著者

山下 久美 ヤマシタ クミ Kumi Yamashita

雑誌

人文・社会科学論集

巻号頁・発行日

vol.23, pp.79-98, 2006-03

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Insects familiar to young children are very easy-to-handle educational material, being inexpensive and not being troublesome. Insects are being bred at many preschools. Thus, teachers were queried on the reason for breeding insects, and it was learned that breeding was for the purpose of "informing young children of the ecology of insects,""teaching them of the importance of life." and "nurturing in them the thoughtfulness for others." However, since a study has not been performed hitherto on whether or not insect breeding truly has an effectiveness on such matters, an interview survey was accomplished on 100 young children. In the replies of 30 children of a preschool which routinely bred insects, the effectiveness of insect breeding experience was clearly perceptible as a result of a comparison with the replies from 70 children of preschools which had never bred insects. Children of the preschool that bred insects had greater knowledge of insect ecology and were able to understand that once dead an insect could not be revived in comparison with children of preschools that did not breed insects. The sympathetic feelings of children towards insects that died were observed. Although a feeling of thoughtfulness toward children younger than themselves was also discernible, this matter requires additional research.