The paradigm of design must drastically change to promote sustainable social development that considers not only economic growth but also human well-being and environmental sustainability. Some scholars argue that the central paradigm of design should focus more on the societal perspective. This article refers to such a socially oriented design…

This study examines the relationship between Japanese children's inquiry skills and their participation in various after-school programs. Inquiry skills--encompassing the ability to explore, analyze, and synthesize information--are essential competencies in 21st-century education. However, limited research has explored how different types of…

This article examines everyday "International Baccalaureate Educator Certificate" (IBEC) environments in Japanese higher education through a theoretical framework of whiteness. Exploring dissonances shaped by English and constructivism at two universities, I argue that communities challenge Anglo-American and Euro-American epistemologies…

Despite extensive research on the push-pull factors of student motivation to study abroad, there has been little examination of university academics' and administrators' attitudes as program developers and providers. This research draws upon the literature of sensemaking to investigate how and why Japanese university academics and administrators…

This study examined 42 Taiwanese design students' crosscultural learning during internships in Japan's creative industry firm, funded by Taiwan's Ministry of Education under the "Dream-Building Study Abroad" program. Through thematic analysis and expert-rated intensity scoring (0--5 scale), six themes emerged. The highest-rated themes…

Purpose: Drawing on the perspectives of cultural capital theory, this study investigated the impact of international internships on the performance of Japanese undergraduates on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) using a between-group pretest-posttest experimental design. Design/methodology/approach: Students participating…

This evaluation report examines extensive reading (ER) speed and words read by students at a Japanese university using a digital ER platform called Xreading and compares them to standardized test reading performance using the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The study focuses on first- and second-year students who…

Here, I address the call for teacher education programs to feature international elements to help pre-service teachers craft powerful classroom instruction and successfully work with students from culturally diverse backgrounds. I share a qualitative investigation of participants' experiences during a short-term study abroad program in Japan that…

Department of Defense (DOD) research has found that military families and children face severe barriers to accessing mental health care, harming family well-being and military readiness. Without proper treatment, children with mental health concerns are at risk of school failure, substance misuse, and suicide. Senate Report 118-58 includes a…

This chapter covers the 50 years from the inception of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV). It explores the growth and diversification of JOCV as well as its expected returns to Japanese society. Stakeholders nationwide made many efforts to establish and develop JOCV, assisted by increasing domestic internationalization. As Japan's…

This study aimed to determine adventure camps' effects on Japanese adolescents' body image. A questionnaire survey containing three body image scales was administered to 64 adventure camp participants and 100 non-participants. The study results revealed significant differences and trends regarding 2 of the 3 factors ("understanding of…

While previous teacher education research on argumentation primarily targeted science teachers, we will provide insights on where to begin teacher education for beginners in situations, where argumentation instruction is not yet common and time constraints impede teacher training. We conducted a short-term program that lasted 160 minutes, with 61…

In Japan, many high school students have severe depression. Preventive interventions for school-based cognitive-behavioral depression are effective countermeasures against depressive problems among high school students. However, since high school curriculums are time-consuming, such interventions are less common among high school students.…

In this qualitative study, we analyzed the processes of a collaborative online international learning (COIL) collaboration between two higher education institutions in Japan and the United States from the perspective of the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) framework. The research question this study aimed to address was:…

The positive effects of bi-modal input on language learning are becoming a largely accepted experimental finding. However, experiments looking at bi-modal reading in a foreign language are normally limited by the common experimental situation of classroom-based researchers studying university age participants for the limited timespan of a…