Recognizing its important role in the holistic development of the individual, particularly, the development of strong mind and body, intelligence, sensitivity, personal responsibility, and spiritual value, education must therefore be geared toward the development of basic as well as occupational skills and knowledge necessary to cope with the rapidly changing society, science and information age and globalization.

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It is difficult for many Japanese to hear and understand English on TV and radio broadcasts. There are several reasons for this but in this paper focus is on the phonetical causes like assimilation, reduction, deletion, elision, coalescence, linking, contraction, etc. and on the strength and weakness of rhythm and intonation in English. Some examples are cited in the paper. This paper presents the analysis of the difficulties in understanding broadcast English and the kinds of pronunciation that learners often misinterpret. The mistakes often committed by students during dictation using broadcast English are classified according to English phonetics. Based on the results, it can be concluded that broadcast English materials are good teaching materials in teaching effectively pronunciation.

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This article is about the study on 'Children's views of science' of Grades 5 and 8 students from Australia, China, Japan, Philippines, Thailand and the United States of America. The results show that with regards scientific method, students in Australia and the United States seem to value more the view of relativism than the traditional view on inductivism and deductivism. Japanese students seem to value relativism while in same cases also value inductivism and deductivism. Students from China, Philippines and Thailand seem to value STS with regards scientific progress and deductivism when it comes to scientific method. In general, students from Thailand seem to value all views, relativism, deductivism and STS. Based from the trends of responses, it can be concluded that Australia and USA are similar and Philippines and Thailand are also similar. Japan and China are quite distinct. This trend may be influenced by the national conditions or social needs for science education, educational system and policies, objective, curriculum content, method and strategies in science teaching in each country

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In this paper, the author dealt with the so-called "situation-oriented" approach to childhood education (SOACE) versus the so-called "function-oriented." Using examples of teaching/learning processes possible in developed and developing countries as starting point, the author made an in-depth analysis by comparing characteristics of these approaches. In developing so-called situation-oriented didactical units based on life-situations of the children (and adults) concerned in a specific educational setting, community-based innovation can be included. New concepts of "center-based" and "parent-based" programming in literacy campaigns as shown in examples from Colombia, Nepal, Peru, India, Brazil and Indonesia, China, Jamaica, Thailand, Chile are important steps towards the right direction. This paper ends with some comments on the five-years experience of piloting SOAECE-Philippines.

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"Professional development is viewed as a continuous process of conceptual change" (Keiny, 1994). This study is an attempt to develop the teacher's knowledge as a base for actions, attitudes, responsibility, and interaction with learners. The adoption of the notion of creative language teaching entails a conceptual change in the teacher's role. It is "a pragmatic shift from the idea of teaching as a theory applying activity, towards teaching as a theory generating one" (Elliot,1992). This elicits a broader sense of the teaching concept as an interactive process for knowledge construction. In this study, the expected change resulted from conducting a creative language teaching program, is virtually a paradigmatic conceptual change in the teacher's minds and actions. The present study represents an attempt to actualize the notion of creative language learning and teaching.

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The major concern of this study is to present some conceptions about the features of the preservice and inservice teaching education programs in Egypt from the perspective of teaching future curricula. A picture of future curricula in the light of studying changes that might occur in the wider system affecting curriculum has been drawn. This system includes the system of education in Egypt, national, the regional and the human cultures. The concept of "functional encyclopedism" as a philosophical base for selecting and organizing the content of curriculum has been introduced. The paper describes the detailed conceptions on structure, content, methods of teaching, educational media, educational activities and evaluation means of both pre- and in -service teacher education. Although the present study is focused on Egypt, the ideas may be applicable to other countries.

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Due to the need for relevant science subjects, the science curricula for upper secondary schools were revised in content and approach. Chemistry subject focuses on the importance of chemistry to daily life than on the specific basic concepts. The immediate environment of the students is the center of their study and the approach is more on the development of process and thinking skills than on mere acquisition of knowledge. In the new curriculum, students have the opportunity to choose the science subjects are interested in. Through this new curriculum, it is hoped that students will have more interests in science.

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Sound basic education is fundamental to the strengthening of higher levels of education and achieving scientific and technological literacy. The level of scientific and technological literacy of a country reflects, in one way or the other, the level of its basic education. Looking at the educational level of Asian countries, it could be said that they are at different stages of development. In the least developed countries, literacy rate is below 50 percent and primary school enrolment rate is below 80 percent. For some developing countries, literacy rate is more than 80 percent and enrolment rate is more than 90. This difference seems to be closely correlated with socio-cultural and economic development in each country with regards to science and technology. For instance, the least developed countries of South Asia are mostly agricultural and the technologies are often imported, while the developing countries of Southeast Asia, which are in the process of industrialization, are shifting to a socio-economic strategy in which the workforce can develop new technologies by themselves.

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This article describes the significant changes in the economy, science and technology, social attitudes, beliefs, values and moral development and international relations with international community that warrant corresponding innovations in education to help achieve the national development goals. The education reforms cover school education reform, curriculum reform, teacher reform, and administrative reforms. Among the significant reforms are the emphasis on teaching core subjects of Thai, Mathematics and Science and the improvement of teacher education to upgrade quality of teachers.

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The knowledge and skills acquired through basic education is applicable only for limited period due to constant changes in the society. Changes in industrial structure make education popular and the period for schooling longer. This societal trend is considered a transitional process which characterize also the goal of mathematics education shifting from acquisition of knowledge and skills to development of mathematical attitude and thinking. Philosophy of educational process has shifted from behaviorism to cognitivism or constructivism. This change is reflected in the shift in the principle of curriculum development from systematic to unit-constructive approach. Similar change is perceived in the philosophy of mathematics with regards to mathematics education, which has shifted from externalism to internalism. It could be said that in general, philosophy of mathematics education at the compulsory level has transformed from realism associated with limited realities to academism associated with unlimited and diverse realities.

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