Similarities in the science curricula between Japan and Korea have been frequently pointed out. The purpose of the present study was to compare the organisms appearing in elementary science textbooks used in Japan and Korea and identify their similarities and differences in the contents from the viewpoint of biology education for biodiversity. In Korea, there is only one series of science textbooks for the third grade to the sixth grade students published by the government. On the other hand, there are 6 series of science textbooks for the third grade to the sixth grade students published by private publishers in Japan; so, we selected the leading one from among them for this study. The organism names appearing in these textbooks from both countries are mostly species names, but sometimes genus, family or order names. The number of the organism names in Korean textbooks is almost twice as large as that in Japanese textbooks. In both textbooks, most organisms are “higher” plants and “higher” animals: there are 7 protists, 1 lichen, 61 plants and 65 animals in Japanese textbooks and 2 protists, 2 fungi, 111 plants and 115 animals in Korean textbooks.

Teaching and the study of the vertebrate skeletal systems is an integral part of any undergraduate / postgraduate animal sciences curricula. The traditional method of teaching skeletal systems has been through dissection of an animal to expose the various systems. However, with the growing concern regarding discontinuation of animal dissections and implementation of animal ethical rules in many countries, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the teaching fraternity to cover these topics in the classroom / laboratories. Here we present a method to replicate the skeletal systems of various animals using a foam fibre material. The imitations of skeletons made of this material are sturdy and can last for several years without degradation. Since they can be made to look exactly like the true biological specimen, they can be easily and interestingly used in teaching the vertebrate skeletal systems. Thus, teaching the vertebrate skeletal systems is possible without having to sacrifice animals.