Review of Science Education in Lao People’s Democratic Republic : Aims and Issues with the Curriculum

(1)

1. Introduction

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a nation among southeastern Asia, surrounded by China to the North, Myanmar (or Burma) to the West, Vietnam to the East, and Cambodia and Thailand to the South. Among these surrounding counties and other members of southeastern Asia, Lao PDR is the only country without direct connection to ocean. Instead, people’s life and economy are supported by the huge Mekong River that runs through—technically along the border with Thailand for most of the nation. Lao PDR’s capital is the city of Vientian, located near the middle of the country and bordering Thailand

across Mekong River. Lao PDR covers area of approximately 240,000 km2 _{and its population is about 6.5}

million1)_{. Even though more than half of the population consists of a single ethnic group of Lao people,}

there are about 50 different ethnic groups living within Lao PDR1)_.

Lao PDR’s education has started in 14th

century as a training/education for young male Buddhist monk (Inui 2010). Due to the location of the country and many wars fought in this region, Lao PDR’s educa-tion has always left behind. It was until after 1975, when the Lao PDR was officially founded, that the educational reform introduced the modern education—but only for total of 11 years instead of 12 years as western countries—to all children (Arakawa 2010; Inui 2011). Even though elementary education is treated as compulsory education for children between 6 and 10 years old, due to various factors and reasons—see Arakawa (2010) for details—the enrolled ratio is still at 91.6% in 2009 (Inui 2011). Even though this is much higher than 58% in 1991 (Taira 2011a), to further improve this situation, government of Lao PDR and Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) are officially aiming to make this enrolled ratio to 100% and let all students graduate by 2015 (Takita & Inui 2008; Arakawa 2010).

As a part of this effort, government of Lao PDR has created and promulgated the Revised Law of Education in 2007 (Taira 2011b). However the main aim of this law seems to be improving the education in both the lower and upper secondary educations and not affected the elementary education much. Since the elementary education did not significantly affected by this new law, curricula or educational guidelines for elementary education are still not properly updated and contain various problems and issues within.

Currently, MoES is preparing for the revision of its elementary curricula, especially for math and sci-ence, in 2016. As a part of preparation, two staff members of MoES—from math and science education branches—are visiting Naruto University of Education to train and learn Japanese curricula (components and basic learning flow) and contents of textbooks.

＊_{Basic Human Science for Integrated Studies, Naruto University of Education, Naruto, Tokushima, 772-8502, Japan} ＊＊_{Science Education, Ministry of Education and Sports, Lao People’s Democratic Republic}

＊＊＊_{Research Student, Naruto University of Education, Naruto, Tokushima, 772-8502, Japan} ＊＊＊＊

Natural Science Education, Naruto University of Education, Naruto, Tokushima, 772-8502, Japan

OF EDUCATION Volume

Review of Science Education in Lao People s Democratic Republic:

Aims and Issues with the Curriculum

TAMURA Kazuyuki

＊

_{, KHANTHAVY Houmphanh}

＊＊

_,

＊＊＊

_,

TERASHIMA Yukio

＊＊＊＊

and KOZAI Takeshi

＊＊＊＊

(Keywords: Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Science Education, Curriculum)

(2)

2. Science Education In Lao PDR

In Lao PDR, science is taught from the 1st

grade as a part of the subject “World Around Us” that consists of topics not only in Science but as well as in Social Science (Geography and History), Environ-ment and Health (e.g., Abe 2007). As expected from the subject name, topics in textbooks for eleEnviron-mentary school children are introduced with strong connection with everyday life in Lao PDR. In other words, the contents of textbook are strongly connected to some basic knowledge that children need to live locally or inside Lao PDR. As a result, when the textbooks are compared to science textbooks used in developed countries, contents of these textbooks are not as strongly based on the scientific theory and knowledge that are usually taught in Japan or other developed countries (Kozai, et al., submitted).

However, before analyzing the details of the textbook contents, we noticed that the curriculum of “World Around Us” contains some issues to be considered and resolved. In this paper, we are therefore going to analyze current (pre 2016) Lao PDR’s science education curriculum guideline and points out some concerns in need of some attention. The purpose of this paper is simply to keep record what the science curriculum is like and what are the issues with it. The detailed analysis of current elementary sci-ence textbooks and teacher’s guide is beyond the scope of this paper, and will be followed by the sequen-tial papers (e.g., Terashima et al., 2015 ; Khanthavy et al., submitted). Also, our analysis is performed based only on the published curriculum guideline (English translated version) by Lao PDR’s Ministry of Education and Sports (see Appendices and Tables 1-8 for details), and not based on the original curricu-lum written in Lao language, or Laotian.

3. Summary of the Curriculum Guideline “World Around Us”

As written above, the subject World Around us consists of a combination of three different subjects that are usually treated separately in developed countries as Japan and the United States: Science, Social Studies and Environment & Health. In Lao PDR, the topics in the World Around Us are taught with a strong connection to everyday life. Therefore, unlike the classes that are based on scientific theories, Lao PDR’s classes are created so that children can use what they learned in school at home right away. For the copy of the original English version of curriculum guideline of the World Around Us, see the Appen-dices.

World Around Us is divided into 3 large sections: Living Things, Non-Living Things, and Lao PDR. Living Things and Non-Living Things covers topics usually involves with science, environment and health. On the other hand, Lao PDR covers social science side within the World Around Us. These 3 parts are further divided into several smaller strands. Living Things contains 4 strands:

1) Our Body and Our Health (Table 1), 2) Plants and their Uses (Table 2),

3) Animals and Their Behaviors (Table 3), and 4) Relationship between Living Things (Table 4). Non-Living Things contains 2 strands:

1) Matter and Its Uses (Table 5), and 2) Energy and Chemicals (Table 6) And Lao PDR contains 2 strands:

1) Geography and History (Table 7) 2) Social Organization (Table 8).

For detailed description of each strand, please see the Appendices. Detailed topics, or Basic Learning Competencies (BLC) taught in these strands are listed within each table indicated.

The original English version of curriculum guideline, distributed by MoES of Lao PDR is written in British English, in this paper, we rewrite them with American English spelling for the consistency. Also,

(3)

some obvious typos and grammatical mistakes are corrected in the Appendices and Tables 1-8.

4. Analysis of the Curriculum

In this section, I will summarize some points in the curriculum, or more accurately in the BLC (§4.1-4.8 and corresponding Tables 1-8) of World Around Us that seems to be placed out of order, or need some reorganization. Since the curriculum of World Around Us is going to be revised in 2016, we hope these points will get more attention to improve the curriculum. Again, this analysis was conducted without analyzing the contents of textbooks, which is planned to conduct in following papers (Khanthavy et al., in prep). As a result, it is possible that the content of textbooks are placed in a reasonable order and at ap-propriate level regardless of what is written in the BLC (Tables 1-8).

