学習指導における"learning by doing”の主張はJ. Dewyの経験主義的教育学説の提唱以来のことで決して新しいものではない。しかし，理科においては既製の機器を用いて単に観察・実験を通し，討論を通して学習を行うというだけではなく，さらに進んで教師や学習者自身が一つの事象を解明するための実験法を工夫し，用具を自作し，装置を組み立てて行うところに学習の重要な意義がある。その自作過程において，通常は見逃されやすい理法の認知や新しい問題の発見が可能であり，そのことによってすでに修得した知識がいっそう確実なものとなるからである。過多な情報と種々の機器が氾濫する現代社会においてこそ，教具の自作は理科教育上一層必要である。これらのことについて，具体例を挙げて報告した。一般に，自作には時間を要するので上述のような考え方を現実の学習指導の上に具体化するためには，日ごろ多忙な教師の教材研究の時間をどのようにして捻出すべきか，また，児童生徒のためには教材の精選とかみ合わせて自作活動を理科のどの学習段階にどのように位置づけるべきかについては今後さらに研究を必要とする。この研究は文部省科学研究費特定研究科学教育大橋班内教材教具班の研究の一部として行ったものである。

It is generally known, science history is very effective, if it is used for science teaching. So that, the author investigated the treatment of science history in the textbooks on Japanese science education, from past to present. In result, it became clear that science history was almost never used on science education up to the present day, except a period from 194 7 to 1952. If it was used for science teaching, it was generally used to motivation. Because, most of materials were the lives of famous scientists, but a few cases of their study. The present day, it seems science teachers request many cases that is process of research about electrolyte, solution, concept of energy and so on. So the author shows an example, how did chemists study of chain mechanism about decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. In this case, early of the study, interesting facts can be discovered, that is "Idea of child follows process of scientist's research". Of course, this case history of study is insufficient data, but addition of many opinions will be substantial the contents. This kind of study is expected to be used more often on science teaching in the future.

We have an approach from stocastic process as one of the mathematical learning models. The model of Bower and Trabaso, which is Markov absorbing process, is included in it. But the data which we got did not agree with this model. So, this model was modified. The principal point of modification was that the stage of transition probabilities was changed from one to three. In this paper the modified model has been tested by expansion into reward process. It can be concluded that the process of the recognition of nature can be understood to be hypo thesis confirmation process and the rate of learning increases discretely with the progress of training.

Many countries in the world, especially U.S.S.R., (West and East) Germany, France, England and U.S.A., have now carried out the reforms of the science teaching in primary schools. As we know, the science teaching in these countries is much different from each other in curriculums and teaching methods. But in the objects, principles and ideas, it is resemble closely to each other, for it is regarded that the values of science in general education should take first priority, and from the view point of the main factor of success in life, the children's activities should be stressed to train their brains, to train their intelligence, to make them the observing and reasoning beings, to make them the accurate observers and thinkers, to teach them to experiment, to put them in the relation and sympathy with nature, and gradually to inculcate the power of "doing" into their minds. These objects and principles of the science teaching in primary schools are the same as the objects and principles of the early elementary science such as Nature-study, Lebensgemeinschaft, Heuristic method, physiography (Erdkunde), and so on. In this article, I describe the theories of the elementary science above mentioned, and try to make clear the characteristics and the role of these theories in primary schools and the relations between these theories of the early elementary science and of modern elementary science.