In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey on elementary school students in Hiroshima prefecture to clarify the ability acquired through river education. As a result, we found that students could acquire five abilities such as thinking about the river from various points of view and relating themselves to the river. In addition, we analyzed the factor structure of the ability and got suggestions for devising a teaching method. The result showed that there was no relationship between feeling of fear from the river and thinking about the disaster prevention. These findings tell us that it was not enough for students to understand the danger of the river for developing the ability to think about the disaster prevention. It is suggested that the teaching method should be developed so that students can think about rivers from various viewpoints.