Central Education Council has recently demanded that「Active-Learning」be introduced in schools.
The reason is that the active learning ability is in high need in the knowledge-based society. Of course,
the current social studies and history teaching curriculum is facing criticism as they impose too much
concentration on memorizing facts and knowledge. However, we need to recognize the real problem:
unlike the past, the schools and classes nowadays do not act as「common areas」that foster citizenship,
because of the highly competitive nature of today’s neo-liberalization. The private problems outside the
school are already piling up, including the poverty that children’s families are facing. And these outside
problems are tucking into the「common areas」of so-called schools and classes, realized as the
problems of「bullying」or「truancy」. For these reasons, the schools and classes can be said to be
degenerated in terms of「common areas」and they should be interpreted again. Thus, this study
analyzes「Active-Learning」in regards of the degeneration of「common areas」and investigates the
practice of history education in high schools as an alternative model.