4.1. Living Things: Our Body and Our Health

In this strand, we found 2 points that we think some attention is required.

The first point is about ‘food’, and its problem is that there is one year of gap while students are learning about it. In grade 1, one of BLC is “identify hygienic and unhygienic food”. Usually, if it is a curriculum in Japan, students will learn some more about food in grade 2. However in Lao PDR, the next time students learn about food while expanding the topic to relationship with some possible illness caused by food is in grade 3 (and towards the end of grade 3), where one of the BLC states “tell the cause and effects of lack of each of the food groups, insufficient food and dirty food.” Even though students are

scheduled to learn about the 3 food groups at the beginning of their 3rd

grade, there is no topic or goal in BLC about ‘food’ or ‘food groups’ in grade 2. On the other hand, students are scheduled to study about illness (e.g., colds and diarrhea) in grade 2, where the BLC state “propose ways to avoid or treat these (‘common diseases and injuries’) including: colds, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, skin diseases, worms, wounds, breakages and drowning.”

Since cold and diarrhea are somewhat related to nutrition, or food that children eats, we think it is much better for students to learn about these, especially about ‘ways to avoid,’ in grade 3 when they learn about “Propose ways to achieve balanced nutrition that are locally appropriate.” At the same time, we propose to move the topics in BLC “Name the 3 food groups, and describe their use (grade 3)” and

“List examples of local food in each group (grade 3)” to 2nd

grade. This way, students can study about food, illness, and relationship between them in more logical steps.

The next problem in this strand that we think is more serious than the first one is about topic of

Ac-quired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Students are scheduled to learn about AIDS in 4th

and 5th

grades. Yet, the order of BLC is clearly out of order. Current BLC mention “propose ways to support AIDS affected people and families” in grade 4, while it states “define what AIDS is and how it affects health” and “Describe ways that AIDS affects communities and life styles” in grade 5. Since students learn what AIDS is and how it affects people in grade 5, it is not possible for them to ‘propose’ how to support people who are affected with AIDS in grade 4.

4.2. Living Things: Plants and Their Uses

In this strand, there is no particular point that seems to be in need of some attention. This might be because this strand is strongly related to the nature and life style of people in Lao PDR.

4.3. Living Things: Animals and Their Behaviors

As in the previous strand, there is no significant issue that seems to be in need of some attention. In-stead, we would like to mention a few points that might need some further attention of analyzing text-books in this strand. One of it is that even though subgroups of vertebrate and invertebrate animals are taught in grade 5, BLC mention the group names of ‘mammals,’ ‘birds,’ ‘amphibians’ and ‘insects’ in

(4)

grade 2. Since the way BLC mention about these animal groups is inside a parenthesis, it seems to re-mind teachers what kind of animals they suppose to show/mention to students rather than teaching what

animals belong to which animal subgroups. Similarly, the last part of the BLC for 3rd

grade mention ‘spi-der, snake and parrot’, but these are mentioned most likely as a reminder for teachers.

On the other hand, this is not an important issue at all, but we noticed an interesting thing in Lao PDR’s curriculum that are different from Japanese, and probably different from other countries’ curriculum for animal classification. In most countries curriculum, animal classification is usually taught from the separating them into vertebrate and invertebrate, and then into their subgroups. After this, then characteris-tics of each group and different animals are introduced to students. However, as can be seen in Table 3, students first learn about different characteristics of various animals first. After students learned about vari-ous characteristics, then in grade 5, they finally learn about how these animals are grouped scientifically (i.e., vertebrate, invertebrate and their subgroups). This is also because knowing characteristics of different animals are very important and directly connected to people’s everyday life as in the second strand of Plants and Their Uses (Table 2).

4.4. Living Things: Relationship between Living Things

As in “Plants and Their Uses” and “Animals and Their Behaviors,” this part is deeply connected with life of Lao people, so the flow of BLC seems to be very reasonable and logical.

Yet if we suggest modifying one thing, it would be moving one BLC point in grade 4 from “Ani-mals and Their Behaviors” to here. In grade 2 and grade 3, students are supposed to learn the basics of food chain under “Relationship between Living Thing,” which seems appropriate. Yet summarizing about food chain is place in grade 4 under “Animals and Their Behaviors” (i.e., “construct food chains and webs for animals of local habitats and report findings about interrelatedness of animals and plants in habi-tats, including: 1) dependency of animals on plants, and 2) dependency on all animals being part of the chains). Since the BLC in “Relationship between Living Things” mentions “identify animals’ food and plant’s food” and “propose what would happen if there were no plants” in grade 2 and “propose reasons that plants are base of food for humans and animals” in grade 3. It seems more appropriate to bring con-cluding competence in this strand.

4.5. Non-Living Things: Matter and Its Uses

The BLC in this strand seems to progress as expected, from students’ surrounding environment to much larger world. Topics about technology also seem to be introduced in proper steps. The only point that is actually out of place is the BLC in grade 4 stating “Identify the vertical and horizontal.” Since this is not the topic belonging to this “Matter and Its Uses” strand, but rather is mathematical concept, we assume this one is simply left behind when writing the curriculum guideline that was probably originally copied from mathematical curriculum guideline.

4.6. Non-Living Things: Energy and Chemicals

Unlike other strands, this strands starts in grade 3. In other words, there is no specific BLC in grade 1 and 2. This might be because due to the nature of the strands. Up to here, the BLC in Living Things and Non-Living Things had relatively strong connection to everyday life of students in Lao PDR. How-ever, this strand, Energy and Chemicals, is clearly one step above the other topics requiring some ad-vanced skills and thoughts on top of basic knowledge that students learned in grade 1 and 2. An inter-view to students in Lao PDR confirms that this strand (physics and chemistry) is one of the least favorite subject/strands among World Around Us (Nishi, 2014; Kozai et al., submitted).

4.7. Lao PDR: Geography and History

The theme of this strand is, as can be seen in the name, geography and history, and none of us

(5)

authors are specialized in this field. Therefore we cannot point out much about content of this strand, es-pecially about the history. However, we want to point out a few points that seems to be placed out of order and, contentwise, unbalanced.

