Beneficial Effects of Learning with Game-Book on Education for Disaster Prevention in Children

After the 2011 Great East Japan (Tohoku) earthquake and tsunami disaster, reduction and avoidance of potential losses from disasters have received much attention. We focused on disaster education which is defined simply as disaster risk reduction education. We developed new educational tool for disaster education. We called the new game-book the “disaster simulation game-book.” This study was designed to investigate the beneficial effects of experimental learning using the disaster simulation game-book on disaster education for children. Thirty four junior high school students participated in the study. They were randomly assigned into learning with the game book or learning with the cartoon film groups. They answered some questions before and after learning disaster. The results clearly demonstrated the beneficial effects of game-book learning on attitudes of disasters measured for question (If a large earthquake occurred, could you overcome difficulty from the earthquake on your own?) and question (If a large earthquake occurred, do you think that you could safely get clear away?). We discussed beneficial effects of the game-book on disaster education.