(Nakahara)Hello, everyone. I’m Jun Nakahara from the University of Tokyo. Today, we would like to have a discussion with Dr. Masato Shibuya from the Junior College of Kagawa Nutrition University. Thank you for joining us, Dr. Shibuya. (Shibuya)Hello. It is my pleasure to be here. (Nakahara)First of all, Dr. Shibuya, could you tell us about your field? (Shibuya)Sure. My field is physiology. (Nakahara)Physiology. (Shibuya)The physiological state refers to the normal functioning of the human body. Pathology is the opposite of physiology. Pathological state refers to a clearly abnormal state. Therefore, physiology is a basic field in medicine which considers what it means for a system or state to be normal and what it means to be pathological. (Nakahara)You are also a doctor. (Shibuya)Yes, I am. (Nakahara)May I take physiology, then, as the study of the normal function or system of the human body? (Shibuya)Yes. (Nakahara)Second, could you tell us about the Junior College of Kagawa Nutrition University and its educational purpose? (Shibuya)It is a training school for nutritionists. During the two-year course, students learn physiology, clinical medicine, and nutrition science. All our graduates now work as nutritionists. (Nakahara)I see. The job of nutritionists must include planning school lunch menus? (Shibuya)Yes. They create school lunch menus, source the ingredients, and negotiate over prices. They do things like that. (Nakahara)I see. Let’s move on then to discuss what the classes are like. I assume that physiology is a compulsory course for student nutritionists. (Shibuya)Yes, it is compulsory. (Nakahara)Could you tell us about how you deliver your classes? (Shibuya)Sure. The course is called “Kaibō Seirigaku (Anatomical Physiology).” Medical courses are often confusing to students, so I always explain concepts in as simple words as possible. I also try to convey the image I have in my mind directly to the students, so they can easily imagine it. (Nakahara)That’s what you do. (Shibuya)I do my best. (Nakahara)So, a course on anatomical physiology is probably taken by first- and second-year students. How many students take the class? (Shibuya)About 50 for one session. (Nakahara)50? (Shibuya)Yes. (Nakahara)You mentioned that you explain things in simple words. I’ve heard that you attempt to teach everything based on the concept of “step-by-step". What kind of learning is this? Could you show me some specific learning materials? (Shibuya)Sure. Let us take a heart, for example. When teaching what a heart is, you have to talk about valves. (Nakahara)Heart valves. (Shibuya)Yes. As you know, there are four valves, so how they open and close is a little complicated. Before delving into heart valves, students must first comprehend when valves open and close in general. (Nakahara)Do you mean that students must study this at home? (Shibuya)That’s one choice. Today, you can upload the teaching content on the internet and manage students’ progress, or they can learn about valves at the start of the class before moving on to heart valves. You can choose whichever way you like. (Nakahara)I see. You use certain materials to teach how valves open or close? (Shibuya)Yes. Let me show you one of them. Here is a cross-section of a tube, seen from the side. Imagine that you can see through the tube. There are vertical pipes. You can also see through them. The height of the surface of a liquid is equal to its pressure. The higher the surface, the higher the pressure. The lower the surface, the lower the pressure. And here’s the valve, which is a stopper. It opens one way but not the other way. It is one-way traffic, as written here. What, then does “pressure” mean? Pressure helps the valve to open. Pressure before the valve forces it to open, and pressure over the valve forces it to close. Both pressures may work at the same time, which can often happen. If the pressure before the valve is higher than the other, the valve opens, and vice versa. (Nakahara)Your explanation is quite step-by-step. (Shibuya)Yes, it is. In short, I will never let the students say “I don’t understand”. If you don’t understand, it’s my fault and it’s the fault of this illustration, so tell me where you don’t understand. I even beg the students to tell me. (Nakahara)Did you develop this material by yourself? (Shibuya)I made it with my colleagues, such as the laboratory staff. (Nakahara)With students? (Shibuya)Some students were involved, and research assistants also do good work. (Nakahara)So, you can tell me, from the students’ point of view, where they are most likely to have trouble. (Shibuya)Exactly. I named my group “Sharing Group for Life Science Education”. The concept is this: There are what I know and what I want the students to comprehend, and I share those things in the classroom. But at the same time, students’ opinions, questions, and impressions are as important as the instructors’ knowledge. We gather all those things and share them. What the instructor says may be wrong. What the students say may be right. In academia, there are no hierarchical relationship. You should respect the students’ opinions. If there is anything they don’t understand, you should discuss and work with them to remove that obstacle, because it could also be an obstacle for future students. It is always really enjoyable working with students. (Nakahara)Do the students often face trouble? (Shibuya)Quite often. (Nakahara)Are these things that you do not notice by yourself? (Shibuya)I think so. During the class, students sometimes tell me directly that they don’t understand. Or, even if they don’t say anything, there is a certain atmosphere in the classroom. Even if I explain as much as I can, the students look stunned. They don’t say anything directly, but there is a confused mood in the room. I think instructors need to be able to sense that situation, instead of talking one way and blaming students for not understanding what they say. Giving a one-way lecture may sometimes be necessary, but before that, especially in the Life Sciences, there are primary steps that all novice learners must take to become medical workers. There is certain content that everyone must comprehend, no matter what. Then, you should convey what you are thinking about, how you imagine the model, and keep asking the students if they understand. If