First point is about studying population. In this strand one topic that students are studying since grade 1 is population, starting inside school (grade 1), and gradually spreading out to village (grade 2), region (grade 3), and surrounding countries (grade 4). We don’t know in what aspect the ‘population’ is treated from grade 1 to 3, but the word ‘population’ is officially introduced or appears in the BLC in grade 4. One difference in grade 4 from the earlier grades are that starting grade 4, students start learning popula-tion changes; up to grade 3, they seem to study only static populapopula-tion or the populapopula-tion of each organiza-tion at that moment. However, since defining what ‘populaorganiza-tion’ means is important to even simply count-ing the number of people in different organizations, we recommend to move this ‘defincount-ing population’ to earlier grade (maybe to grade 1).

The next point is the about of topics or number of BLC that students learn in different grades. While there are only 4 BLCs in grade 1, there are 14 BLCs in grade 4 and 5 BLCs with total of 28 sub-topics under them in grade 5. Even though number of BLC increases as grade goes up in other strands, this strand seems to be increasing at much higher rate. Assuming that each topic and sub-topics becoming more complicated as grade goes up, we think it is more appropriate if the burden get spread to lower grades.

4.8. Lao PDR: Social Organization

The final strand in the World Around Us is about various social organizations that makes up students’ school (grade 1), village (grade 2), region, district and province (grade 3), various locations in Lao PDR (grade 4), and countries around Lao PDR (grade 5). From our point of view as a group of scientists, this order and steps seems to be reasonable and logical. We therefore have no suggestions to this strand.

5. Conclusion

In this paper, we went over Lao PDR’s current curriculum and the basic learning competencies, espe-cially the latter in detail, looking for some possible issue or out of order/place BLC that should get some attention for upcoming curriculum revision in 2016. As we look through three large sections and individ-ual strands of Living Things (4 strands), Non-Living Things (2 strands) and Lao PDR (2 strands), we no-ticed some points need reorganization.

The major issue through out the curriculum is that for some topics, the order of introducing contents or topics to students seems to be completely out of order. For example, students are asked to come up how to support AIDS affected people and their families before they learn what the AIDS is and how the disease affects people.

This kind of issues is more apparent for the topics that are not so directly connected to the everyday life of students in Lao PDR, compared to the topics about plants or agriculture, which basically directly relates to their family and living. On the other hand, section about social science, i.e., “Geography and History” and “Social Organization” seems to be well planned and organized, even though contents of grade 4 and 5 are overwhelming, within the curriculum.

Again, the analysis for this paper is conducted with minimum reference to the actual textbooks, the contents of which will be analyzed in our sequential papers (Khanthavy et al., in prep). Therefore, it is possible that the content and placement of different topics are appropriate within the textbooks of Lao PDR. However since our goal is to simply point out issues in the curriculum guideline itself, analyzing the contents of textbook is beyond the scope of this paper.

In coming year of 2016, when one of our co-author returns to Lao PDR, we hope this paper will help him and his colleagues to improve more proper curriculum guideline.

(6)

Acknowledgement

We thank the Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao People’s Democratic Republic for kindly pro-viding the English translated version of the curriculum guideline of “World Around Us” that became the basic material for analysis and publishing this paper. We also thank them for providing the English trans-lated textbooks, which helped us tremendously to conduct various analyses for this paper and sequential papers in preparation.

Note

1) “Lao People’s Democratic Republic” on Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan webpage with population data from Lao Statistics Bureau in 2012:

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/laos/data.html#02

References

ABE Hirokazu, 2007, Teacher Training in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Bulletin of Faculty of Edu-cation, Yamaguchi University, No.57, pp.45-58

ARAKAWA Aya, 2010, Educational Circumstances in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Ryugaku Koryu (Studying Abroad Interaction), Vol.22, No.3, pp.22-25

INUI Miki, 2011, Educational Circumstances in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Focusing on

develop-ment of higher education, Ryugaku Koryu (Studying Abroad Interaction), Vol.23, No.3, pp.18-21

Ministry of Education and Sports, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, 2007, Would Around Us (The

Course Guide), 11pp

NISHI Manami, 2014, Graduation Thesis, Natural Science Major, Naruto University of Education, 56pp TAIRA Tomoe, 2011a, Relationship between Buddhist Temple and Elementary School in Lao People’s

Democratic Republic: Focusing on Temples’ Support for Elementary Schools, Research Bulletin of

Hu-man Development and Education, No.5, pp.33-47

TAIRA Tomoe, 2011b, Lao People’s Democratic Republic “Revised Law on Education” (in Japanese)

(created and promulgated in 2007), Research Bulletin of Human Development and Education, No.5,

pp.49-61

TAKITA Shuichi & INUI Miki, 2008, The Present Situation and Future Prospects of Reformation on

Higher Education in lao PDR—With a Focus on Expansion of Educational Opportunity—, Research

Bul-letin of Kobe University Education Research Center, Vol.17, pp.1-30

TERASHIMA Yukio, KHANTHAVY Houmphanh, TAMURA Kazuyuki & KOZAI Takeshi, 2015,

Configu-ration and Issues of Scientific Learning Contents of the Textbooks “World Around Us” for Elementary Education in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Research Bulletin of Naruto University of Education,

Vol.30, pp.441-451

(7)

Table 1 Living Things: Our Body and Our Health Grad e 1 Grad e 2 Grad e 3 Grad e 4 Grad e 5

