Greeting

Ocean education is developed based on the basic principle of “the coexistence of the ocean and people. What kind of education enables us to “become familiar with and know the ocean” in order to “live with the ocean,” and to “protect and use the ocean” by using the knowledge, skills, thinking, judgment, and expression acquired in this process? The Center has been thinking about this together with those who share our interest, and has been engaged in specific activities.

In today’s society, where nature, people, and culture are globally connected, it is becoming increasingly important to have a “global” perspective. However, the “world” is large, abstract, and difficult to grasp. In this context, “oceans and water” are something concrete and immediate to us, but at the same time, they are connected to the global environment. We hope that the subject of “oceans and water” will provide visitors with an opportunity to learn about and feel the “world.

The oceans symbolize the richness of the natural environment for humans, but they are also closely related to global issues such as climate change that we are facing. What can ocean education do to approach such issues? The educational field is diverse, ranging from the home, to schools, to museums, to the digital information environment that covers them all. We will continue to pursue the possibilities of various educational opportunities while keeping our eyes open to domestic and international trends. Thank you for your support.

Our mission is to promote marine education within primary and secondary education.
Promoting ocean and marine education, is not students to abandon textbooks for a time to give them a chance to know the appeal of the ocean, and not to cultivate a handful of marine researchers. Careful selection of educational content for 10,000,000 elementary and junior high school students and 3,000,000 high school students and curriculum for 1,000,000 teachers must be prepared.

Our mission was partly achieved in 2017 when there was praise of the enrichment of marine education when revising curriculum guidelines in elementary and junior high school. However, the revision concerned mainly the account of territories and territorial waters in social studies and only one of the three basis of ocean and marine education, safety. In order to implement the true meaning of ocean and marine education, we oceanography experts and education experts will continue to work with school teachers.