Unlearning is a recurrent theme in Japan. To further understanding of what this entails, we focus on the view of learning laid out by a revered 13th century Zen-inspired playwright. For Zeami, learning involved a movement from the acquisition to unlearning of skills, punctuated by an experience of "mushin," followed by creative…

The paper reviews Asia-Pacific higher education and university research, focusing principally on the "Confucian" education nations Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong China, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam. Except for Vietnam, these systems exhibit a special developmental dynamism--still playing out everywhere except Japan--and have created a…

Though targeted for governmental reform since 2002, services envisioned for gifted and talented students have not materialized in Japan. From the perspective of his personal experience as a Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund participant in 2005 and an extensive review of available literature and contacts with the Japanese Ministry of Education,…

This article presents the authors' critique of lessons proposed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). The authors initiate a discussion about content that they hope will play out in schoolhouses and statehouses across the country. They take on a different task: they present a handful of lesson ideas from P21 that could enhance studies…

Three case studies of young Japanese adults who fell ill with Minamata disease (a form of methyl-mercury poisoning) are presented and the adjustment of the individuals to the disease is analyzed in terms of a model of creativity. The model distinguishes three types of creativity: identificational (in which one identifies with old ideas and…

The aim of the 2018 International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA) conference was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive…

Presents the autonomous-learner model developed by George Betts and the Renzulli model as possible ways to facilitate creative thinking and personal development in Japanese students, whose culture typically emphasizes memorization. Concludes that developing the mindset to critically question learning will increase students' learning abilities and…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…