For Children for Whom School is Not Enough. NIJIN Academy's 'PJ Juku' Launches Using a 'Town Like a Garden' as a Learning Material ~Koshigaya Laketown Edition~
NIJIN Academy, an alternative school run by NIJIN Inc., has launched 'PJ Juku', a project-based learning program. The first installment takes place at Koshigaya Laketown, where students explore the local town's mechanisms and share their findings, providing real-world learning outside the classroom.
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【Summary】
The alternative school NIJIN Academy Koshigaya Campus has started 'PJ Juku,' an inquiry-based learning program that connects with society using the town as a teaching material. The first installment is held at Koshigaya Laketown, where children explore and communicate the mechanisms of the familiar town.
Providing children with "real learning" that cannot be obtained at school alone.
The alternative school "NIJIN Academy Koshigaya Campus" has started "PJ Juku," a project-based learning program that turns the town itself into a place of learning.
The first installment will take place in Koshigaya Laketown, Koshigaya City, Saitama Prefecture.
Koshigaya Laketown is such a familiar presence to the children that some even say, "This place is like my own garden."
In this program, we decode such everyday places from perspectives like "Why do people gather here?" and "How is the town designed?" and transform them into learning.
■ What is PJ Juku?
NIJIN Academy (operated by NIJIN Inc.), which develops alternative schools, has revamped its previously offered "NIJIN Academy After School" and newly launched it as "NIJIN Academy Project Juku (commonly known as PJ Juku)," an inquiry-based learning program that children can participate in after school and on holidays.
PJ Juku is an "inquiry project school connected to society" that children attending full-time schools can also join.
Children gather at online and physical campuses, and in collaboration with companies, local communities, and experts, they challenge practical projects that are difficult to experience in regular schools.
■ Background: From learning seeking the right answer to learning that poses questions
What is required in a rapidly changing society is not just the ability to memorize existing correct answers, but the ability to pose questions independently, collaborate with others, and create value in society.
On the other hand, due to time and institutional constraints within schools, many children are not exposed enough to full-scale project-based learning connected to the real world.
Leveraging NIJIN's unique educational methods, PJ Juku creates a new learning space that utilizes after-school and holiday time to tackle social issues.
■ Practical examples already underway
At a presentation held the other day, children implemented a project with the theme of solving Okinawa's overtourism problem.
They analyzed the balance among the local economy, environment, and tourism from multiple angles and proposed specific solutions.
Beyond desk learning, realistic inquiry activities connected to society have already begun.
■ Reason for using Koshigaya Laketown as a learning material
Koshigaya Laketown is one of Japan's largest shopping malls and, at the same time, a town developed around a regulating reservoir built as a flood countermeasure.
It is a "living textbook" for children, condensing elements of modern society such as the mechanisms that draw people, town design, and the relationship with the environment.
■ Program contents (about 2 hours)
- Introduction: Thinking about "How was this town built?"
- Exploration: Investigating the town in a mission format
(e.g., Finding commonalities in places where people gather / Discovering the characteristics of stores that sell well)
- Experience: Store observation, simple interviews, video production
- Communication: "Conveying the charm of Laketown in 30 seconds"
Rather than a traditional social studies field trip of "just looking," we have designed learning that integrates "thinking, experiencing, and communicating."
■ Features
- Independent learning through a mission-based format
- Fieldwork connected to the real world
- Output-oriented design such as video production
Children will develop the "ability to grasp and express society from their own perspective" rather than "guessing the right answer."
■ Target Audience
This program is targeted at elementary and junior high school students who feel:
"Learning at school is just not enough."
"I want to experience learning closer to the real world."
Regardless of whether they attend school regularly or not.
■ Future Developments
Starting with Koshigaya Laketown, PJ Juku is planned to expand to various areas such as Asakusa, Kasukabe, Soka, and Kawaguchi.
While utilizing the characteristics of each town, we will expand "learning using the town as a material."
■ Comment from the person in charge
"Koshigaya Laketown is a place I have visited many times with the children in our past activities.
We have interacted while having fun in our own ways through activities like pedal kayaking, parkour experiences, shopping, and eating out.
It is such a familiar presence that some children say, 'This place is like my own garden.'
That is exactly why the thought arose, 'It would be a waste to end it with just being fun.'
