宮崎県野尻中学校にて「著作権授業」を開催致しました June.27.2014

On June 27, 2014, Japan and International Motion Picture Copyright Association (JIMCA) conducted a Copyright Class at Nojiri Junior High School in Kobayashi-City, Miyazaki Prefecture. Sixth-graders of Kobayashi City Nojiri Elementary School and Kurisu Elementary School due to attend Nojiri Junior High School next year, took the class.

The class was implemented as part of an educational program called “Golden 3 Days to Enrich Junior High School Life” for the purpose of acquiring more specialized knowledge, skills, and attitudes. External lecturers are invited to these unique classes. A JIMCA representative served as a lecturer, and a student from the Graduate School of Education, Waseda University, assisted the lessons as a facilitator.

The Copyright Class consisted of two lessons – a quiz session and group discussion. Two school periods were used for the class. During the first lesson, a quiz rally – “Is this real or fake?” – involved children tackling six quizzes to determine the authenticity of goods such as DVDs of popular movies and toys portraying popular characters. As popular goods were used for the quiz session, children genuinely enjoyed tackling the challenges.

The second half of the lesson involved group discussions regarding the type of copyright issues that elementary students might encounter.A case study proposed was: “I secretly submitted my friend’s drawing for a contest, the work was selected for the Best Work Award, and the work was awarded a prize.” The students were asked whether this would be a problem according to Copyright Law.

Issues, such as: “How the friend might feel?”, were actively debated. The students entertained a number of propositions including: “Although it was a secret, it should be a great result because it got selected for the Best Work Award”, and “Some people might feel embarrassed being entered into a competition”. After the results were compiled by each class, students gathered again at the martial arts gymnasium and presented their findings. Lastly, a JIMCA representative provided a basic explanation of copyright matters.

Regarding the Copyright Class on this occasion, Deputy Head Teacher Sadowara from the junior high school said, “This class firstly used popular goods for its introduction, giving specific examples to draw students’ attention. Also, in the second half of the lesson for the group discussion, I think it was well devised, which allows students to listen attentively to others’ opinions. I believe that the students will make practical use of these skills in their daily lives from now on.”

JIMCA has visited a number of elementary schools in different parts of Japan and conducted the “Dispatched Copyright Classes”, for five to six schools annually since 2011.