14、Multifaceted approaches to environment, science, and art education used in the “Chirimen Monster” workshop

 

Nobutada ZUSHI

Kinki University, Faculty of Literature, Arts and Cultural Studies

 

This poster shows our workshop's effect on biodiversity and environment education as well as science and art education. This museum workshop uses a traditional Japanese food item, “Chirimen-jako” (comprising boiled and dried whitebait). It includes diverse larval fish and other tiny marine organisms such as zoeae, megalopae, and alima larvae that are sometimes caught by whitebait fishermen as bycatch. We named these creatures “Chirimen Monsters” (henceforth “Chirimon”).
Participants pick apart the “Chirimon” from the whitebait with tweezers and observe their shape and color carefully with magnifying glasses or dissecting microscopes. Since we started conducting this workshop at the Natural History Museum, Kishiwada City in 2004, the movement has extended across the country, with each facilitator adopting a different approach to conducting the workshop. For instance, workshops have been held in art museums, where the attendees, through creative activities such as making sketches and collages of “Chirimon,” have opportunities to think about our precious natural environment.
In this poster, we will discuss the multifaceted approaches used in the workshop over the past ten years, and introduce some recent activities such as creating an online picture book.