You may know environmental education, but you may not be familiar with the phrase “educational environment.” From birth to infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, then, old age, the “environment” that surrounds us has enormous influence on human growth and development. The environment has many sides such as “human,” “spatial,” “temporal,” and “dynamic.” In a complex and advanced society like our contemporary society, the environment of individuals itself is also diversifying rapidly. Without correctly understanding these environments and properly safeguarding the opportunity for education and learning, we can potentially hinder the further growth and development of humans and our learning. There is no doubt concerning the importance of the educational environment for all human beings.
The Course in Social Inquiries in Education consists of four research tracks: Sociology of Education, Educational Policy and Administration,
Lifelong Education, and Cultural Studies of Education . Home and school are not the only sites of education. There are a wide variety of sites such as local community facilities such as public libraries and community centers, workplace, local areas, and information spaces like the Internet. Globalization of education and informatization have also been advancing rapidly in recent years. From an interdisciplinary perspective of human sciences and by using quantitative, qualitative analyses as well as field research, this course engages with the problems of contemporary educational environment by examining the current state of the sites and opportunities of learning, how they have transformed, the predictions of their future shape and organizational structure, and seeks to create mid- and long-term plans based on the outcome of such research efforts.
It is extremely important, by working with the Course in Clinical Inquiries in Education, that focuses on individual people’s condition and their internal aspects, to consider the ways that we can “optimize” humanity’s surrounding environment. This course along with the Course in Clinical Inquiries in Education constitutes the Pedagogy Program and attempts to explore new research areas in Pedagogy from the perspective of human sciences.