Abstract
Work sheets for junior high school students on learning through experiencing nature are presented herein. The work sheets are aimed at promoting students' academic achievement, especially the understanding of aquatic plants as well as scientific thinking. Contents of the work sheets are as follows: 1) observation and classification of aquatic plants, and 2) observation of stomata of floating plants. The work sheets were trialed on 109 first grade Japanese students in the Sera region of Hiroshima Prefecture in June 2011. A questionnaire was given to the students before and after the lessons. The results were the following: (1) Students understood that aquatic plants have bodies and functions suited for living underwater or near water, and at the same time, they understood that many kinds of rare aquatic plants inhabit the Sera region. (2) Students enhanced their comparison/classification skills through observing and classifying aquatic plants. (3) After noting the location and number of stomata among floating plants, students understood the connection between observations of the stomata and their habitat. The aims of the work sheets were achieved. In this work sheet, great emphasis was placed on students' activities such as observing objects/phenomena and expressing their findings which are highlighted as its main features. The results above were affected by these special features.
