A major aim of elementary school science is to develop fundamental ability of children so that they can keep on inquiring scientifically the around world throughout the life. Such inquiring ability is cultivated through various kinds of experiences based mainly on children's intellectual curiosity and related to inquiring activities. In order to cultivate such ability, it will be most important to let children devote themselves to free and undirected exploratory work. In other words, the role of the teacher is to involve children into inquiring activities rather than to make them understand the sequence of subject-matters or inquiring processes. This investigation was done through two stages. First is the survey of children's behavior about various materials. Second is practical tryout based on the survey. The survey was practiced in the two units, "Air being" (2nd grade) and "The nature of water and air" (3rd grade). By giving materials deeply related to these units to children, their free and undirected behavior was examined and recorded. Based on the result of this survey, multiply programs for these two units were planned and practical tryout were performed at two elementary schools; Hesaka-shinmachi and Fuchu in Hiroshima. The following results were obtained from these surveys and practical tryout, (1) Every child was deeply involved in materials with joy and interest at both schools. (2) Though the direction done by the teacher was given only at the beginning of every lesson, most children did activities which the teacher expected without exception. In conclusion, if instruction program is planned, it would be possible even in other units that the teacher can make children involve freely in inquiry activities without superimposed questions or directions by setting up the teaching plan based on the survey of children's behavior to the materials.

A research on the development of the faculty for inquiry was carried out with 406 children from first to sixth grade of primary school using a mass of Brine shrimp (Altemia salina) eggs as material, and following results were obtained. 1 Children predicted the egg mass as (l)sands, (2)coffee powder, (3)seeds, (4)rust and so on after they had observed it for five minutes. The kinds which they had predicted of the material amounted to seventy-seven. 2 Children's predictions seem to have correlation with their learning experiences at school. 3 Numbers and kinds of the predictions per a child increased in proportion to its school year. 4 Numbers and kinds of the predictions per a boy were generally more frequent than those per a girl. 5 Children thought of thirty-six kinds of methods for verifying their predictions such as (l)touchmg (2)magnetizing and (3)dissolving in water, etc。6 Children's verification methods seem to have correlation with their experiences at school。7 The numbers of verification methods per a child increased in proportion to its school year. A boy thought of significantly greater number of methods than a girl on the average. 8 Kinds of verification methods increased gradually up to the third grade, but they rather decreased at higher grades (5-6 school years). And at those grades, there is no difference between boys and girls on kinds of verification methods. 9 40-70% of children stated only the results of observation or experiment after verification for twenty five minutes. 35% of lower graders (1-2 school years) described the names of inferred materials。10% of higher graders stated not only experimental results but also the conclusion from results. 10 There is a considerable difference between under graders (50-60%, 1-3 school years) and upper graders (80-90%, 4-6 school years) in validity of logical judgement on prediction, verification and conclusion. 11 The validity of logical judgement on the course of inquiry showed higher percentage in girls than m boys. 12 The percentage of children, judging rightly whether the first prediction had been proper or not, increased in proportion to their grades。 The percentage of children who had misjudged it was 20-30% in under graders, but 7 -12% in upper graders. This result suggests that there is considerable development of logical thinking between third graders and forth graders.

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 curricula 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 viewpoint 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 1960's, the new science teaching projects like PSSC, which were stressed on the key concepts and the science as inquiry, stimulated the elementary science. As the Sputnik-shock had been suppressed and the social situation changed. the elementary science began to turn the tendency. And now the elementary science has been influenced by the study about pollution and interdisciplinary. When I look back that progressive elementary scince, I can see that there were many good ideas and sugestion in it. This article is continued from my previous article (Part 1). I try to discuss if the empirical, child-centered integrated science teaching theory, which was a characteristic of the progressive elementary science, was a "crawl about" science teaching or not, and try to make clear the position of the elementary science in the science education, and try to discuss that theories which gave a characteristic to the progressive elementary scince, and try to revalue the role of the progressive elementary science in the development of the science education.