Abstract
The purpose of this article is to investigate what factors affect the rule learning in science lesson on “dissolution” in the fifth grade children(n=66). In order to achieve this purpose, lesson plans were made on three principles: (a) the use of multiple examples, (b) the prior use of examples that show the typical features of rules, (c) linking a relationship between rules and experimental operations. The outcomes of the lessons were analyzed not only through post-tests but also through the learning and teaching processes in the lessons and the way teacher interpreted the educational materials. The results of post-tests showed that principle-a had positive effects, while principle-b and -c did not. The analysis of learning and teaching processes in the lessons suggests that the reason for the former may be that the teacher categorized multiple examples and gave the learners some questions that they could inference with these categories, whereas the reason for the latter may be that the teacher did not check quantitative data sufficiently during the experiments and did not interpret the experiments as means of hypothesis testing.
