This study examined the effects of setting concrete goals that focused on understanding during introduction to science lessons for second year middle school students. The goal was “to be able to account for the experimental results”. The 99 student participants (the number of analysis object students was 66) were assigned to one of three groups: an experimental goal group (accounting for the experimental results), a daily goal group (accounting for the experimental result using daily life contexts), and a control group (not given a concrete goal). All groups were given the same explanation of the results of a science experiment. The findings revealed that providing a concrete goal enhanced students’ motivation and the amount of notes taken of important information, regardless of whether daily life contexts were used. The result of a path analysis showed that the effect of the concrete goals on amount of notes accounted for an indirect effect mediating motivation, as well as for a direct effect. The latter suggests that concrete goals facilitate students’ attention to important information. These findings suggest that setting concrete goals supports both cognitive and motivational aspects of learning.

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Students sometimes exhibit difficulties in applying the rules they learned to problem solving. This article hypothesizes that the problem occurs due to the insufficiencies of hypothetical judgment in the learner’s thinking process. 7 university students participated in this study. They solved a problem which requires applying the definition rule of the square and discussed the process of solving the problem. The main results are as follows. (1) The participants often rejected the judgments derived through the application of the rule and used instead intuitive solutions based on their experience. (2)They accepted the judgment when they could confirm it through their own knowledge or information not apparent in the rule. These results suggest that learners have difficulty thinking solely by the rule and that in order to encourage rule learning it is important to perform hypothetical judgments using the rule first and derive testable propositions.

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[in Japanese]

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