京都府立鳥羽高等学校

The second year Global Course students (Class 2-7,8) had Innovation Studies II on June 22 (Sa). They went over their research scheme and planning with the knowledge they gained through the workshop by Osaka University on June 8, checking whether their researches meet the three requirements that a good research project must have: ①it has to have a clear aim, ②it has to be based on logical analysis, and ③it　has to be based on targeted research. 　There is no royal road to good research, and the students are sometimes feeling at a loss what they should do about their research, but they are learning something new every time they encounter a difficulty. The are going to do their fieldworks based on their research planning they are now working on.

During the Annual Toba Global Summit, "Machizukuri Summit" is going to be held on July 13 (Sa) as one of the cross-cultural exchange programs, which aims at thinking of the question: "what can we do for better renovation of local community with increasing number of people from overseas trying to settle in Kyoto." This event is based on one of the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), which is Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, which states that "there needs to be a future in which cities provide opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more." 12 students took part in the prior learning session on June 22 (Sa), in which they tried to set their basic theme of their discussion in the event so that they will be able to reach optimal solutions to their research questions with the assistance of foreign university students during the Machizukuri Summit.

The third year Global Course students had Innovation Studies III on June 26 (W). They were informed of the list of the teaching assistants who are going to participate in the event, the way their activities are going to be evaluated, and the overall procedures of preparation and cleanup of the rooms. After that, they were divided into their research teams, finalizing their drafts and rehearsing their mini presentations. We hope that they will have been well prepared, and will be able to give their best performance.

Last Saturday (6/22) ten Toba High School students had a talk session with foreign students studying at Universities in Kansai area at Kyoto Ryugakusei House, dormitory for foreign students located in central Kyoto. Toba students prepared mini presentations showing hidden attractiveness of Kyoto, while foreign students gave us new insight into their home countries. Toba students also learned how foreign students have been striving to make their dreams realized through their studies, which gave Toba students a valuable opportunity to reflect what they have done in their lives.

The first year Global Course students had a workshop and lecture, organized by Mr. Hidenori SUGIOKA, an associate professor at the Faculty of Regional Management of the University of Fukuchiyama, on June 22 (Sa). The workshop was titled, "Introduction to Fieldwork," in which the students were able to learn fundamental knowledge and skills needed to conduct a fieldwork effectively through several examples provided in the case study discussion. Later in the workshop, Mr. Honda, the teaching assistant, gave us a small talk about his experiences about fieldworks he had had though his researches. All the students seemed to have a great interest in their fieldwork they are going to conduct during the summer break.

The third year Global Course students had Innovation Studies III on June 19, in which they worked on the preparation for the Mini Presentation they are going to give at the beginning of the group discussion at the Annual Toba Global Summit, which is to be held from July 10(W) to 12(F). On that day, after giving Mini Presentation, they are to have a discussion in order to make effective proposals for resolutions of the issues they have worked on for the past two years.

All the students were very enthusiastic about finding best expressions for their presentations; hopefully, it would be a wonderful opportunity for them to deepen their insight with a valuable assistance of teaching assistants with different cultural backgrounds, so that they will be able to obtain broader perspectives on the issues at hand.

On June 14, we had an international exchange program with 2 graduate students from the University of California Berkeley in the U.S., which Toba students visited last year during the Global Seminar.

In the class "Global CommunicationⅠ", first year Global Course students (Class 1-7 and 1-8) listened to the presentation about their archaeological research. One of the graduates is doing a research on the Kofun period and water in Japan, and the students were so interested in it that they asked a lot of questions about the research in English.

After that, the second year students who participated in the Global Seminar last year gave a school tour. The students tried hard to explain our school in English, and the two graduate students were very impressed to see our club activities and the facilities in our school.

Through this exchange program, students could learn about how foreign people view Japanese history and traditions, and it was a good chance to interact with top level university students.

The third year Global Course students (3-7 and 8) had Global Studies III on June 12 (Th), in which they continued to edit their English research paper drafts. In the beginning of the session, detailed information on fixed schedule until the Annual Toba Global Summit 2019 was shown to the students. They were also informed of what they are required to do during the Summit. After that they started working on their drafts. Those teams who finished finalizing the draft got an English assignment, and returned to their own homeroom, and tried hard to get it done.

　　　The second year Global Course students participated in a workshop organized by the University of Osaka, titled "What Is Good Research?" on June 8 (Sa). In the workshop Mr. Shindo, the lecturer and facilitator of the workshop, who is a professor at the University of Osaka, showed us what a good research presentation requires to have; which are (1)to have a clear theme of the research, (2)to have thoughts composed by logically constructed analysis, and (3)to be based on targeted research. Then, all the research project teams checked whether or not their research projects met the three requirements mentioned above.
　　　Mr. Kakizawa, the other lecturer and facilitator of the workshop, who is a specially appointed associate professor at the University of Osaka, also pointed out that while advancing their research projects, they need to be always aware of the key perspectives: analysis and synthesis, which will undoubtedly make their arguments more persuasive. All the second year Global Course students are going to take part in a special workshop on academic writing, which will be held at the University of Osaka this August, by which they have to flesh out the details of their research planning.

