JICA Trainee Acceptance Program: Training Course on Improvement of Science Lessons
The AY2014 subject-specific training course "Improvement of Science Lessons for English-Speaking Sub-Saharan African Countries" under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Trainee Acceptance Program was held over September 4–26.
The JICA Program represents one of the efforts by Osaka Kyoiku University to contribute to the international community. This year's course was attended by 16 specialists, teachers, and their managers from national education organizations in nine English-speaking countries in Africa: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, and Zambia.
To allow the participants to see for themselves the current state of beginning and intermediate science education in Japan, instead of sitting for lectures at the university the program entailed observing classes at elementary, junior high, and senior high schools and visiting boards of education and education centers.
At the end of the course, trainees developed class proposals based on their training accomplishments and conducted model classes.
In closing, a representative of the trainees summed up the group's impression of their training and their enthusiasm for the future while expressing their gratitude to OKU and JICA.