open access

https://doi.org/10.14943/J.HighEdu.30.1

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/88836

"Jizo" Students in First-Year PBL Group Activities : Why Do They Become "Jizo?"

日本語

2023-03

Institute for the Advancement of Higher Education, Research Division for Higher Education

Journal of higher education and lifelong learning

30

1-15

This study refers to those students, provisionally called “Jizo”, who are present in group activities but do not (cannot) move autonomously and do not (appear to) contribute to the activities. These “Jizo” students are different from free riders who deliberately avoid work. This study aims to explore these students’ viewpoints and clarify the circumstances that led to their becoming “Jizo”. The interviewees were chosen students from four universities who attended PBL (project based learning) classes in the first semester of their first year. The responses were collected through semi-structured interviews. The data collected indicated that becoming a Jizo was a result of failing at problem-solving and the fact that it was a group activity. The former was due to 1) the inability to comprehend the business issues, and 2) “group thinking”. The latter was seen in situations of 1) staying silent because they can’t help it, 2) a sense of selfperipheralization, 3) avoidance of people they disliked, and 4) withholding power due to annoyance. Situations 1-3 were thought to be due to a lack of psychological safety and the lost feeling of personal causation. In addition to these situations, this study also demonstrated that to encourage active participation without allowing students to become Jizo, it is necessary to consider the phenomenon in which group activities progress without their involvement.

紀要論文

Version of Record

1341-9374

AN10527626