理科の見方・考え方を働かせた「地震が人間にもたらす恵みと災害」の探究

地震大国の日本で安全・安心して生活するためには，「地震と人間のかかわり」を理解して生涯に渡って意識することが欠かせない。そこで，中学校理科「大地の成り立ちと変化」において「地震と人間のかかわり」を「地震がもたらす恵みと災害」として捉えて探究する教材・指導計画・評価を開発した。「若狭街道（鯖街道）」を題材とした教材を用いた学習により，生徒は自然の恵みや災害が偶発的なものではなく仕組みを伴う必然的なものであること，また恵みと災害が表裏一体の関係であることを科学的に理解することができた。さらに，学習後，生活圏の自然（大地）と自己のかかわりの理解を深めようとする契機になったことが伺えた。

Earthquakes occur frequently in Japan，which have resulted from many active faults．People living in Japan have repeatedly suffered disasters caused by earthquakes．However，earthquakes also bring blessings to them，and many of them are unaware of the blessings．It is necessary to comprehensively consider the relationship between earthquakes and humans to live safely in Japan．Therefore，in this study，teaching materials and learning in junior high school science were developed to exploratorily learn how earthquakes and humans interact from the perspective of the benefits and disasters．Roadways developed along valleys created by active faults were used as the theme of this study．It specifically focused on a road called “Saba Kaido” that connects Wakasa Bay facing the Sea of Japan and Kyoto City inland，and has existed since before there were cars．Seafood caught in the Sea of Japan was transported to Kyoto City along this road，and one of Kyoto's representative food cultures called “Saba Sushi” was created．In addition，post towns were developed along the roadway．However，disasters like the destruction of this town also occurred due to movement of active faults．Students started by learning about “Saba Kaido”，followed by discovering the relationship between the shape of this roadway and the distribution of active faults．Next，based on that relationship，they deduced the mechanism of how this roadway was created and discovered that an earthquake was the cause． Further investigation of the relationship between humans and this roadway led to examining the relationship between active faults and humans while relating them to the features of the topography and the structure of this roadway．Those who learnt，realized that the blessings and disasters that nature brings to humans are inevitable，not accidental．They also understood that these two are inextricably linked，and that human life and society are based on this relationship．Furthermore，they were interested in the familiar topography that they lived in on a daily basis，realized the need to understand its characteristics，and deepened their thoughts on how to protect themselves from earthquake disasters.