Alternative frameworks, which had been introduced to represent children's understanding by Driver, et al. and Watts, can be useful to analyze children's frameworks concerning force. But using only alternative frameworks was not sufficient enough to explain children's cognition more strictly. The purpose of this study is to identify children's alternative frameworks and viewpoints in different dynamic situations. For this purpose, the authors developed a strategy with a series of dynamic examples which had various human effects. The authors applied this strategy to children in some elementary schools and lower secondary schools. Authors analyzed children's responses and got some findings as follows: (1) Children's viewpoints concerning causes of moving events develop from phenomenal points towards physical points. (2) At the context change, children tend to apply D (designated forces) framework to the concept of forces. Its tendency is more typical in elementary school pupils than lower secondary school students. (3) The strategy with the different human concerning is able to reform children's frameworks according to various situations, notably for lower secondary students. From the above findings and generative learning theory, the authors formulate a hypothesis about the development on the concept of force. This hypothesis should be verified in the further studies.

This study intends to indicate the measured atmospheric pressure of Seikan Tunnel and the answered results of a questionary paper by the students in the lower secondary schools, upper secondary school and university. As the result of that, it was made clear that the measured atmospheric pressure of Seikan Tunnel would be of practical value for learning the concept of atmospheric pressure.

This study attempts to clarify the process involved in forming misconceptions among the lower secondary school students resulting from the mislink between two independent conceptions. We hope to determine the reasons why students get the misconception that the bubbles from the boiling water are oxygen and hydrogen molecules. In order to test our hypotheses, we selected six classes of eighth graders from the same school as we used the questionnaire and VTR presentation/observation methods. Further, we have set three varying conditions, namely: 1. the different experiences of students - where X represents the conduct of electrolysis task first followed by the boiling task and Y represents the reverse order; 2. the different experiences of students - where in E students learned electrolysis by experiment and in N where they learned only through the textbook but with teacher intervention; and 3. the different observed phenomena - where in B students were shown boiling water using an alcohol burner and in H where they were shown water boiled by an electric heater. As we have hypothesized, it appeared from our findings that the primary source of misconception among the students involved the condition where water was allowed to boil using electricity. Specifically, about one-third to one-half of the students exposed to the H condition had this misconception. It was also apparent that those students who learned electrolysis by experiment were constrained from having the above-mentioned misconception as they invariably arrived at the right conclusions. Analysis of our results tend to support this contention as it has been shown that none of the students exposed to the YEB condition ever had such a misconception.

We studied how the children would recognize outer space when they are engaged in observing an outcrop. The subjects of this study are the children ranging from third graders in an elementary school to eighth graders in a junior high school. We also made a survery of SRTs, GALT, co-ordination of viewpoint and ability to infer what type of section it might have when a solid is severed across. Then we examined relations between them. Finally we considered what type of large scale space conception the learners can develop through the study of geological domain at an elementary school and a lower secondary school. The results of this research are as follows. (1) There exist certain positive correlations between the learner's conception of geometry, logical thinking and their ability to recognize "outer space". However, we found a few learners who fail to recognize in spite of their correct conception geometry and logical thinking ability. (2) The learners will develop their ability to put what they have observed into abstract ideas and to distinguish what is important from what is not after the learners are at a "late concrete stage." (3) Most of the sixth graders ran regard what they have observed as a stratum and there are also a few who can grasp three-dimensional geometric space on the basis of their observation and who can correctly observe a stratum when a section is presented in several different directions. Therefore we suggest that the learners have more opportunities to observe "larger space." In addition, the teachers should make use of the models so that the learners can connect "larger space" with "smaller space."

