Ambiguous Tacit Knowledge With a Thematic Focus Based on Japanese Social Culture: An Excellent Source of Qualitative Data Analysis and Interpretation for Systematic Search of Meaning

Tomomi Kubota, Masahiro Arimoto

Based on the social culture of Japan and how educational trends of the 1980s became the prototype for the organizational culture of schools, some schools have rejected the formative assessments that flourished at the time and have consistently used complex assessments. The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of children's learning from individualized narrative data. In this paper, we use data from a record of integrated learning at Ina Elementary School in Nagano, Japan, which documents the learning of a single child, with peer group dynamics and teacher support, to examine how teachers perceive children's learning from children's statements. The method of analysis of this data was conducted using NVIVO, a qualitative analysis tool, based on a frame grounded in the concept of "relationship" (kankei in Japanese). The data were categorized from the children's statements (narratives), and the learning records were coded and interpreted for meaning. To visualize, at various levels (individual, peer, classroom), we used Peter Senge's learning organization. The results show that children at Ina Elementary School learn directly from learning resources. And teachers work together with them toward the learning resources. In this form of learning, the teacher nurtures the competencies that are invisible and difficult to measure in children, with the teacher’s tacit knowledge. Therefore, it is very difficult to visualize children's learning. For this reason, we can approach the essence of children's learning.

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