Basic Learning Competencies

Tell th e n ames o f th e out er body pa rt s and de sc ri be th ei r func -ti ons , inc ludi ng: ey es , nos e, mout h, ea rs , arms, leg s an d h air De sc ri be appr opr ia te pr oc edur es fo r w as h-ing, ca ri n g for an d k eep in g safe th ese out er body pa rt s Id en ti fy hygi en ic an d unhygi en ic food Appr opr ia te an d hygi -en ic to ilet p ro ced u res De sc ri be th e func ti o n of mout h, te et h and tongue De sc ri be da nge rs fo r mout h, te et h and tongue , and wa ys to wash an d care fo r th em List co mmo n d iseases an d inj ur ie s to the body pa rt s Pr opos e w ay s to av o id or tr ea t th es e inc lud-ing: co ld s, conj unc ti v i-tis, d iarrh ea, sk in d is-eases, w o rms, w o u n d s, b reak ag es an d d ro wn -in g Na me th e 3 food gr oups , and de sc ri be th eir u se List ex amp les o f lo ca l fo o d in each g ro u p A n al y ze th e n u tritio n al ba la nc e o f the ir own ty p ical meals Tell th e cau se an d ef-fects o f lack o f each of th e food gr oups , in su fficien t fo o d an d di rt y food Pr opos e w ay s to ac h ie ve ba la nc ed nu-tritio n th at are lo cally appr opr ia te De sc ri be th e func ti o n o f th e h ea rt and lungs Re por t conc lu si ons fr om activ ities to o b serv e th e re la ti ons hi p o f h ea rt and lungs Dr aw th e body’ s re spi ra -to ry an d circu lato ry sy s-tems an d d escrib e h o w th ey func ti on, an d the ot he r o rg an s invol ve d List co mmo n illn ess o f th e h ea rt and lungs , and th es e sys te ms , and pr o-pos e w ay s to avoi d and treat th ese illn esses, in -cl udi ng: pl eu ri sy , tube rc u-lo sis, lu n g can cer, h eart di se as e, hi gh bl ood pr es -su re ma la ri a and de ngue Ex p lain th e effects o f ci ga re tt es and ot he r ad-di ct iv e subs ta nc es on th e he ar t and lungs , and ge ne ra l h ea lt h , and pr o-pos e w ay s to avoi d u s-in g ad d ictiv e su b stan ces Pr opos e w ay s to suppor t AIDS affected p eo p le an d families Name 5 sen ses, an d d escrib e th e stru ctu re o f body or ga ns Draw th e stru ctu re o f th ese o rg an s, an d ex -pl ai n the wa y the y func ti o n Rep o rt co n clu sio n s fro m activ ities to o b serv e th e func ti o n o f the se ns es De sc ri be th e rol e o f the br ai n in se n si ng th e world List co mmo n illn ess o f th e sen se o rg an s, an d p ropos e w ay s to avoi d and tr ea t th es e, in clu d in g : co n ju n ctiv itis, sk in d iseases, b lin d -n ess an d d eafn ess Te ll th e sys te m and func ti o n o f the di ge s-ti v e, ne rv e, ex cr et or y and re pr oduc ti v e, an d th e rol es of th e o rg an s invol ve d List co mmo n illn ess o f th e sy stems an d p ro -p o se w ay s to av o id an d treat th ese illn ess Expl ai n the ef fe ct s o f al cohol an d o th er ha rm fu l subs ta nc es on th e n er vous an d d i-ge st iv e sys te ms an d g en er al he al th , and pr o-pos e w ay s to avoi d u si ng ha rm fu l subs ta nc es Defin e wh at AIDS is an d h o w it affects h ealth Tell h o w AIDS is tran smitted an d h o w th e ci rc ul at or y sys te m is invol ve d De sc ri be wa ys th at AI DS af fe ct s communi -ties an d life sty les Pr opos e w ay s to p re ve nt th e spr ea d of AI DS in own communi ty ―４００―

(8)

Table 2 Living Things: Plants and Their Uses

＊

Parts of a plant in grade 1 and first words in parentheses in grade 2 added by author by checking the textbook and other parts of the curriculum were missing in the original translated curriculum guideline.

Grad e 1 Grad e 2 Grad e 3 Grad e 4 Grad e 5

Tell wh at a p lan t is an d n ame th e p arts th at ma ke up a p la nt , in cl udi ng: root , tr im, leav e, flo w er an d fru it ＊ D es cr ib e d ifferen ces o f th e p arts in d ifferen t type s o f p la nt s List th e w ay s h u m an s us e the pa rt s o f p la n ts N am e p lan ts th at g ro w o n lan d an d in w ater Name the p la n ts g ro w n by huma n s Tell th e sh ap e o f se ed s (Describ e) water ab -so rp tio n o f seed s (Describ e) th e g ermi-na te on pr oc es s (Tell) th e imp o rtan ce of wa te r and li ght fo r pl an t g ro wt h Pr opos e cor re ct condi-tions fo r st o ri ng se ed s Draw an d ex p lain th e life cy cle o f a p eren -ni al pl an t (e .g., to-mato) Li st na me s o f p la nt s wi th an d w it hout ta p root s Pr opos e re as ons fo r ta pr oot s, an d how pl an t sha pe de pe nds on it De sc ri be th e pur pos e of pl an t tr unks /s te ms Describ e th e d ifferen t stru ctu res o f leaf v ein s, an d th eir rela-ti ons hi p to tr unk an d root type Gr ow so me pl an ts ap -pr opr ia te ly ba se d o n above knowl edge Conc lude th at ch lo rophyl l is a g reen p ig m en t in leav es Expl ai n tha t p la nt ne ed sun li ght to pr oduc e fo o d Expe ri me nt to fi nd th e imp o rtan ce o f w ater an d air to p lan t Expl ai n the food of pl an ts , an d the va lu e o f m anur e as a fertilizer Gr ow pl an ts appr opr ia te ly ba se d o n thi s knowl edge Li st pl an ts wi th an d w it hout fl owe rs Gr oup pl an ts wi thout fl owe rs int o w it h an d wi thout ch lo rophyl l Id en tify m ale an d female flo w ers Describ e p o llin atio n p ro cess De sc ri be wa ys of pr opa ga ti n g p la nt s w it hout flo w ers De sc ri be wa ys to im pr ove sp ec ie s us in g sc i-en ti fi c me thods ―４０１―

(9)

Table 3 Living Things: Animals and Their Behaviors Grad e 1 Grad e 2 Grad e 3 Grad e 4 Grad e 5

Describ e ap p earan ce, u sin g co rrect wo rd s fo r body pa rt s De sc ri be ha bi ta t Name lan d an d w ater an imals Name fo o d o f each an imal Gro u p an imals b y fo o d sour ce De sc ri be an d compa re wa y and sp ee d of movi ng Re la te body sh ap e to ha bi ta t and move me nt Id en tify u sefu l o r da nge rous an im al s Tell reaso n s fo r p ro -tectin g an imals Classify an imals b y th e w ay th ey g iv e bi rt h Co mp are b ab y an im al s to parents (mammals, bi rd s, am phi bi an s, in -sects) Name liv e b irth an i-ma ls an d thos e fr o m eggs Name p laces wh ere an imals g iv e b irth o r la y eggs De sc ri be wa ys pa re nt s ca re for young an d eggs Draw an d co m p are life cy cles o f v ario u s an im al s inc ludi ng th o se th at ch an g e fo rm Classify an imals b y th e sha pe , w he re to li v e, movi ng pr oc es s of hunt in g and ea ti n g Classify an imals b y th e ad v an tag es an d d is ad v an ta g es of gr oups Id en tify an imal b y th e body ch ar ac te ri s-tics u sed fo r h u n tin g or food pr oc es si ng ( spi de r, sn ak e and p arro t) Classify an imals b y th e ti m e the y fe ed (n ight or da y) Cons tr uc t food ch ai ns an d w eb s fo r an imals o f lo cal h ab itats an d rep o rt fi ndi ngs about in te rr el at -edne ss of an im al s and p lan ts in h ab itats, in clu d -ing: -d ep ende nc y o f ani ma ls on pl an ts -d ep ende nc y o n al l an i-mals b ein g p art o f th e ch ain s Describ e th e w ay an imal co lo rin g is related to ha bi ta t, fo r ca m ouf la ge pur pos es an d the wa y so me an im al s cha nge co lo r to sui t the envi ron-ment List an imals w ith co lo r of th ei r envi ronme n t Re por t o n expe ri me nt s wi th an im al s tha t cha nge co lo r Classify an imals in to v erteb rate an d in v erte-br at e, an d the n fur th er in to subgr oups Describ e th e d ifferen ce b etween v erteb rate an d in v erteb rate Na me 5 v er te br at e sub gr oups , and de sc ri be featu res Na me 5 inve rt eb ra te subgr oups an d d es cr ib e featu res De sc ri be br ee d in g m et hods fo r spe ci es im -pr ove me nt , inc ludi ng: -the adva nt ag es of br ee d in g for im pr ove -ment -b re ed in g m et hods an d re sul ts -co m p are th e resu lts o f n atu ral an d artificial b reed in g -th e b est way to select an imals fo r b reed -in g ―４０２―

