The elementary science education in Japan was much influenced by British science education since the promulgation of educational system (Gakusei) in 1872. But in 1886, the introduction of "Rika" which integrated the former science subjects into one science course and moreover, since 1887, the dowerful effects of German educational thoughts gradually replaced the influence of the British science education on Japanese science education. However, the influence of British science education revived before and after the First World War through the Heuristic method of H. E. Armstrong. In the former period, the simple experiments in physics and chemistry of Science Primers edited by T. Huxley, H. Roscoe and B. Stewart exerted influence on the elementary science education in Japan till 1886. On the other hand, the Heuristic method of H. E. Apmstrong had been influential in the latter period when the laboratories for physice and chemistry were built in all normal schools and secondary schools and the syllubus for pupil's experiments in physics and chemistry was prepared. In spite of the fact that there existed a close connection between the science education during the period of Huxley, Roscoe and Stewart with that of Heuristic method of Armstrong, and the influence of two phases of British science education on Japanese education are usually treated here separately in the study of the history of science education in Japan. But actually, it is not possible to them separately. From this fact, in considering the history of science education in Japan, it is necessary to pay attention specially on the following two point ; (1) Elementary science education till 1886 and the promotion and the development of labobatory experiment in physics and chemistry which occured before and after the First World War must be considered as a closely connected one, not as separated entities. (2) The originally inseparable scienee education became separated here to the gap of thirty-years period from 1886 to 1918. The main reasons of which are the promulgation of "Rika" in 1886 and the influence of German educational philosophy. On the point of establishment of science education in Japan, considerations on "Rika" have been involving from various angles, but investigations inclusive of the afore-mentioned point must also be made.

In science education in the U.S.S.R., field trips, or socalled "экскурсия",are obligatory, through which elementary and high school students study the natural world and observe the productive processing in factories, farms, and so on. Through these field trips, the students study the relationship among science, technology and the productive processing as well as the actual labour themselves, thereby learning how the principles, laws and theories in science are applied to the actual production. The field trips also enrich the students ‘views of life and world, and teach the students the importance of studying science. Moreover, the students, owing to the trips, get to know more workers and acquire the desirable attitude toward the labours, which is useful for the students‘ vocational orientation. In sum, the field trips in science education play an important role not only in the students’ mental training but also in their moral.

It is strongly requested at present that the education of natural science must be performed to be comprehensive enough for every pupil both at an elementary and a junior high school. Investigations of teaching skill as well as of teaching material, therefore, became very important for teachers to realize this requirement. A large scale method using a V.T.R. system has often been reported to be useful for the research of instructions. Since such a method usually costs very expensive and a troublesome handling is needed however, we propose here a simpler method using a tape-recorder accompanied by careful inspections of lessons. One of advantageous points of this method is that research instructions can easily be tried by a group of teachers belonging to the same school. Evaluation methods of instruction may roughly be classified into three: (1) free-cards method, (2) rating scale method, and (3) communication analysis. Among these, the third mothod will mainly be discussed here because both the first and the second method require as many evaluators as almost impossible for a single school. Making play-back of the recorded tape, we first prepare a protocol of the instruction with a time interval of 20 seconds. It has often been reported that 5 seconds are suitable. It seems to the authar, however, that 5 seconds are too busy and 20 seconds are good enough for the present purpose. With this protocol, we next draw a twodimensional flow-chart of the communication analysis spearating the teacher's and the pupil's activities independently. From this chart, we can grasp the class activity more clearly than using a usual type of single-dimensional flowchart.

The author has conducted a surveying study through 16 schools (1330 pupils in the 4th grade, 519 pupils in the 5th grade), by assuming 6 hypotheses. According to the findings of the study, he suggests the following items as effective activities in order to improve the concept formation of photosynthesis by pupils. 1. To compare the amount of the newly produced potatoes with that of the seed potato. 2. To study the change of the amount of the starch in the process of germination and growth. 3. To detect assimilation starch in leaves by heating green juice extracted from green leaves. 4. To compare assimilation starch production of water cultured plants with that of plants in the field. By this procedure we may be able to make pupils aware of the existence of the starch in leaves. On this occasion it might be effective to ask pupils whether starch may transfer from potatoes to leaves or not. Finally the author has proposed an appropriate plan for teaching "The Growth of Potatoes".

Several questions concerning experiments in physics were set in the entrance examinations of Miyazaki University for 1976, 1977 and 1978. Consideration was given to framing the questions so that examinees could answer them on the basis of their experiences acquired in primary and secondary school days, though they might not have done similar experiments. Examinees were expected to have basic ideas of an experiment and how to carry one out. As many formulas and data involved as possible were stated in the questions. The answers to the questions showed: 1) Tendencies to answer from common-sensical knowledge without paying due attention to the given condtions and experimental results 2) Tendencies to have learned and remembered the ideas of mean values and significant figures apart from experimental results 3) Tendencies to lack basis ideas of what an experiment in physics was 4) That those questions requiring description and statement had very poor results, many examinees giving no answers at all

There are some difficulties in teaching high school pupils the electric field by lecture only, because of its abstractness. Though the demonstration or the pupil's experiments are useful in this topic, the author introduced the worksheets in which the pupils do some "works" to draw the electric lines and equipotencial lines, instead of the experiments. The worksheets were made by the author using the computer. He calculated the electric potencial values at the various points in the plane located some electric point charges, and printed them on the worksheets so that pupils can draw the equipotencial and electric lines by tracing them. Through "works" as mentioned above and the observations of the lines of electric forces demonstrated by flower seeds in various stages, pupils can easily understand the meanings of the electric field better than before. And Gauss's law which is concerned with the flux of the electric field, and also is abstract concept, can easily be proved by using the worksheets. Applications of the computer to these topics in high school seemed to be useful from the point of pupil's activities.