In this study, intended for elementary school upper-grade students, to perform classification of trends of experience and awareness of the phenomena that typify causal relations in daily life, with clarification of the actual, are considered as primary examples of teaching methods suitable for typified groups.
At first, multidimensional scaling was used for analysis based on the non-similarity degree data between variables (question items) which used the square Euclidean distance as an index. Next, non-hierarchical cluster analysis was performed on the basis of the non-similar degree data between the individual (subjects) who used the square Euclidean distance as an index. Each obtained cluster was then reflected on 2 dimensional space.
As a result, by the tendency of experience and awareness toward the phenomena that typify causal relations in the elementary school upper grades, four groups (“the lower group of experience and awareness”, “the medium group of insufficient experience”, “the medium group of insufficient awareness”, and “the upper group of experience and awareness”) were revealed. Furthermore, it was possible to consider which examples of teaching methods were suitable for those four groups.