日本社會課程主要採探究取向的課程設計。本研究以日本《小學校學習指導要領解說─社會編》（以下簡稱《社會指導要領》）和日本東京書籍《新社會》為研究對象，以變遷與因果單元為事例，運用文本分析法分析社會指導要領反映的知識觀和理念，以及教科書課程設計的特色和關鍵要素。研究發現：首先，日本《社會指導要領》提供教育性的引導，以探究與問題解決作為學習主要途徑，具體闡述各年級各單元之學習目標、課程內容和內容處理方式。其次，教科書採掌握、調查、統整與應用4步驟的策略引導，運用「示例－問題」為學習鷹架之綜合取向專題探究設計。然而，整體內容公民行動任務較少，難以全然回應C3探究弧第四面向「溝通結論及採取知情行動」。最後，本文根據研究發現提出數項建議，以提供我國國小社會領域課程發展之另一種視野和參考。

Social studies curriculum in Japan primarily adopts an inquiry-based design. This study analyzed the “National Curriculum Standards for Elementary Schools— social studies” and the textbook “New Social Studies,” published by Tokyo Shoseki in Japan, specifically examining units on change and causality. This study conducted a text analysis to examine the educational perspectives in the Japanese curriculum standards and to identify the characteristics and key elements of the textbook’s curriculum design. The findings revealed several key points: First, the Japanese curriculum standards emphasize the importance of providing educative guidance and adopting inquiry and problem-solving as primary learning methodologies. They provide specific descriptions of learning objectives, curriculum content, and content processing methods for each grade and unit. Second, the textbooks employ a structured approach of “grasp, investigate, integrate, and apply” as their guiding framework. They utilize the “exampleproblem” format as a scaffold for learning, enabling an integrated approach to inquiry learning. However, the analysis results revealed that the content generally neglects civic engagement and scarcely addresses the fourth dimension of the Inquiry Arc, which involves “communicating conclusions and taking informed action.” These findings provide a novel perspective and a reference for the development of Taiwan’s elementary social studies curriculum.