(10)

Table 4 Living Things: Relationship between Living Things Grad e 1 Grad e 2 Grad e 3 Grad e 4 Grad e 5

Tell th e w ay s th at h u m an s, an imals an d p lan ts are related De sc ri be wa ys pe opl e shoul d ca re for an d p ro tect an imals an d pl an ts Describ e th e d iffer-en ce b etween liv in g an d nonl iv in g thi ngs Te ll about th e n ee d s of li v in g thi ngs Id en ti fy the foods we ge t fr o m p la nt s and an imals Id en tify an imals’ fo o d an d p la nt s’ food Pr opos e w ha t w oul d ha ppe n if the re we re no pl an ts Te ll th e sour ce of en erg y fo r h u m an s an d an imals Pr opos e re as ons th at p lan ts are b ase o f food fo r huma n s and an imals Inve st ig at e loc al envi ron-men t to ev alu ate wh ere it is a good ha bi ta t for liv in g th in g s Re por t o n p robl em s and ac ti ons re qui re d Pr opos e w ay s to sol ve thos e p robl em s Co llect d ata o n fo rest cons er va ti o n and enda n-g ered sp ecies an d rep o rt fi ndi ngs De sc ri be th e tr ans fe r o f ene rg y b et we en li v -in g thi ngs in food ch ai ns In v estig ate th e effects o n eco lo g ical relatio n -sh ip s if th e b alan ce b etween sp ecies is d is-tu rb ed , inc ludi ng: -the wa ys an im al s ada pt to ch ange -p ropos e w ay s to cons er ve th e b al an ce in h ab itats ―４０３―

(11)

Table 5 Non-Living Things: Matter and Its Uses Grad e 1 Grad e 2 Grad e 3 Grad e 4 Grad e 5

Describ e th e m atter th at ma ke s u p the wor ld, an d the wa ys huma n us e it , in cl ud-ing: so il , st one , w at er , ai r, Sun, Moon an d stars Inve st ig at e the pr op-erties o f m atter De sc ri be how pe opl e us e the se pr ope rt ie s, in cl udi ng: -d ifferen t ty p es o f so il an d sto n e -sol id s and li qui ds -w ater an d air -u se th e S u n , sh ad -o w s, times o f th e da y and di re ct io n Id en tify fresh water an d salt w ater re-sour ce s of th e w or ld in cl u d in g th e 5 o cean s Expl ai n the wa te r cy-cle Ext ra ct so lubl e sub-stan ces fro m w ater Expl ai n the us e o f water fo r ag ricu ltu re, indus tr y and tr an spor t In v estig ate air an d d e-scrib e its p ro p erties, in -cl udi ng: -m easu re air temp eratu re wi th a the rm ome te r -air weig h t, elasticity , an d for ce on ot he r ob-jects, effects o f h eat o n air Pr opos e the ca u se s and da nge rs of ai r pol lu ti o n Inve st ig at e soi l and de -scrib e its p ro p erties, in -cl udi ng: -th e ab so rb en cy o f d if-fe re nt ki nds of so il -the us es of th es e p rop-erties Inve st ig at e st one an d d e-scrib e its p ro p erties, in -cl udi ng: -d if fe re nt type s o f st one -the us es of di ff er ent pr ope rt ie s Co llect d ata o n th e ca u se s o f cha nge in th e envi ronme n t and on pa st p ractices in u sin g n atu ral re sour ce s, and re por t fi ndi ngs Id en tify th e v ertical an d hor iz ont al Us e sha dows and th e Su n , th e stars an d a co mp ass to fin d d irectio n Do expe ri me nt s tha t d em ons tr at e the Sun af -fe ct s to the Ea rt h, an d expl ai n the se , inc lud-ing: -how ni ght an d d ay oc cu rs -how se as ons oc cu r -how da y le ngt hs va ry -how th e M oon se em s to cha nge -w ha t h appe ns in ec li p se s Ma ke a m ode l o f, an d n am e the pl an et s in or de r, an d g iv e fa ct s about th ei r re la ti v e sizes Col le ct da ta on la te st an d expr es s opi ni ons about the positive and negative aspects o f te chnol ogi ca l adva nc em en t ―４０４―

(12)

Table 6 Non-Living Things: Energy and Chemicals Grad e 1 Grad e 2 Grad e 3 Grad e 4 Grad e 5