The third year Global Course students (3-7 and 8) had Innovation Studies Ⅲ on June 5 (W). They got the feedbacks from Mr. Mieuli, one of the teachers in charge, and all the research teams started editing their second drafts following his instructions about the format they have to follow, typographical errors, inappropriate expressions, and so on. All the processes will have to be finished up in the next session next week, and they are required to start preparing for the presentations and discussions they are going to have with foreign university students in the Annual Toba Global Summit in July after the term examinations.

Innovation Studies III for the third year Global Course was held on May 29 (W). They continued to type the draft of the research reports into the computer, having a hard time with graphs, charts and mathmatical figures of the statistics they use in the arguments of their papers. Many of the team finished up the task and are waiting for their papers to be checked by the teachers in charge. Just sprint to the finishing line!

The first year Global Course students attended a workshop, called "Cultural PropertyーCreation of Value," organized by the Museum of Kyoto on May 25 (Sa), in which Mr Murano Masakage and Mr. Nishiyama Tsuyoshi, its curators gave us lecures and group works. The students were provided with a valuable opportunity to realize how important it is to appreciate dedication of those involved and to show respect or consideration for them, when we utilize those properties, and create cultural values from them.

The second year Global Course students had Innovation Studies II on May 25 (Sa). With the knowledge and skills obtained through the workshop they had participated in on May 11, they started to make the research planning of their projects, where each group had discussion as to what they were going to do research about. In the next session, they are going to join in another workshop designed by University of Osaka, which is to aim at effecive ways of writing a critical essay.

The third year Global Course had Innovation Studies III on Wednesday. More and More research project teams are finishing up their drafts, and started typing them on the computer. It seemed that CAI lab. was packed with students with powerful excitement and vitality.

Innovation Studies II for the second year Global Course ( 2-7 and 8 ) invited a special lecturer, Mr. INUI Akinori, who is a graduate from Toba, and is now an associate professor at Kyoto Koka Women's College. He provided the students with a workshop, titled "Project-Based Learning at Toba High School," in which all the students learned key things to keep in mind about what a research project at high school level should be like; that is, a good research project should include the following three elements: things that they want to learn, things that they can do by themselves, and things that contribute to our society. After that, they were divided into their reseach project teams, so that they thought of what would be good research questions in order to reach the core of their reseaches.

Innovation Studies III for the third year Global Course Students (3-7 and 8) was held on May 8th (W). All the students were divided into their research project teams and rewrote their first drafts for their research papers in English. They are going to have a group discussion with foreign university students, based on what they have done in their research in the Annual Toba Global Summit in this coming July. With valuable assistance of the teachers in charge, they tried to figure out the best way to express what they wanted to say with the technical terms and expressions that they used in their writings.

The first year Global Course students (1-7 and 8 ) participated in a workshop, "What Is Research Project?　What Is Vitalization of Local Community?" in Innovation Studies I held on April 27 (Sa). The lecturer and facilitator Ms. KANKI Kiyoko, professor at Graduate School of Engineering and Faculty of Engineering of Kyoto University, gave the students a valuable opportunity to think of what research project is and what vitalization of local community is through her lecture and the following workshop. In those activities, the students learned what is needed to link research projects they are going to work on throughout the year and vitalization of the local communities. Also, they realized the advantages and accompanying difficulties that high school students are expected to have when they work on this kind of project-based learning. This opportunity gave the students a great insight into the way they develop their ideas into the themes of their research projects.

In Landscapes of Kyoto and the World for 2-7 and 8 on April 20 (Sa), all the students participated in a workshop in which they were required to portray an image that would best describe what Kyoto is, and then to have a group discussion to create a shared image which would best embody their ideas and draw it in a large sheet of A2 poster paper. They put all the pieces of Kyoto images on the wall of the hallway, so that everyone could take a look at them one by one. Some groups drew pictures of local products of Kyoto, while others focused on information about their home towns. Descriptions from a variety of perspectives about the image of Kyoto told them that there are more ways of looking at things than they could think of. This workshop definitely gave them an interesting insight about examining things from a different angle.

The kickoff meeting of Innovation Studies II for the secon year Global Course 2-7 and 8 was held on April 20(Sa). In this course, all the students are required to do comprehensive research on global issues through intercultural understanding and cooperation, based on the experiences and knowledge they acquired through Innovation Studies I, the Wisdom of Kyoto last year. In this session, several third year Global Course students explained as guest speakers what they had done in their research projects last year. Their reports were very interesting and thought-provoking, and were successful in heightening the second year students' awareness to the issues they are going to tackle this year.