Even in the same place, if you change your perspective, it turns into learning like 'Why do people gather?' and 'What kind of mechanisms make it work?'
It is precisely the places we casually visit every day that are packed with the mechanisms of society.
The alternative school NIJIN Academy Koshigaya Campus has started 'PJ Juku,' an inquiry-based learning program that connects with society using the town as a teaching material. The first installment is held at Koshigaya Laketown, where children explore and communicate the mechanisms of the familiar town.
Providing children with "real learning" that cannot be obtained at school alone.
The alternative school "NIJIN Academy Koshigaya Campus" has started "PJ Juku," a project-based learning program that turns the town itself into a place of learning.
The first installment will take place in Koshigaya Laketown, Koshigaya City, Saitama Prefecture.
Koshigaya Laketown is such a familiar presence to the children that some even say, "This place is like my own garden."
In this program, we decode such everyday places from perspectives like "Why do people gather here?" and "How is the town designed?" and transform them into learning.
■ What is PJ Juku?
NIJIN Academy (operated by NIJIN Inc.), which develops alternative schools, has revamped its previously offered "NIJIN Academy After School" and newly launched it as "NIJIN Academy Project Juku (commonly known as PJ Juku)," an inquiry-based learning program that children can participate in after school and on holidays.
PJ Juku is an "inquiry project school connected to society" that children attending full-time schools can also join.
Children gather at online and physical campuses, and in collaboration with companies, local communities, and experts, they challenge practical projects that are difficult to experience in regular schools.
■ Background: From learning seeking the right answer to learning that poses questions
What is required in a rapidly changing society is not just the ability to memorize existing correct answers, but the ability to pose questions independently, collaborate with others, and create value in society.
On the other hand, due to time and institutional constraints within schools, many children are not exposed enough to full-scale project-based learning connected to the real world.
Leveraging NIJIN's unique educational methods, PJ Juku creates a new learning space that utilizes after-school and holiday time to tackle social issues.
■ Practical examples already underway
At a presentation held the other day, children implemented a project with the theme of solving Okinawa's overtourism problem.
They analyzed the balance among the local economy, environment, and tourism from multiple angles and proposed specific solutions.
Beyond desk learning, realistic inquiry activities connected to society have already begun.
■ Reason for using Koshigaya Laketown as a learning material
Koshigaya Laketown is one of Japan's largest shopping malls and, at the same time, a town developed around a regulating reservoir built as a flood countermeasure.
It is a "living textbook" for children, condensing elements of modern society such as the mechanisms that draw people, town design, and the relationship with the environment.
■ Program contents (about 2 hours)
- Introduction: Thinking about "How was this town built?"
- Exploration: Investigating the town in a mission format
(e.g., Finding commonalities in places where people gather / Discovering the characteristics of stores that sell well)
- Experience: Store observation, simple interviews, video production
- Communication: "Conveying the charm of Laketown in 30 seconds"
Rather than a traditional social studies field trip of "just looking," we have designed learning that integrates "thinking, experiencing, and communicating."
■ Features
- Independent learning through a mission-based format
- Fieldwork connected to the real world
- Output-oriented design such as video production
Children will develop the "ability to grasp and express society from their own perspective" rather than "guessing the right answer."
■ Target Audience
This program is targeted at elementary and junior high school students who feel:
"Learning at school is just not enough."
"I want to experience learning closer to the real world."
Regardless of whether they attend school regularly or not.
■ Future Developments
Starting with Koshigaya Laketown, PJ Juku is planned to expand to various areas such as Asakusa, Kasukabe, Soka, and Kawaguchi.
While utilizing the characteristics of each town, we will expand "learning using the town as a material."
■ Comment from the person in charge
"Koshigaya Laketown is a place I have visited many times with the children in our past activities.
We have interacted while having fun in our own ways through activities like pedal kayaking, parkour experiences, shopping, and eating out.
It is such a familiar presence that some children say, 'This place is like my own garden.'
That is exactly why the thought arose, 'It would be a waste to end it with just being fun.'
Even in the same place, if you change your perspective, it turns into learning like 'Why do people gather?' and 'What kind of mechanisms make it work?'
It is precisely the places we casually visit every day that are packed with the mechanisms of society.