Study for Education of Integration of Arts and Sciences on Open Education

[研究ノート

Study of education of "the ability to think" as the educational theory of Kunio Yanagida

本稿では、2012年中教審答申に示された「主体的に考える力」をキーワードに、柳田國男の教育論を取り上げる。文部科学省は2011年度よりキャリア教育を義務化した。この背景には、雇用形態の多様化・流動化により、学生が「生きる」＝「社会と関わる」ことをイメージしづらく、将来設計を立てることができないことにあった。続く2012年答申では、予測不可能な社会において、主体的に考えるための方策が提示されている。このような、今日と同様の教育的課題が、江戸から明治への転換期に表れていた。柳田國男は、明治から昭和にかけて近代的教育制度に代わる教育のありかたを提言し続けた人物であり、本稿では、その教育論を整理し、新しい学びの形について考える

The Relationship between Activation of Local Community and Education of Writing

研究ノー

Marbles from Tokushima Prefecture, used in the National Diet Building : Part 1: locality and geological framework

The quarries of marbles for the construction of the National Diet Building (Nagata-cho, Chiyodaku, Tokyo) were identified in Tokushima Prefecture. The geological setting and microfossil age of the marbles were studied. Seven brands, "Akebono", "Kito-ishi ", "Hototogisu", "Kamo-sarasa", "Awayuki ", "Kotajima" and "Shin-awayuki" were used in the House of Councilors and the Central part of the building. The "Akebono", used for the wall along the Councilor's Second Stairway, is Silurian limestone from the Hiakari-yama lenticular body of the Kurosegawa Tectonic Zone in the Koyama-daira area (Kisawa Village). The "Kito-ishi" from the Misago-yama area (Kisawa Village), used for the fireplace in the reception room of the Vice-president of the House of Councilors, is the limestone and greenstone breccia intercalated in the Upper Carboniferous alternation of chert and pelagic limestone in the Permian accretion terrene (Masaki Belt of the Kurosegawa Terrane). The "Hototogisu", used for the well-ornamented entrance gate of the Emperor's room "Gokyujo", is the Upper Triassic dolimitic limestone in the Late Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous accretion mélange of the South Chichibu Terrane (Tsunomine Subbelt) from the Arida area (Asebi-cho, Anan City). The "Kamo-sarasa", used for the inside wall of the central entrance of the building, is the Upper Triassic limestone with some green reticulation in Late Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous accretion mélange of the South Chichibu Terrane (Tsunomine Subbelt) from the Oji area (Kuwano-cho, Anan City). The "Awayuki", used for the lower part of the wall along the square in front of the Emperor's room, and the lower part of the wall around the assembly hall of the House of Councilors, presumed to be a kind of "Kamo-sarasa", is proved to be the Upper Triassic Megalodon limestone with hexacoral-bearing dark limestone blocks in the accretion mélange of the South Chichibu Terrane (Tsunomine Subbelt) from the Kurogo area (Kamo-cho, Anan City). The "Kotajima", used for the lower part of the wall along the passage of the second floor, and the wall along the "Kisha Kaidan" stairway, is proved to be the Upper Triassic limestone with reticulation of black cleavages in Late Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous accretion mélange of the South Chichibu Terrane (Tsunomine Subbelt) from the Higashibun area (Tsunomine-cho, Anan City). The "Shin-awayuki", used for the mosaic on the floor of the Central Hall and the lower part of the wall along the passage of the southern central part of the first floor, is the Upper Carboniferous limestone in Jurassic accretion mélange of the South Chichibu Belt (Hosono Subbelt) from the Izeki area (Takarada-cho, Anan City)

Alpha-CaMKII deficiency causes immature dentate gyrus, a novel candidate endophenotype of psychiatric disorders

