This study is based on Fushimi and Tatsuki's (2009) study and investigates the effects of different focus instances on logical transformative operations, learner beliefs and post-test scores. A total of 206 university students participated in the experiment's five sessions: a pre-test, reading text, logical operation test, learner belief test and post-test. The objectives of the reading text were for students to understand the rule that seed plants open flowers and produce seeds in their ovaries. Two versions of the reading text were prepared with different instances: one conflicting with learner misconceptions (sweet potato) and one not conflicting (morning glory). The study resulted in two major findings: (1) Differences in instances did not affect logical transformative operations and learner beliefs. (2) The conflicting instance positively affected the post-test score even though learners did not change their incorrect beliefs. These results were similar to Fushimi and Tatsuki's (2009) results.

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The purpose of this study was to prove the claim that learning of scientific knowledge has influence on creating sentiment. In Experiment 1, 40 undergraduate students read a text explaining distinctive features of the human backbone, and after that they answered questions designed to evaluate their sentiments. The results suggested that the students who better understood the contents felt them to be wonderful and amazing while the students who didn't understand the contents equally well felt such sentiments to a lesser degree. In Experiment 2, 80 undergraduate students were divided into two groups and given one of two texts explaining the degree of gas dissolution in water and ocean currents. Half of the students were presented with text versions where the two subjects being studied were related, while the remaining half was presented with versions where the subjects were not related. The results indicated that studying related subjects created strong sentiments concerning the beauty and wonder of nature structure.

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The purpose of this research is to investigate how gender, experiences, background, personality and reflection-impulsivity influence the efficacy of participatory learning which has been introduced into education for international understanding in recent years. The result of a study on 70 fifth grade elementary school pupils showed that gender, overseas trip experiences, English conversation classes, number of foreign friends, relatives and teachers, did not influence the efficacy of the lessons. However, agreeableness and reflection-impulsivity were found to enhance the awareness of international understanding. Moreover, agreeableness, conscientiousness and reflection-impulsivity were found to influence the international understanding of lessons. Furthermore, satisfaction with participatory learning activities was discovered to have less influence than satisfaction with participatory learning content. Those who were satisfied with activities had less conscientiousness and reflection-impulsivity than the other children. Content-oriented children scored higher marks in the international understanding of lessons. In conclusion, although participatory learning is effective for all children, it is efficacy varied with different categories.

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