Shizuoka Study Group of Nature was founded 17 years ago by Rie Ikegami, who has been lived in Shizuoka.  Currently, there are 120 members in Japan.  As the name of the society, the activities of the group are observing the nature and studying from the nature.  Originally, the society was started by parents who were bringing up  children at the same kindergarten.  Nowadays, there are many participants to this group from all over Japan, science teachers and parents who like science to share discoveries and their study,. This exchange forum was the second trial following the last year, presenting and exchanging the results of daily researches and studies with the professional members of science and art at ISTA.  It was a very active exchange forum and there were more than 100 participants for 2 days across the nation.

The common theme between ISTA and Shizuoka Study Group of Nature is “Pursuitof Wonder”.  For two days, there was a battle of how to surprise the audience was performed at the attlier of AICEL.  The room was full of laughter and excitement all the time.  Three of us who participated from Image Mission Inc. closely watched the battle and were deeply moved.  There were presentataion and exhibition of scientific toys and workshops of Gamelan as well. We also participated them and the photos show the events presented during the two days.  Every presentation was unique, facing to their own theme of “wonder” seriously, and pursued the theme profoundly without giving up. It is a shame that we do not have enough space to introduce all of the presentation. We found that it is the way to cherish the scientific mind to pursue the simple question that occurred in our mind, “Why?”

The hand-made toys by Shizuoka Study Group of Science were also very wonderful. They believe that toys are important, and that it is important to give dreams to children.  They introduced many original toys that would make children wonder “Whe did it happened?” They seems to enjoy making toys themselves.  We feel that we learned the origin of toys.

The comments from ISTA was “Shizuoka Study Group of Science is a group that exceeds our expectation” And the comments from Shizuoka Study Group was “ISTA members are all professional researchers but they explained to us without using difficult technical terms. We were more than pleased that they answered our questions frankly.”  The hand-made toys introduced are the followings; “Regular Octahedron Puzzle by Marble and Its Container”, “Take-a-Walk Kaleidoscope”, “Film-Case Spinners of Universe”, “Straw Musical Instrument”, etc.  Each one of them was created with enthusiasm to please and surprise children.  They never want to let down the dreams of children.  We learned that it is very important to meet the children’s heart.

Lstly, there was a wonderful lunch given by Shizuoka Study Group of Science.  It was all designed and cooked by the members of the group under the theme of “whirl”.  The dishes were all creative, inovative and artistic.  And above all, it was all delicious. We all enjoyed the farewell lunch and parted with so much excitement and happiness in our mind.  Thank you for the exciting two days!