Elucidating the neural and genetic factors underlying psychiatric illness is hampered by current methods of clinical diagnosis. The identification and investigation of clinical endophenotypes may be one solution, but represents a considerable challenge in human subjects. Here we report that mice heterozygous for a null mutation of the alpha-isoform of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (alpha-CaMKII+/-) have profoundly dysregulated behaviours and impaired neuronal development in the dentate gyrus (DG). The behavioral abnormalities include a severe working memory deficit and an exaggerated infradian rhythm, which are similar to symptoms seen in schizophrenia, bipolar mood disorder and other psychiatric disorders. Transcriptome analysis of the hippocampus of these mutants revealed that the expression levels of more than 2000 genes were significantly changed. Strikingly, among the 20 most downregulated genes, 5 had highly selective expression in the DG. Whereas BrdU incorporated cells in the mutant mouse DG was increased by more than 50 percent, the number of mature neurons in the DG was dramatically decreased. Morphological and physiological features of the DG neurons in the mutants were strikingly similar to those of immature DG neurons in normal rodents. Moreover, c-Fos expression in the DG after electric footshock was almost completely and selectively abolished in the mutants. Statistical clustering of human post-mortem brains using 10 genes differentially-expressed in the mutant mice were used to classify individuals into two clusters, one of which contained 16 of 18 schizophrenic patients. Nearly half of the differentially-expressed probes in the schizophrenia-enriched cluster encoded genes that are involved in neurogenesis or in neuronal migration/maturation, including calbindin, a marker for mature DG neurons. Based on these results, we propose that an "immature DG" in adulthood might induce alterations in behavior and serve as a promising candidate endophenotype of schizophrenia and other human psychiatric disorders

Circadian regulation of intracellular G-protein signalling mediates intercellular synchrony and rhythmicity in the suprachiasmatic nucleus

Synchronous oscillations of thousands of cellular clocks in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the circadian centre, are coordinated by precisely timed cell–cell communication, the principle of which is largely unknown. Here we show that the amount of RGS16 (regulator of G protein signalling 16), a protein known to inactivate Gαi, increases at a selective circadian time to allow time-dependent activation of intracellular cyclic AMP signalling in the SCN. Gene ablation of Rgs16 leads to the loss of circadian production of cAMP and as a result lengthens circadian period of behavioural rhythm. The temporally precise regulation of the cAMP signal by clock-controlled RGS16 is needed for the dorsomedial SCN to maintain a normal phase-relationship to the ventrolateral SCN. Thus, RGS16-dependent temporal regulation of intracellular G protein signalling coordinates the intercellular synchrony of SCN pacemaker neurons and thereby defines the 24 h rhythm in behaviour

CNVs in Three Psychiatric Disorders

BACKGROUND: We aimed to determine the similarities and differences in the roles of genic and regulatory copy number variations (CNVs) in bipolar disorder (BD), schizophrenia (SCZ), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHODS: Based on high-resolution CNV data from 8708 Japanese samples, we performed to our knowledge the largest cross-disorder analysis of genic and regulatory CNVs in BD, SCZ, and ASD. RESULTS: In genic CNVs, we found an increased burden of smaller (500 kb) exonic CNVs in SCZ/ASD. Pathogenic CNVs linked to neurodevelopmental disorders were significantly associated with the risk for each disorder, but BD and SCZ/ASD differed in terms of the effect size (smaller in BD) and subtype distribution of CNVs linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. We identified 3 synaptic genes (DLG2, PCDH15, and ASTN2) as risk factors for BD. Whereas gene set analysis showed that BD-associated pathways were restricted to chromatin biology, SCZ and ASD involved more extensive and similar pathways. Nevertheless, a correlation analysis of gene set results indicated weak but significant pathway similarities between BD and SCZ or ASD (r = 0.25–0.31). In SCZ and ASD, but not BD, CNVs were significantly enriched in enhancers and promoters in brain tissue. CONCLUSIONS: BD and SCZ/ASD differ in terms of CNV burden, characteristics of CNVs linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, and regulatory CNVs. On the other hand, they have shared molecular mechanisms, including chromatin biology. The BD risk genes identified here could provide insight into the pathogenesis of BD

Study of Teaching Methods for Solving Quarrels between Children

The purpose of this paper is to examine the teaching methods used when solving a quarrel between children. Accordingly, the importance of the children's friendship is described. Secondly, the necessity that parents and teacher intervene when a quarrel occurs is discussed. The effect of the intervention of parents and teacher is considered from the results of a workshop. As a result, the following points were clearly identified. There are three patterns for the method of intervention. The first pattern is that the children maintain a good interpersonal relationship, the second is to foster an awareness of rules in the children, and third, to teach value judgment standards