The society of German scientists and doctors (Die Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte) investigated "the present situation and desirable preparation in physical, chemical and biological education" in all nine-year secondary schools, i.e. 319 Gymnasiums and 134 vocational schools, in Preußen in 1906. This investigation cleared the following matters. For example, the number of schools where teachers enforced the physical experiments by students attained 77%, in spite of the fact that the number of schools where the student experiments were prepared did not attain 10%. But, to enforce them according to the proposal in Meran was very difficult due to the time limitation. The time alloted in some of the other subjects were reduced in order to increase the time required in performing the experiments. We can recognize that this report enacted an important role in the development of state and self-government communities with desired scientific and technological progress as well as in science education which modernized the teaching method, because it cleared the present situation, desirable preparation and the problems to be discussed related to science education in the secondary schools.

This study proved the validity of strata observation using photographs. If we cannot guide pupils in field observation for strata, we can substitute other methods. This paper discusses characteristics of these two types of observation, in the outdoor and in the room using photographs in connection with cognitive style. If we use photographs for strata observation, we have to think of the following. 1. We need some kinds of photographs for a complete view and close-up of cliffs. 2. We must keep photographs of the strata in the best condition. 3. When we give students a few photographs, we must take care of the scales of a complete view and close-up of cliffs.

Those who recognize that motion is a phenomenon in which an object changes its position as time passes by can easily learn the relations between its position and time, and between its velocity and time even at the very beginning of their kinetics class. However, there is no research surveying whether or not students really recognize the concept 'time' as closely relative to the concept 'motion' before the class. This study aims at surveying upper secondary school students' recognition of the relationship between 'time' and 'motion' by some kinds of word association test. The main point of this survey is to clarify whether or not students can imagine the word 'motion' by the stimulus 'time', and vice versa. The results indicate that there is little relation between the two concepts, 'time' and 'motion' among the students' recognition. The findings demand to change teaching strategies on kinetics drastically.

We have designed computer games to help students who have misconceptions about mechanics understand it. Four games were constructed, in which the microworld of Newtonian mechanics is included. Students should try to navigate the dynaturtle in the microworld in order to hit a target or run through a maze. Students discovered two strategies, "stop and strategy" and "delayed anti-impulse strategy". Problem solvings by most of the students were improved by playing the games. It was assumed that students tried to understand events of the microworld by using their knowledge in pieces including parts of their understanding of intutive or formal physics. The usage of such knowledge seems to foster development of the students' knowledge about Newtonian mechanics by means of the heuristics of problem solving and feedback from the microworld.

There has been a growing interest in the STS (Science, Technology, and Society) Movement in the United States. The author received a grant from the Ministry of Education in Japan to work with Robert E. Yager at the University of Iowa, which has been a center of STS Movement across the country. He surveyed to clarify the feature of STS Approach based on literature and field survey on the Iowa STS Projects during 1991-1992. A summary of the results is shown below. 1. NSTA took the initiative for overcoming "the Crisis in Science Education in U.S.A." in late 70's .. Therefore, the NST A declared the position statement firstly, "Science/ Technology/ Society: Science Education for the 1980's" in 1982 and secondary, "Science/Technology/Society: A New Effort for Providing Appropriate Science for All" in 1990. 2. The author clarified that STS Approach presents the new paradigm in science education comparing the Golden Age (1955-1974) with the mid-1970's and 1990's in the United States. Therefore, STS Approach will become the new paradigm to meet the crisis in science education in Japan.

For the learning of force and motion, we introduced pupils to a new teaching strategy, called a sophisticated event, as a way to exchange the children's alternative framework with scientific knowledge. We compared the standard lessons with the lessons that make up sophisticated events. We defined sophisticated events as the following: 1. According to the previous works, the most general way to exchange knowledge is Through "Awareness", "cognitive conflict" and "application". A sophisticated event is method of intensifying awareness. 2. This is a method of making pupils aware of alternative frameworks for themselves, by using a strategy where teachers introduce subjects to pupils as parallel. As a result, we found sophisticated events to be of great use for a conceptual change. Furthermore, we analyzed the two strategies from the two viewpoints : transfer of concepts and transit between the pretest and the post test.