Journal

Marine NPO

2022年3月3日 07時24分

   On January 26th 2022, the “Marine Environment” program was held in association with Matsuyama Minami High School, NPO Ehime Volunteers for Educational Support, and Nagoya University. The event was attended by first and second grade students of our math and science courses. 
   First, Tomoji HATANO, Representative of the NPO, who planned and supported the organization of this program, gave us a talk about the current situation of the program.
Second, Dr. Joji ISHIZUKA, President of “Space and Earth Environment Laboratory” at  Nagoya University, gave a lecture about “Circumstances of the Ocean Environment viewed from Outer space, ~from Global Warming to Malnutrition in the Sea and Micro-plastics~.”  He mentioned what he was able to find by observing, researching, and analyzing the marine environment. Students were able to understand easily thanks to his explanations. Students who do not usually have a chance to consider the sea in detail were able to gain interest in the underwater environment, plankton, along with other relevant topics. During the question-and-answer session, students asked him many questions.
   Afterwards, presentations were given by each of three groups, made up of second grade students who have been researching Sea Environment. Their titles were as follows:
’’Eliminating the sea polluted substances by Negibozu’’ by Negibo’s group.
’’Changes in the catch of shellfish and northward migration in the sea near Japan’’ by Sea group.
“Adsorption of harmful substances to marine plastics’’ by the SSH Plastic group.
After their presentations, Dr. ISHIZUKA gave us concrete and pertinent comments and advice about them, which the students diligently noted down. ■

Author’s Impression:
   I enjoyed Dr. Ishizaka’s lecture very much. I’m doing a research project about the ocean environment, so that lecture was particularly interesting for me. I asked a question about different kinds of plankton to him and he answered it kindly. That made me very happy. I’m going to do my best in my future researching life. – 209 Riku OOMASA
                             

Programming with Ethan

2022年3月3日 07時16分

   Since this year, our school has been conducting “International Joint Research on Programming and Robotics” in collaboration with Maryknoll High School in Hawaii.
After school on January 17th, 12 students from “Coding Team Minami” at our school participated in an online event hosted by Ethan Kimura, second-year student at Maryknoll and captain of their Coding Club.
   During the event, Ethan explained the development process of two games he made himself, and everyone was able to experience the true joy of programming.
Additionally, from our side we demonstrated a Python program written at our school, and received comments and feedback.
We look forward to further collaboration with Maryknoll High School, and hope (/aspire) to study and improve alongside them with their help. ■

Impressions:
   Firstly, thank you very much for collaborating with our school. I think that through this programme we can learn a lot about programming, and improve our English skills by communicating in English with American students.
   Furthermore, by having the chance to learn whether or not we as individuals enjoy programming, we can assist those students who want to study or work with it in the future.
Some Japanese students may have difficulties with communication due to the language barrier, but at our school we have a British assistant teacher along with bilingual foreign students, so I believe that we can complete this programme without any serious problems.
   I also think that we are all very much looking forward to working together with Maryknoll, and to making programming fun and easy for all the students.  209. ( SHEHROZ )
              

Space Engineering

2022年2月16日 18時16分

      On January 9th, the program "Space: The Ultimate Field Trip" (Space Engineering, Life in Space, etc.) was hosted at our school in collaboration with the Director of the Space Research Institute Grant Consortium at the University of Hawaii, Art Kimura and Rene Kimura. This year, we invited Miyazaki Prefectural Nobeoka High School and Yamaguchi Prefectural Shimonoseki West High School, and we three schools all took part in the program.

      From our school, 37 students from the 1st and 2nd grades of the regular courses and science and mathematics courses participated. Mr. Kimura explained the extraordinary and mysterious phenomena that occur when living in space in an easy-to-understand manner using demonstrations of scientific experiments. Although tending to seem difficult at first glance, learning about and understanding these mysterious phenomena is essential for the intellectual profession and space development technology, and life in space is established by applying basic scientific concepts as well as familiar technologies. We were able to see space in an up-close-and-personal way.

      After Mr. Art Kimura's presentation, a question and answer session on space was held, and all three schools asked questions about life in space. We students learned freely about life in space and the latest space-related news, along with a question-and-answer session held in English. Art Kimura praised us for the questions we asked. Through this initiative, we were able to strongly experience the contentment of grappling with challenges.■

Author’s Impression: It was interesting that the technology necessary for space development was already familiar to our lives.  So, I came to realize that the technology we know and regularly use can be useful for other things, and the technology we don't know how to use can be useful for almost anything.　209. Haruto IMAI
                

Science Club

2022年2月4日 06時59分

　As part of extracurricular lessons “Science Club” of the target science and mathematics first grade, the second training support science and mathematics teacher program was held. This program is a chance for students to promote future science and mathematics education, to get science and mathematics first grade students more interested in science, and for the program to become a place of learning for both students and teachers.
　Continuing from the first event in November, the topic of this second event was conducting experiments. The students discussed discoloration of anthocyanin from pancake mix ingredients. Since this time was a training session, we used pancakes prepared in advance, but next time let’s make pancakes with blueberry jam at home! ■
Author’s opinion: “This training was the first time I learned using food, which was a fresh experience.” ~ Keita MIYOSHI
            

Advanced Science Training

2022年2月4日 06時51分

　The advanced science training ~first day~
First year students of our department of science experienced this training. We were studying advanced science based on the theme of SSH. We report on this activity. We’ll make use of this experience and knowledge for research and finding our way in life.
〈first day 12/13: Shikoku Seiyo Geopark de STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics)〉
　Shikoku Seiyo Geopark is a “Park of Earth” which has four hundred million years of history. The purposes of this park are conservation, education and geotourism. Students of our department of science don’t study geology, but we got to know the earth science and ecosystem in Ehime. So, we could learn a lot of science. This training was valuable for us.
・Lecture “About Shikoku Seiyo Geopark”(by Mr. Takahashi)
・Field trip to see fossils from the Jurassic era. (We saw fossils that are rare elsewhere in the world; one such type was “rudists,” for example “asari.”)
・Field trip to Anagami cave. (We saw three hundred Kikugashira bats.)
・Went to the Shikoku geo museum. (We touched the oldest rock in the world, Acastu Gneiss.
~Feeling~
　Unlike Matsuyama City where we live, we came to know Seiyo City and were able to rediscover the charm of Ehime Prefecture.
         
〈second day 12/14〉
　 Ehime University's Nanyo Fisheries Research Center, in collaboration with the town of Ainan, is conducting research aimed at the complete cultivation of "Ehime Suma" or sea bream.
 This session, Dr. Hidetaka Takeoka, the director of the center, gave a lecture on the bright future of the fishing industry and the "science mind". In the afternoon, we visited the laboratory, aquarium, and fishpond where students work hard day and night on their research.
 I was able to fully feel the appeal of the science of fisheries in the majestic nature of the Uwajima Sea.
　・Lecture : Current status and future prospects of fisheries in Ehime, research and human resource development at the Nansui Research Institute, scientific thinking, etc.”
(Dr. Hidetaka Takeoka, the director of the center)
・ Visit to Funakoshi Station : We visited a state-of-the-art research facility.
・Visit to Nisiura Station (Umiraiku Ainan) : We observed the ontogeny of zebrafish in real time.
　By observing the large-scale laboratory equipment and advanced research contents of the Ehime University Minamiiyo Fisheries Research Center, expectations and hopes for the future course grew, and the motivation for SS has further increased.