Elementary school children, who are unprepared for many different media information starting with TV, need media literacy education. We created the media literacy teaching materials (video & guidebook), "TV Mysteries: Ukkie Goes Behind the Scenes!," which focuses on TV reality vs. fantasy. The purpose of this project was to examine the effectiveness of the curricular materials. The project was a piece of quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest control/comparison group design for first graders in a public elementary school. We analyzed the results of the comprehensive "Television reality test." The experimental group presented significantly higher posttest scores than did children in the control group. The experimental group developed media literacy. The result also reveals the material and lesson never destroy children's believes of Santa fantasy.

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This paper shows the results of the development of an instructional design model for inter-school collaborative learning. The model consists of a framework model and a procedure model which are based on constructivist learning theories. To refine the model, 34 teachers were interviewed and 870 strategies were collected. As a result, the instructional design model was successfully developed considering the constructivist learning theories and practical knowledge.

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Two questionnaire surveys were conducted in order to: (a) clarify the current situation with regard to the informatization of education, which the Japanese government has been promoting, and (b) identify elements that promote the informatization of education and elements that impede it. Questionnaire surveys of 5,000 elementary lower secondary and upper secondary schools were conducted in February 2004 and December 2005. Responses were received from a total of 8,190 classroom teachers and a total of 4,731 executive teachers such as school principals. By comparison of the results of these two surveys it was showed that IT use by classroom teachers in schools has in fact been promoted. Through the surveys of executive teachers, it was also identified elements that serve to promote informatization and elements that tend to impede it. In addition, by means of factor analysis of answers relating to elements impeding informatization, five factors were extracted and showed that the provision of environments and conditions conducive to IT use, and improvement in the ability of teachers to provide guidance in IT use, are important.

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The purpose of this paper is to analyze what most Japanese junior faculty are concerned with and how much they perceive having supports provided to them by their institutions. Two surveys were conducted, a quantitative survey for 103 junior faculty through the internet, and a questionnaire survey for all higher education institutions in Japan. Our analysis found that the courses that are provided by colleges do not meet the needs of junior faculty. There are considerable gaps between services provided by universities, standards of the universities, and the needs of junior faculty. While junior faculty are mostly concerned about their teaching skills, colleges or universities do not provide substantial enough supports to improve instructional skills; instead, they provide overview or introductory orientation courses about their institutions. These place an emphasis on explanative facts rather than teacher training, and smaller departments tend to have difficulty providing any supports for junior faculty at all. Areas which need intensive training are in high demand, therefore, a way to support faculty in smaller institutions should be established.

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We study how to display visual information with the goal of simplifying the remote learning of various body movements over a network. This paper posits that there are four basic visualization methods: face-to-face (F-F method), mirrored (M method), following (F method), and coincident (C method). Experiments are conducted on the four methods using a prototype system that employs a head-mounted display. We confirm that C method is most effective for the repetition of partial movements while the others are effective for whole movements (actions).

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We propose to incorporate "Informatical and Systematical Thinking" into Information Studies in high school as a part of the learning content. The present study aims to prove that "Informatical and Systematical Thinking" is not only helpful for students to find better ways to use information, but also is effective as a means of developing better understanding of information ethics. We began by giving learners a certain problem to solve and then we taught them how to deal with problems using "Informatical and Systematical Thinking". After that we gave them another problem to see if what they had learned from us had made any difference in their approach to problem solving. Comparing the results we were able to confirm the effectiveness of "Informatical and Systematical Thinking".

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The ultimate goal of any technical training is the practical expression of acquired knowledge and skills on job performance. To provide an appropriate machinery to enhance this transfer of acquired knowledge and skills to job performance, a model of action plan introduction- "EAAP" (Embedded Accumulative Action Plan) was proposed; and action plans according to EAAP were developed and tested in an ICT skills training. The action plan included the proposed actions, measures to be taken, due dates, and related training subjects. These items were then reviewed and revised as necessary for several times during the course of training so that the action plan can be accumulative. As a result, the authors found the following: The action plan can be utilized (1) as a tool for formative evaluation of the training program by analyzing proposed actions in relation to the subjects taught and giving feedback to instructors, and (2) as a tool for application of learning and training results in the participants' job settings. These results indicate that the EAAP model is an effective way of introducing action plan as a part of ICT training.

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This study was undertaken to develop a diagnostic system for evaluating the communication skills indispensable in the training of specialists (nursing education) whose duties involve the provision of interpersonal support. Teaching resources were developed from a more practical and objective standpoint by process of instructional design to deal with time-consuming elements of curricula, ambiguous evaluation standards, and learning tasks that do not easily provide a sense of achievement upon completion. Egograms were adopted as the objective evaluation standard, and a diagnostic program for evaluating the student's communication tendencies was constructed. Operative assessment (of 5 cases presented for study by simulation on web) on nursing students revealed use of egogram patterns had enabled objective feedback to the students. Moreover, the learning paths traced by the students were greatly varied, demonstrating systematic ability to deal with student individuality. These findings indicated the efficacy of instructional design methodology in resolving the pragmatic issues in nursing, suggesting its wide applicability in various contexts.

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The purpose of this study was to develop an evaluation scale to measure the information literacy of young people and to examine the variables that contribute to increasing their level of information literacy. Participants were 1144 junior high school students in Japan and Northern Europe. Results of item analysis and factor analysis suggested eight sub-scales: interestand motivation, fundamantal operation ability, mathematical thinking ability, information control ability, applied operation ability, attitude and knowledge, and understanding. An international version of the information literacy scale consisting of 32 items was also developed. It was confirmed that these scales have sufficient reliability and validity. The information literacy level of the participants was evaluated using these scales. Result indicated that the information literacy level of young Japanese people, the applied operation ability of personal computers, such as programming, presentation, and making web sites was especially low. Moreover, it was suggested that the length of time using personal computers and reading books was closely related to the information literacy level of young people.

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