Solving transportation problems and measuring educational effectiveness in high school commuting in a mid-mountain area
Background and Objectives
Osaka Prefectural Toyonaka High School, Nose Branch is located in a mountainous area, but has been designated as a Super Global High School (SGH) by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and is engaged in a variety of educational activities from a global perspective, attracting many students who wish to pursue higher education in the region. Currently, there are several means of commuting to school, such as walking, taking the local bus, or being picked up and dropped off by car, but other than that, bicycle commuting is the final means of transportation. However, bicycle commuting faces several safety issues unique to mountainous areas. By providing high school students with a new means of transportation, an electrically power assisted bicycle (e-bike), the project aims to improve their problem-solving skills by supporting their learning about the nature of transportation, and to expand the project to solve overall community issues. In particular, based on the results of two years of research, the final outcome is a "proposal on traffic safety" by the high school students themselves, which is to be submitted to the Nose Town Hall. Based on this proposal, it is expected that traffic safety measures in the Nose area will be improved in the future.
Expected Results
By conducting a survey on traffic issues and measuring the educational effectiveness of the project, it is expected to present measures to solve traffic problems. This will result in high school students becoming more aware of traffic safety and adopting safer driving behaviors. In addition, by having high school students make traffic safety suggestions to residents and the town hall, practical results can be expected, such as increased awareness of traffic safety among local residents and safer road maintenance by the local government. In addition, through these community-based activities by young people, it is expected to produce results in terms of foresight, such as the development of models that can be applied in other regions (especially in mid-mountain areas where depopulation is high, as in Nose).