Basic Learning Competencies No content for grade 1 No content for grade 2

Na me li ght sour ce s an d re por t o n expe ri -me nt s w it h li ght , in-cl udi ng: -n aru tal an d m an ma de li ght sour ce s -m ak e obs er va ti ons wi th an d w it hout li ght -p ropos e re as o n s st ar s ar e not vi si bl e dur -in g the da y St udy th e v al ue of si m -p le m ach in es (ramp s, lev ers an d w h eel) Re por t fr o m expe ri -me nt s o n n at ur al fo rc es , inc lude ing: -the fo rc es of wi nd, water an d resistan ce -for ce pr ope rt ie s o f ma gne ts Cr ea te si m pl e toy th at u ses a fo rce Re por t fr o m expe ri me nt s on th e p rope rt ie s o f li ght , inc ludi ng: -show li ght tr av el s in a straig h t lin e -re fl ec ti o n, bl endi ng li g ht , sp ee d of li ght (t im e d elay b etween lig h ten -in g and thunde r) -p ropos e b es t w ay s to us e li ght in g equi pme n t Re por t fr o m expe ri me nt s on th e p rope rt ie s o f h ea t, in cl udi ng: -cha nge st at e and si ze of obj ec ts -m ove me nt of he at (c o n -duc ti on, conve ct ion, ra -di at ion) , and ma te ri al s th at mo v e h eat -p ropos e b es t w ay s to u se h eat Re por t fr o m expe ri me nt s on th e p rope rt ie s o f sound, in cl udi ng: -d if fe re nt sounds ma de by di ff er ent obj ec ts and materials -d es cr ib e d ifferen t so u n d s -u se of sound -th e effects o n p eo p le of to o m uc h/ to o loud sounds Re por t fr o m expe ri me nt s o n the pr ope rt ie s of si mpl e ci rc ui ts , inc ludi ng: -the di ff er enc e b et we en AC (a lt er n at e cur -re nt ) and DC (d ir ec t cu rr ent ) and gi ve ex -am pl es of na tu ra l A C sour ce s -co n n ect simp le circu it w ith b attery an d gl obe s -expl or e p rope rt ie s o f cl o se d, ope n, se ri es an d p arallel arran g emen ts, an d d raw th em -inve st ig at e st ruc tu re of bi cy cl e cog an d ex-pl ai n how it wor k s Name electrical ap p lian ce in u se lo cally List ad v an tag es, d isad v an tag es an d d an g ers o f electricity Cl as si fy th e u se of th e che mi ca ls w e com-mo n ly u se in life Tell th e co mmo n p ro cess to u se ch emicals Re ad an d ana ly ze la be ls on pr oduc ts Id en tify p o sitiv e an d n eg ativ e asp ects o f u s-in g ch emicals ―４０５―

(13)

Table 7 Lao PDR: Geography and History

＊

In the original translation, there is a word “including: ” that is omitted in this table, but missing a list that fol-lows. Grad e 1 Grad e 2 Grad e 3 Grad e 4 Grad e 5

De sc ri be ge ogr aphy o f th e sc hool ya rd Ma ke si mpl e ma ps of th e sc hool ya rd us in g co n crete materials Sur v ey th e popul at io n of sc hool an d re co rd it Research an d retell hi st or y o f the sc hool De sc ri be ge ogr aphy o f th e v illag e an d su rr oundi ng ar ea Mak e simp le ‘b ird s ey e v ie w’ ma ps of th e v illag e, in clu d in g ro ad s an d m ai n p laces Sur v ey th e popul at io n an d o ccu p atio n o f population o f v illage Re te ll hi st or y o f the v illag e De sc ri be type s o f tr an spor t u se d in the v illag e, an d way s th ey are p o w ered Indi ca te loc at io n tha t ca u se s o f envi ron-me nt al pr obl em s and accid en ts in th e v il-lag e Gi ve opi ni ons about ad v an tag es o f clean li-ne ss an d envi ron-me nt al be au ty of vi l-lag e Describ e th e reg io n around the v illage (d istrict o r p ro v in ce) Ma ke si mpl e ma ps of th e reg io n u sin g a le ge nd Se ek da ta about th e popul at io n o f re g io n an d re por t fi ndi ngs Re te ll hi st or y o f the re gi on De sc ri be type s o f co mmuni ca ti o n in the re gi on Pr opos e the wa y the y ( d if fe re nt type s o f co mmuni ca ti ons ) ar e us ed , and by whom Un d erstan d th e d iff er en ce s b etween simp le map s Expl ai n the me an in g o f ma p symbol s Loc at e L ao ’s ne ighbor in g count ri es an d compa re sizes De fi ne th e w or ds ‘popu-la ti on’ an d ‘popul at io n st udi es ’ Pr opos e ca u se s o f popu-latio n ch an g e in th e fam-il y , cl as sr oom, sc hool an d v illag e Read in fo rmatio n an d in -di ca te o n the ma p about settlemen t p attern s an d d ifferen t liv in g sy stems in re gi ons of La o Na me se ve ra l L ao et hni c gr oups , and de sc ri be th e ir cl ot hi ng, cu lt u re an d tr a-d itio n s o f each De sc ri be th e rol es of th e lev els o f th e d ifferen t ad min istrativ e sy stem in Lao P DR (Cont inued o n n ext p age...) De fi ne th e te rms ‘popul at io n d en si ty ,’ su rv ey lo ca ll y to co ll ec t popul at io n inf or ma ti o n for p resen tatio n an d an aly sis* Loc at e o n a ma p and de sc ri be th e g eogr a-p h y cal featu res o f Lao P DR an d th eir im-por ta nc e to p eopl e, in cl udi ng: -th e d ifferen t terrain s -the ec onomi c im por ta nc e o f the pl ai n ar ea s -the na me s and lo ca ti ons of pl at ea u s -the ra nge of cl im at es -the sour ce an d p at h o f the Me kong Ri ve r, in cl udi ng count ri es it pa ss es thr ough Loc at e and de sc ri be th e m ai n indus tr ie s in La o P DR an d eva lu at e the ir cons tr ai ni ng fa c-to rs , inc ludi ng: -th e main ag ricu ltu ral activ ities in d ifferen t pa rt s o f L ao PDR -th e d ifferen t d o m estic an imals acro ss L ao PDR -the di ff er en t for ms of fi sh fa rm in g -the ar ea s of ti m be r indus tr y in the fo re st s of La o P DR -the im por ta nc e o f the fo re st an d the ne ed fo r cons er va ti o n -the ha ndi cr af t indus tr y -impor ta nt an d popul ar ha ndi cr af ts -k ey fe at ur es of indus tr ie s and fa ct or ie s in Lao P DR -th e imp o rtan ce o f m ark ets fo r su ccess o f indus tr ie s -the im por ta nc e o f ra w ma te ri al s for indus -tr y sur vi va l -the di ff er en t m et hods of tr an spor t -the im por ta nc e o f tr ans por t and co mmuni -ca ti o n in indus tr y (Cont inued o n n ext p age...) ―４０６―

(14)

Table 7 (Continued) Lao PDR: Geography and History Grad e 1 Grad e 2 Grad e 3 Grad e 4 Grad e 5

All contents are summarized in previous page. All contents are summarized in previous page. All contents are summarized in previous page.