there is a discrepancy between your image and your students’ image, you must change how you explain. (Nakahara)What so impressed me when I visited your class were your word choices. Most researchers speak as researchers. How can I say this? They don’t understand people who don’t understand, so they are likely to set the difficulty level of their talk too high. (Shibuya)Ah! (Nakahara)But what you said was “I will cut a one-meter step into 100 steps so that everyone can go up without stumbling”. That was really impressive, and I thought it must be the same as what you talked about just now. (Shibuya)Yes, I said that. Thank you for remembering my words. (Nakahara)My pleasure. (Shibuya)Well, when designing step-by-step learning materials, I make each step very small by having the students learn about the composition of a valve before learning about the four heart valves. I believe that not only dividing the process into many steps, but also making each step a small one makes it easier for the students to learn. (Nakahara)I see. There’s one more thing that impressed me when I visited your class. I saw students teaching each other during the class… (Shibuya)That’s what they do. (Nakahara)Why do you let them do this? (Shibuya)It’s a kind of teacher role-play. Well, I believe Active Learning is more than just a style in vogue right now I admit that it’s simply fun to talk about something, especially the content I made myself, and to say “Look at this! Look at this!” Similarly, I think it is fun for students to think by themselves and to communicate with others in their own words, even if they did not create the content. By talking, which is exactly the Active Learning style, I believe they can deepen their understandings from the level of “I got it somehow”, to “I have internalized what I learned. I will never forget this illustration”. Hoping to achieve this, even in a class of 50 students, I try to keep everyone busy by solving quizzes, filling in handouts with lots of blanks, and so on. (Nakahara)Generally, Active Learning is regarded as having students speak and discuss with each other, but what I think is good about your Active Learning style is that you neatly structure the learning material and the students’ interactions are appropriately combined with the material. If you consider Active Learning as merely a technique, content can sometimes be disregarded. I mean the teaching content. You are making the teaching content simple and sophisticated and, at the same time, teaching in an interactive way. I think that is the perfect balance. (Shibuya)One of the categories of Active Learning is to allow students to both discover and solve a problem. I don’t mean to deny that concept. Actually, that’s what I want to do. However, in the case of Life Science, unless you understand when heart valves open or close, you will never discover or explore the problems related to the circulatory system. Step-by-step content allows novice students to enter the field of Life Science and to learn essential content. To make the entering process smooth, I encourage the students play teacher by using the content I have already made. I am sorry that they do not use their own self-made content. But by using the content I have made, students can explain to each other, fill in the graphs, and solve quizzes. I think these activities belong to Active Learning in the broad sense. I might call it carefully arranged Active Learning. By using step-by-step content and techniques, I want people to feel that it is fun to learn Life Science because it is comprehensible. (Nakahara)I see. How do the students respond? (Shibuya)They seem to be pleased. (Nakahara)I’m glad to hear that. (Shibuya)When I conducted an anonymous questionnaire and asked what they thought of step-by-step content, compared to other types of content, I received a 4.5 rating out of 5. I think students are pleased with the content because they are participating in creating that content. (Nakahara)Before settling on your current style, at the beginning of your career as an instructor, were you teaching classes in the same way? (Shibuya)At the beginning, I made a lot of quizzes. (Nakahara)Oh, really? (Shibuya)It is quite tough to make figures, so I couldn’t make them so much. In those days, the internet and PCs were not very advanced, and it was even hard to do color printing. At first, I made lots of quizzes using a word processor, saying “If you understood today’s class, then you must be able to solve this”. I started with that and created a database of those quizzes. Subsequently, I moved on to thinking of how the students should understand and how I should make the material impressive, so that they could solve my quizzes. That’s how I went. (Nakahara)I see. That leads you to today’s style. (Shibuya)Yes. (Nakahara)Now I would like to ask you a final question. Those who would like to become faculty members in the near future are watching this video. Could you give a message to young students on what teaching means to you? (Shibuya)OK. I think education is hospitality in a sense. Data were recently issued which show that the level of Japanese education is high and that the bachelor’s competences in Japan are internationally by far the best. I think this outcome is related to Japanese hospitality, the feeling of trying to make yourself understood in as plain a way as possible. Blaming someone for not understanding you is not hospitality. I think hospitality is something that is rooted in ourselves, and many instructors engaged in education have that feeling. I believe that such a spirit is one of the driving forces for maintaining a high level of education in Japan. (Nakahara)So, would you like young students to follow those instructors? (Shibuya)Yes. But at the same time, current graduate students must feel unsure about some things in the classes they take. If you think “This is a bit confusing”, or “This should be taught this way”, you will soon be playing the leading role as an instructor. So, please improve what you think should be improved for the sake of the next generation. I believe this is the way that the present quality education will be further improved. (Nakahara)I see. Thank you very much for taking the time to join us today. (Shibuya)It is my pleasure. (Nakahara)That’s all for this session. (Shibuya)Thank you.
