The Present Significance of Media Literacy and its Development : Focusing on the Science Education Development

情報活用能力の今日的意義とその育成 : 理科の教材開発にむけて

Iwasaki Hideki

Nakamura Satoshi

Baba Takuya

日本教科教育学会誌

It is possible to say that the modern society has been developing in order to meet mass production, distribution and consumption of the "objects." It, therefore, goes without saying that the 3 R's (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) have been functioning as minimum essentials to upkeep this society. By the same logic, the society of today is now developing for the same activities but of the "concepts," such as a mass of information. In this sense, the above 3 R's could be interpreted as "input, output and processing" in the system of information processing devices. However, it is obviously impossible for people to cope with the current social change autonomously unless the perspective and significance of the new processes are sought of creatively.

For example, if we do not initiate reform to the present social structure supported by mass production and consumption, it is obvious that we may mislead our spaceship "the Earth." Highly information-oriented society is considerd an essential system to deal with this kind of issue, and this society will be supported by ability to cope with the above information processing with a critical viewpoint, that is, the media literacy. Since both developed and developing countries are on board the same spaceship, the development of the media literacy is a crucial educational issue of today in both kinds of countries.

From the viewpoint of science education, in this paper we mainly took some class activities and then examined their role in developing countries in the development of media literacy from the view of critical literacy. In science education, verification in scientific process was highlighted as a mediator for the confrontation between school knowledge and everyday knowledge. Through the discussion, the process was also examined as an aid to develop the abilities to collect and select information and furthermore to facilitate the transformation of students' worldview.

近代社会はある意味で大量の「モノ」の生産・流通・消費に向けて発展してきたといえる。そうした社会を維持するために, 「読み・書き・算盤」がミニマム-エッセンシャルズとして機能してきたことは言をまたない。この伝でいけば, 現代社会は大量の情報という「コト」の生産・流通・消費に向けて発展しているともいえる。その意味で上記の3R'sは情報処理機器上の「入力・出力・処理」と読み替えていいのかもしれないが, そこに新たな視点と意義を求めなければ, 今日の社会の変化に主体的に対応することなど, とうてい望めないであろう。

例えば大量消費と生産に支えられた社会構造を変更しなければ, 宇宙船「地球号」の進路を誤ることは明白であろう。この問題の解決に必要なシステムが高度情報化社会であり, それを支える能力こそ, 批判的な視座を有する情報の「入力・出力・処理」能力つまり情報活用能力であると考える。いうまでもなくこの宇宙船には先進国も途上国も乗船しており, いずれの場合も情報活用能力の育成は今日の教育課題に他ならない。

本稿では途上国における理科の教育実践を紹介し, それが情報活用能力の育成に果たす役割を批判的識字の視点から検討した。具体的には学校知と日常知の葛藤を挺子に, 情報の収集と選択という側面から考察し, 情報活用能力の育成が世界観の変更に果たす役割を明確にした。

Education [ 370 ]

eng

日本教科教育学会

Copyright (c) 1999 日本教科教育学会

[ISSN] 0288-0334

[NCID] AN00247430