PBL Initiatives for Regional Collaboration:

Abstract

Naraha-machi, Fukushima Prefecture, is undergoing reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake. After the lifting of the evacuation order, many of the townspeople who have returned to Naraha-machi from other cities are elderly, and there is a need to improve the working population ratio. As part of this effort, the town is promoting activities to collaborate with university students and other younger generations. Therefore, students in the author’s laboratory engaged in PBL aimed at solving problems in Naraha-machi. As a result, they were able to learn about the actual problems facing Naraha-machi and their solutions. In addition, the students were able to improve their motivation for future graduation research and to demonstrate the potential of the project as an initiative to prevent the disaster from fading away.