DAMBO and 5th Graders of Shibuya Ward Uehara Elementary School to Hold Inquiry Learning Project Presentation Event on April 5

DAMBO LLC, together with the 5th graders of the 2025 academic year at Shibuya Ward Uehara Elementary School, has been engaged in a product development project utilizing inquiry-based learning hours for about a year since May 2025. As a result, they have completed the 'Wooper Light', a room lamp with a motif of the endangered axolotl, and will hold a results presentation event on Sunday, April 5, 2026.

In this project, the children experienced a series of learning processes from concept design to product development, sales, and donation.

The axolotl room lamp 'Wooper Light'

## Background

Regarding the "Period for Integrated Studies (Inquiry)", the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology aims to foster the qualities and abilities needed to better solve problems and consider one's own way of life by engaging in cross-disciplinary and comprehensive learning while applying an inquiry-based perspective and way of thinking to respond to a rapidly changing society.

This initiative puts the concept of such inquiry-based learning into practice, extending from product development to social communication, rather than concluding it within the classroom. DAMBO participated in this project in the role of connecting the children's ideas to society while respecting them.

## Project Overview

This project is an inquiry learning project that the 5th graders of Uehara Elementary School have been working on for about a year. About 70 children, the entire 5th-grade class, participated, each taking on a role to shape a single product.

The children considered not only what to make, but why they were making it, who they wanted to deliver it to, and what meaning they wanted it to have, establishing the concept. Based on that, they considered the product and package designs themselves and proceeded with development in a project management format.

In addition, this project established a supervision system by experts, advancing while enhancing both the content of the learning and the precision as a product. The completed product is the 'Wooper Light', a room lamp with a motif of the endangered axolotl.

The cardboard assembly room lamp 'Wooper Light'.

## Characteristics of the Initiative

### 1. A Practical Team-Based Project Undertaken by the Entire Grade

This project was advanced not just by a few children, but by about 70 children from the entire 5th grade, each taking on their respective roles. Demonstrating teamwork, the children tackled the project by dividing the necessary processes to deliver a single product to society.

### 2. Concept Design, Product Design, and Packaging Determined by the Children Themselves

A major characteristic is that it was not merely a crafting experience; the children themselves thought of the concept, determined the direction of the product, and made decisions up to the product design and packaging design. The questions and interests born during inquiry learning