Read b rief h isto rical in -fo rmatio n , an d fro m it d escrib e o rig in an d life-sty les o f an cien t L ao PDR Te ll about hi st or ic al fi g-ur es who h av e cont ri b-u ted to n atio n b u ild in g De sc ri be how li v in g con-di ti ons ha ve ch ange d Tell th e n ames an d lo ca-tio n o f h isto rical sites in La o P DR, and gi ve re a-sons fo r the ir pr es se rv a-tio n R et el l th e h is to rical ev en ts dur in g re igns of Ki ng Fa ngum, K in g S am se n-th ai an d K in g S oul ivong an d o f the ir cont ri but io n to th e L ao PDR to d ay Pr opos e b en ef it s ar is in g fr o m n at ionhood Co mp are L ao PDR to so m e o th er ASEAN count ri es , inc ludi ng: -g eo g rap h ical lo catio n s an d featu res -populations and economic conditions -ad m in istrativ e sy stem an d cap ital cities -p ropos e adva nt ag es of re la ti ons hi ps wi th ne ighbor in g count ri es -col le ct in fo rm at io n and re por t about im por -ta nt ev en ts in ASEAN count ri es si nc e 1995 Read b rief h isto rical in fo rmatio n , an d fro m it de sc ri be th e L ao ‘f ight ag ai ns t col oni al is m,’ in cl udi ng: -ca u se of th e fi ght -the di ff er en t p er iods of th e fi ght -t h e m ea n in g o fO ct o b er1 2 th , 1945 -the ro le in hi st or y o f the cr ea ti o n o f the La o P eopl e’ s A rm y -significant b attles from 1963 to 1972 -the hi st or ic al si gni fi ca n ce of th e es ta b li sh-me nt of th e L ao Pe opl e’ s D em oc ra ti c Re -p u b lic o n Decemb er 2 nd , 1975 ―４０７―

(15)

Table 8 Lao PDR: Social Organization

＊

In the original translation, there is a word “including: ” but missing a list that follows.

Grad e 1 Grad e 2 Grad e 3 Grad e 4 Grad e 5

T el l th e u se s o f sc hool Te ll th e g roups in -vol ve d in the sc hool (s ma ll gr oups , g ra de s, teachers, school com-mittees, etc. ) Tell th e w o rk o f each group ( pupil, teach ers, an d p rin ci-pa l, an d the ir re spon-sib ilities) Tell th e ad m in istra-tiv e stru ctu re o f th e sc hool Id en ti fy sc hool le ad er s Tell th e reaso n s wh y pe opl e li v e toge th er in v illag es De sc ri be th e g roups invol ve d in the vi l-lag e (families, co m-mittees, in stitu teio n s an d counc il s) De sc ri be th e w or k o f p eo p le in th e v illag e Describ e th e ad m in is-trativ e stru ctu re o f th e v illag e, an d id en -tify v illag e lead ers De sc ri be th e w or k o f th e v illag e lead ers: th eir ro les an d re-sponsibilities De sc ri be th e impor -tan t festiv als o f th e v illag e Gi ve opi ni ons about th e w ay pe opl e ar e suppor te d b y b ei ng a memb er o f a v illag e De sc ri be th e g roups invol ve d in the re g io n (gove rn me nt , commi t-tees, in stitu tio n s an d counc il s) De sc ri be th e w or k o f pe opl e in the re gi on Describ e th e ad m in is-trativ e stru ctu re o f th e d istrict an d p ro v -in ce, an d lead ers De sc ri be th e w or k o f th e d istrict an d p ro -v in cial lead ers: th eir roles and responsibili-ties Describ e th eir rela-tio n sh ip w ith th e v il-lag e an d lo cal lead ers De sc ri be th e tr adi ti ons an d ar t of di ff er ent et h-ni c g roups in La o, in -cl udi ng: fi ne ar ts an d cul -tu ra asp ects Pr opos e w ay s to p re se rv e an d p ro mo te cu ltu res o f Lao P DR Co mp are L ao PDR arts an d cu ltu res w ith n eig h -bor in g count ri es Name an d lo catio n s o f arch aeo lo g ical o b jects an d sites (n atio n al h eritag e) o f L ao PDR* Clarify th e d ifferen ce b etween o b jects an d sites De sc ri be wa ys th es e thi ngs ar e v al ue d in terms o f sacred n ess Co mp are L ao PDR arts an d cu ltu res w ith ASEAN count ri es , in te rms of na ti ona l h er i-tag e an d sacred sites an d o b jects, an d w ay s of unde rs ta ndi ng th es e Ex p ress o wn attitu d e to arts, cu ltu re an d tra-di ti ons Expl ai n the te rm s ci v il an d cr imi na l la w s, an d d escrib e th eir imp act o n o u r liv es ―４０８―

(16)

Appendices

In this Appendix, we would like to keep a record of published English version of Lao PDR’s curricu-lum guideline for World Around Us (obtained through H. Khanthavy, who is visiting Naruto University of Education during the school year of 2014). As in Tables 1-8, some British spellings are converted into American spellings for the consistency of the paper. According to Khanthavy, this is the whole curriculum guideline and same thing as the one published in Laotian (Lao language).

A 1. Curriculum Guideline of “World Around Us”

The subject World Around us is a combination of Science, Social Studies, Environment and Health leaning at the primary school level. It is the study of these subjects as they relate to daily life of the stu-dents themselves; in the stustu-dents’ own environment and society. In daily life these subjects (fields of knowledge) are integrated, and so in World Around Us the learning is presented in an integrated way. Use of language skills and ideas of technology are also integrated with the World Around Us content

World Around Us develops students’ ability to research nature through observations and experimenta-tion. It enhances their understanding and understandings of their own and other societies, of local and na-tional environments, and of the interdependence between people, their society and their environment. It promotes knowledge, skills attitudes and values that lead to active participation in their local and the global society. World Around Us helps students to explore, know and understand their world, so that they are able to make informed and responsible decisions to improve their lifestyle, their environment and their society, and it provides opportunities for students to solve problems using appropriate methods. World Around Us also provides the basic knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for accessing higher levels of education.

A 1.1. Aims

Learning of World Around Us in the primary school is for the student to develop: Knowledge:

- Understand of themselves and the environment.

- Knowledge of the nature of the relationships between environments and living things. - Knowledge of changing environment and society.

- Knowledge of their own culture and community. - Knowledge of social diversity and social cohesion. - Knowledge of societies outside Lao PDR.

- Knowledge of the body and ways to achieve good health.

Skills:

- Ability to question how and why things are as they are.

- Ability to plan and undertake investigations and inquiries into topics and issues, and gather valid in-formation, with an appreciation of or control of the variable involved.

- Ability to observe, appraise (measure and evaluate), analyze (e.g., classify, interpret data) and take action

- Ability to use simple research tools and scientific equipment.

