Effects of Culturally Relevant STEM Education: Children’s Eco-Friendly Invention Ideas Using Kakishibu in Japan and Australia

In this chapter, we outline the influence of an experimental, hands-on Kakishibu STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workshop designed for primary school children and their families, guided by the principles of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP). The chapter commences with a literature review on CRP, with particular emphasis on STEM education. Subsequently, the development process of culturally relevant STEM education workshops centred on Kakishibu is introduced, incorporating CRP and a utility value intervention involving worksheets on self-generated invention ideas involving Kakishibu. The workshops were conducted in both Japan and Australia, where the relevance of Kakishibu and policies on single-use plastic bans vary. A qualitative analysis was performed on the collected worksheets from eco-friendly and sustainability perspectives. The findings reveal that the majority of children proposed eco-friendly applications for Kakishibu; however, the context of single use plastics in everyday life had a discernable effect. Additionally, some children advocated a systems approach to broader plastic issues. Consequently, it is suggested that the intersection of multicultural relevance and single-use plastic alternatives may produce a synergistic effect. Given that children employed an anthropocentric perspective rather than focusing on the foundational philosophy of Kakishibu, it is necessary to emphasise shifting the concept of “culturally relevant” from everyday life to the cultural philosophical background.