NHK Educational Television: Think Like a Crow and Viewpoint Science

Bringing scientific ways of seeing and thinking to television and learning environments.

Kei Kano served on the programme committees of NHK Educational TV’s Think Like a Crow—The Scientific Method and Viewpoint Science, contributing to programme production, development and research support.

The lab’s role was not limited to using finished programmes in workshops. Together with production partners, we considered how questions and images could encourage viewers to observe, compare, predict, hypothesise and test. These ideas were then extended into classroom teaching, hands-on activities and educational resources.

Commissioned research underpinning the programmes

Before the programmes were produced, the lab led two commissioned research projects for NHK on how content could communicate science not simply as settled knowledge, but as a process involving hypotheses, observation, comparison, testing, interpretation, revision and uncertainty.

In FY2012, the team reviewed cases in Japan and abroad and identified design principles for communicating scientific processes and uncertainty. In FY2013, those findings were translated into interactive content and tested in practice, examining how viewers could predict, investigate and revise their thinking. Together, the two studies provided a research foundation for the approaches later developed through Think Like a Crow and Viewpoint Science.

Think Like a Crow—The Scientific Method

The programme did not rush to explain familiar phenomena. It invited viewers to begin with “What if…?”, make a hypothesis, observe, test and revise their thinking in light of the result.

Kei Kano served as a programme committee member in the 2013 academic year and developed research on primary-school lessons, programme-linked workshops and active learning. Videos based on hands-on STEM workshops such as “grains of sesame and salt,” “a drone and a scale,” and “a tray and balloons” remain available online.

Watch Think Like a Crow on NHK

Viewpoint Science

This programme investigated one object through multiple “viewpoints”: comparing, counting, arranging, separating and looking across time.

Kei Kano served as a programme committee member from the 2017 to 2018 academic years and contributed to production, development and research support. Its approach later informed a book for homes and schools and The Comparing Game, which invites players to generate questions, compare and classify.

Explore Viewpoint Science on NHK for School

From television to classrooms, workshops and resources

Television can be the beginning rather than the end of learning.

Give learners time to predict before revealing a result.
Revisit the same object through different viewpoints.
Express an idea through words, diagrams and movement.
Compare predictions and revise an explanation.
Value the shared process of questioning and testing, not only agreement on an answer.

Related awards

2017 Prize for Science and Technology, Public Understanding Promotion Category, MEXT — Science Education on Scientific Viewpoint
2017 Annual Meeting Presentation Award, Japan Society for Science Education — Research on workshops linked with Think Like a Crow
2019 Science Education Practice Award, Japan Society for Science Education — Practice-based research on science communication linked with educational television

View awards on researchmap

Related papers and books

Kano, K., Mizumachi, E., Motoki, T., Akiya, N., Shiose, T., Hejcik, P., & Okamoto, M. (2013, April). 科学のプロセスや不確実性が伝わるためのコンテンツとは？―国内外の事例から― [What kinds of content communicate scientific processes and uncertainty? Lessons from cases in Japan and abroad]. 2012年度日本放送協会からの受託研究報告書 [Commissioned research report for NHK, FY2012], 1–131. Shiga University researcher profile

Kano, K., Mizumachi, E., Motoki, T., Akiya, N., Shiose, T., Hejcik, P., Okamoto, M., Sasaki, T., & Kitagawa, E. (2014, April). 科学のプロセスや不確実性が伝わることを目指したインタラクティブなコンテンツの開発と実践 [Development and implementation of interactive content designed to communicate scientific processes and uncertainty]. 2013年度日本放送協会からの受託研究報告書 [Commissioned research report for NHK, FY2013], 1–226 (invited contribution). Shiga University researcher profile

Kano, K., & Sasaki, T. (2013). 「科学の考え方」をテーマにした小学校授業実践：NHK理科教育番組「考えるカラス」を活用して [A primary-school lesson on scientific thinking using NHK’s Think Like a Crow]. Proceedings of the Japan Society for Science Education Annual Meeting, 37, 434–435. DOI / official page

Kano, K., Mizumachi, E., Shiose, T., et al. (2016). 科学の考え方に注目したアクティブラーニング：NHK Eテレ「考えるカラス」連動ワークショップを例に [Active learning focused on scientific thinking: Workshops linked with NHK’s Think Like a Crow]. Proceedings of the Japan Society for Science Education Annual Meeting, 40, 57–58. DOI / official page

NHK Think Like a Crow Production Team (Ed.), & Kawasumi, H. (Supervisor). (2014). NHK 考えるカラス：「もしかして？」からはじまる楽しい科学の考え方 [NHK Think Like a Crow: Enjoyable scientific thinking that begins with “What if?”]. NHK Publishing. Publisher page

NHK Viewpoint Science Production Team (Ed.). (2024). NHKカガクノミカタ：自分だけの「フシギ」を見つけよう！ [NHK Viewpoint Science: Find your own mystery!]. NHK Publishing. Publisher page