iCeMS Caravan

Using Knowledge to Create and Communicate Ideas

Can studying advanced science lead to exciting new ideas?

Why exactly is learning important?

The researchers at iCeMS, whose interdisciplinary study encompasses chemistry, biology, physics, and other fields, believe in the importance of independent thinking, learning, and communication. iCeMS Caravan: The Mechanism for Learning is a hands-on educational program that promotes these values among senior high school students. Like a caravan, this program travels across the country from one school to the next.

During iCeMS Caravan visits, researchers from different fields—biology, physics, etc.—present recent scientific findings as they relate to a common topic of interest, such as DNA or energy production. High school students absorb this newfound knowledge and gain insight from it. This is followed by a group discussion in which students are encouraged to come up with new ideas for technological or scientific research. Lastly, the students structure their ideas in a format of scientific papers and present them in the form of chalk talks. This collaborative process allows students to experience the process of “using knowledge to create and communicate ideas.”

The process by which we take input (knowledge), create new ideas, and then output (communicate) those ideas leads to new cycles of learning as those ideas become input for someone else, and the world improves a little more with every cycle. These are the mechanism of learning that the iCeMS Caravan wishes to promote. Through these visits, our researchers hope to give high school students a sense of the opportunities they can create through their daily studies, to help them rediscover the importance of learning, and to encourage them to take charge of their own lives.

• #6: March 24, 2018: SandaGakuen High School (in Hyogo)
  Students: 20 second-year-students
  Scientists: Reiko Sakaguchi, Yousuke Katsuda, Kaoru Sugimura, Shuhei Furukawa, Takayuki Homma
• #5: March 17, 2018: Niihama-Nishi High School (in Ehime)
  Students: 20 second-year-students
  Scientists: Daniel Packwood, Yousuke Katsuda, Dan Ohtan Wang, Shuhei Furukawa, Takayuki Homma
• #4: May 13, 2017: Kyoto Gakuen High School
  Students: 20 third-year-students
  Scientists: Daniel Packwood, Yousuke Katsuda, Ken-ichiro Kamei, Shuhei Furukawa
• #3: March 3, 2017: Aizu Gakuho High School (in Fukushima)
  Students: 20 second-year-students
  Scientists: Yousuke Katsuda, Hideki Hirori, Shuhei Furukawa, Daniel Packwood
• #2: April 23, 2016: Goto High School (in Nagasaki)
  Students: 20 third-year and a second-year students
  Scientists: Yousuke Katsuda, Kaoru Sugimura, Hideki Hirori, Shuhei Furukawa
• #1 : April 16, 2016: Kyoto Gakuen High School
  Students: 20 third-year-students
  Scientists: Yousuke Katsuda, Kaoru Sugimura, Hideki Hirori, Shuhei Furukawa