- Ability to research locally with environmental, human and text resources to find information.

- Ability to predict (using results to hypothesis, give reasons) and explain (describe processes) from inquiry.

- Ability to think critically, basing opinions on supportable and reliable evidence.

- Ability to communicate research findings in words, tables, graphs, diagrams and other scientific forms.

(17)

- Ability to work with others; work together and share ideas.

- Ability to use, develop and apply scientific knowledge in daily life. - Ability to solve problems.

- Ability to make informed health choices in life.

Attitudes & Values:

- Interest in and curiosity about natural and scientific process. - A scientific approach to finding out and problem solving. - Respect for the views of others.

- Respect for the culture of others. - Creativity in problem solving.

- Pride in own self, in culture and nation. - Care for the resources of Lao PDR.

- A responsible and caring attitude towards themselves, other people and the environment. - An openness to new ideas, and intellectual honesty and rigor.

A 1.2. Content

The subject World Around Us has 3 parts (strands). The parts are Living Things, Non-Living

Things, and Lao PDR. These parts are the same for each grade. All of these parts contain smaller parts (strands).

A 1.2.1. Living Things

Through studying Living Things, students will develop a basic understanding of what living things are, and of their needs for health and survival. They will also develop an understanding of the relationships between living things, and the role of each living things in a balanced environment.

Living things contains 4 smaller parts. These are:

i) Our Body and Our Health: Students develop an understanding of their own body, outside and inside: its parts and the way it functions. Students are encouraged to consider the risks to the health of their body and to learn to take responsibility for their own well being; through cleanli-ness, self protection, disease prevention, nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. Students learn that for some health aspects, they can make choices that will help to maintain their health. Where possi-ble, students research by studying themselves, and use their own knowledge and experiences to propose ways to avoid bad health.

ii) Plants and their Uses: Students develop an understanding of the structure of plants, and how they function as living things. Students consider the life cycle of perennial plants, and do re-search to understand the physical processes of plants; what plants need in order to grow and be healthy. They also learn to scientifically classify different types of plants according to their struc-ture and behavior. Students also consider the way humans grow plants and use their parts. Where possible, students undertake scientific experiments to demonstrate the various functions of plants. iii) Animals and their Behaviors: Students learn to describe animals: their appearance and parts, their

life cycles, their habitats, their physical adaptations to their environment and their behaviors for living, camouflage and predation. Students classify animals in several informal ways; day time and nocturnal, lone and group, uses and dangers, etc. Students also scientifically classify animals. The students develop simple knowledge of animal breeding practices as well. Through studying the balance of animals in each habitat, as prey and predators, students will also build concepts of food chains and webs, ecology and environmental balance.

iv) Relationships between Living Things: Students further develop their concepts of ecology and en-vironment through studying the relationships between themselves, plants and animals. They

(18)

velop a realization that they have a responsibility to protect the balance because the survival of all living things, including humans, depends on it.

A 1.2.2. Non-Living Things

Through studying Non-Living Things, students will develop a basic understanding of the physical properties of their world, and how these are exploited by humans.

Non-Living Things contains 2 smaller parts. These are:

i) Matter and its Uses: Students develop an understanding of the matter that their world is made of. They learn about the different types of matter, the properties of each type, and the way hu-mans exploit these properties. Students consider the effects on the environment of different prac-tices in exploiting these resources, and the appropriateness of these particles. Students also learn about the natural systems and phenomena of the world, such as the water cycle, seasons, eclipses, etc. Students develop an understanding that these systems are on going and in a state of continuous balance, and that we can rely on them for a range of human purposes such as deter-mining direction. Students also consider the value to humans of advanced scientific research of our world, and the technological development associated with this.

ii) Energy and Chemicals: Students in grades 3 to 5 develop an understanding of the basic proper-ties of light, heat, electricity and sound. They explore the force properproper-ties of wind, water, mag-nets and simple machines, and how humans use these. They also consider the properties of chemicals used in daily life to help in their work. For each of these, students also consider the correct way to use them and the dangers of misuse.

A 1.2.3. Lao PDR: Our People and Our Environment

Through studying Lao PDR, students will develop a basic understanding how to study human society. They will learn about the ways humans organize themselves to live together, and the effects of history, lo-cation and development on lifestyles and social systems.

Lao PDR: Our People and Our Environment contains 2 smaller parts. These are:

i) Geography and History: Students will develop skills in making and reading maps, and using them to talk about geographical features, the human populations in regions on the map, and live-lihood activities undertaken in each region. Students will consider the different ethnic groups of Lao PDR, the different lifestyles in each region and the way the administrative system operates at different levels across the country. Students will also learn about transport, communication and industry in Lao PDR, and consider some of the constraints to industrial development. Students will know their neighboring countries, some ASEAN countries and countries along the Mekong River. Students will compare Lao PDR with some of these countries.

Students will also develop knowledge about the regions of some kings in the past, and how they developed the foundation for nationhood. They will also know about more recent history; particu-larly the events leading to the overthrow of colonialism, leading to the establishment of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

ii) Social Organization: Students will consider local lifestyles and the work that people do in their region. Students will develop knowledge of the way society is made up of different groupings of people for different purposes, and the way these groups work with local administrative systems, to contribute to social development. Students will develop an understanding the roles and respon-sibilities of the leaders of their society, and they will consider the rules and laws that citizens live by.

Students will also learn about the way their arts and cultural artifacts represent their society, and they will compare these with the arts and culture of some other countries. Students will develop an appreciation of the value of their own culture, and understand the importance of protecting the

(19)

archaeological objects and sites in Lao PDR.

A 1.2.4. Basic Learning Competencies for Each Grade

Basic Learning Competencies that students will be learning in World Around Us are summarized in Table 1-8.

(20)

We analyzed the contents or more particularly the Basic Learning Competencies (BLC) for the ele-mentary school subject “World Around Us” of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). Lao PDR is revising their curriculum guidelines for elementary school in 2016. Since we have an opportunity to study the current curriculum guideline and textbook contents of the “World Around Us” here at the Naruto Uni-versity of Education this year, we therefore analyzed what is exactly in the context of the BLC within the curriculum. Without referring details to the textbook itself, we first summarized the obvious issues and problems in the BLC of the curriculum guideline for the “World Around Us”. We found that for some topics, the order of BLC in some strands are placed in strange manner, so that students seems to learn the application before they learn the basics. In this paper, we therefore summarized some issues in need of further attention for total of 8 strands from all 3 sections (Living Things, Non-Living Things, and Lao PDR) defined in the curriculum guideline.