SAKURA SCIENCE High School Program Group 4
Science Exchange with Japanese High School Students at Horikawa Senior High School in Kyoto
On Tuesday, July 11, 97 students from SSHP Group 4, including high school students from India, Mongolia, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, and Tonga, visited Kyoto Municipal Horikawa Senior High School which is one of the Super Science High Schools.
After the welcoming ceremony and school introduction, the visiting high school students were divided into 21 groups and were allowed to participate in the "Tankyu Dojo (*Tankyu is Exploration in English)." The Tankyu Dojo is an activity unique to Horikawa Senior High School. Several times a year, students from Horikawa Senior High School work together with junior high school students on exploratory themes. This time, it was, so to speak, the overseas version. This Tankyu Dojo was implemented with the SSHP high school students rather than with the junior high school students.
The theme was "LED sensors." The purpose of this is to learn that LEDs can be used not only for displays and lighting, but also as light sensors. Specifically, it was a highly difficult experimental classroom to apply the color of each light source without passing electricity to the LED, while using equipment such as batteries and multimeters and the like. Nevertheless, the four teams were able to do it brilliantly, and they were all satisfied that it was very useful to learn other functions of LEDs.
In the afternoon, there was a slightly quirky workshop called "World Cafe." They met as a group for each theme, such as "future dreams," "school rules," and "meal time," and presented their thoughts. After the discussion, they pasted their thoughts on a board. In the workshop, both the Japanese and the visiting foreign high school students quickly opened up and became friendly.
Lastly, there was a special lesson given by Dr. Hiroshi Kitagawa (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University). His theme was "Modern Alchemy for New Nano-Materials: Binary to High-Entropy Alloys." Starting with the history of alloys dating back to the Bronze Age, he explained his research in an easy-to-understand manner, saying, "It was the first time for mankind where all precious metal elements were mixed at the atomic level to form an alloy." Also, he added "in order for you to grow, it is important to "discover," be "surprised," and find "excitement." The high school students were greatly encouraged by his words, "encounters with people make your life."
There was also a meeting between the SSHP supervisors and the Horikawa Senior High School faculty. The supervisors asked "What are the admission criteria?" "How do students with low academic ability improve their academic ability?" "What did the students teach other than studying?" One after another, they raised their hands to ask questions. It was a valuable time to exchange information about the current situation and differences in high school education in each country.
