Abstract
The connectionist model is a cognitive model in which the mechanisms of the human brain are represented. The background and the advantage of introducing the theory and technique of the connectionist model into the research of the science education were shown. Research studies were also reviewed from the following three viewpoints: (1) cognition of nature, (2) self-organization, and (3) social interaction. The human brain is an organization of information processing, by parallel distributed processing. The connectionist model adopts parallel distributed processing as a method of information processing. Introducing the theory and technique of the connectionist model to the research of science education enables progress in both the subject and its research techniques. Moreover, it is thought that the connectionist model contributes to the progress of science education research.
