school students participate in it, but they don’t take the initiative. “In our town, we have a river clean-up activity.
Do we need to have a “criterion” for action?
Isn’t it possible to take action if there are “benefits” for each person (individual, company, etc.)?
High school students
I was impressed by the courage and energy of Stella, who was 5 years old, to write a letter about her opinion and send it to the chocolate company.
I think it is good to start with the issues close to us, rather than trying to solve them from a distance.
First of all, I myself will try not to use plastic bags, not to buy plastic bottles, not to increase the amount of rubbish, to separate rubbish properly and to recycle.
Use social networking sites and the internet to reach out to people in the community. For those who are not familiar with the internet, such as the elderly, ask shops to help you put up posters to let more people know about the problem.
If you are a volunteer, make sure that your participation is beneficial to others.
In the second half of the session, the participants learned from the current status of SDGs in the world and Japan, as well as examples from companies, and discussed in groups the “dream projects” they would like to try in their own communities, and made presentations at the end of the session.
The following projects have ‘budded’!
Local People Participants
The project aims to solve the problems of the environment, rubbish, rivers and medical care by doing things that are close to home and that children can also do.
Kitakami River Clean Project: River clean-up, delicious fish production, cultivation and energy.
Building a place where people can do various kinds of exercise and sports. Building a place where people can make things with wood, play in the river and drink spring water.
High school students
The “Minna de Manpuku Project” sells damaged vegetables at a low price on the Internet. Record and share the current situation of food loss and leftover food. Osusowake.
Planting trees where there are few trees. To make sculptures that are not just for looking at, but for experiencing.
The “Evolution of AI and Doraemon Project”: Using AI and robots to create secret tools for people to enjoy their lives.
and many more imaginative projects!
We want to grow it into a great project.
Before starting the first workshop, the high school students were asked to fill in a “rubric” sheet to evaluate their own skills of enquiry (first year: planning, originality, second year: analysis, reflection, expression, third year: future creation, initiative). After the final workshop, they will fill in the same sheet to see how much they have improved in each of these skills.
The next workshop will be held on Sunday 20 June for general public and on Monday 21 June for high school students to experience project management using Lego.
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