This study aimed to clarify the effect of a teaching method on facilitating interaction between students’ scientific knowledge and prior knowledge of science at junior high school level. Two different types of lessons were delivered, with thirty-two students participating in each. The aforementioned teaching method was used in one of the lessons, whose participants were classified as the experimental group, while the other participants were classified as the nonexperimental group. After the lesson, students were tested on the recall and application of knowledge. More students from the experimental group gave correct answers to questions relating to both recall and application than those from the non-experimental group. In addition, a protocol analysis in the experimental group revealed that students could clearly grasp the link between different concepts within the wider spectrum of scientific knowledge and could relate prior knowledge to the broader scientific framework. These results suggest that the students in the experimental group could apply the knowledge required for problem solving by effectively adapting the logic of recalled scientific knowledge.
