Abstract
In this study, we categorized observations and experiments published in the lower secondary school science textbooks of “Company Y”, certified by the Ministry of Education in 2020, from the perspective of “inquiry skills” developed by Hasegawa and others (2013), with an aim to clarify the inquiry characteristics of each cluster. From the obtained results and our analysis, the following findings were revealed: (1) Observations and experiments published in the lower secondary school science textbooks of “Company Y” certified by the Ministry of Education in 2020 are categorized into six types according to their tendency toward fostering “inquiry skills”. (2) For observations and experiments in the first grade of lower secondary school, students describe the appearance, properties, structure, and characteristics of changes both qualitatively and quantitatively. However, there is a tendency for them to be recorded or qualitatively identified based on the viewpoint / criteria of classification. (3) For observations and experiments in the second and third grades, students make hypotheses and experimental plans, and make changes in the nature of the events. They qualitatively and quantitatively grasp the aforementioned aspects and characteristics, control the independent variable, and change the dependent variable. There is a tendency to capture the qualitatively and quantitatively, and to use a model for qualitative results. They furthermore have a tendency to consider quantitative results by organizing them in a table and graphing them. (4) From the perspective of “inquiry skills”, there are some differences in the contents between observations and experiments in elementary and lower secondary schools. However, the corresponding exploratory features are indeed recognized.
