This study is a case study of teaching probability concepts to 10^<th> grade Math students using a strategy based on a theoretical framework of multidisciplinary concept mapping (Tsai, 2000). The purpose of this study was to determine whether this teaching strategy promoted conceptual change and investigate how introducing non-math contexts influenced student motivation. Pre- and post-tests of comprehension levels suggest that more students transitioned from surface-only understanding to meaningful comprehension of probability concepts under this new style of teaching. Qualitative analysis based on student self-scores of motivation and interpretive analysis of free responses on questionnaires given after each class indicated that students 1) were confused in Literature and Social Studies contexts and perplexed in a Science context; 2) were intellectually stimulated in Literature, Science and Social Studies contexts and thought they could transfer the new knowledge to other areas; 3) became aware in a Literature context that probability concepts were useful, and recognized in Science and Social Studies contexts that probability concepts were generalizable to multiple subject areas.

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This study was carried out to clarify the perception of the Nature of Science (NOS) about Korean primary school teachers and secondary school science teachers. Two hundred twenty-nine primary school teachers and 63 secondary school science teachers (31 lower secondary and 32 upper secondary school science teachers) in Korea were involved, and a 5-level Likert scale questionnaire with a total of 16-items was used. The items were analyzed by factor analysis with promax rotation, and the results of factor analysis and comparison were as follows: (1) The primary school teachers and the secondary school science teachers were found to recognize the same factors such as 'tentativeness', 'empirical basis', 'subjectivity', and 'creativity' about NOS. (2) In comparison of the four factors of NOS, the tentativeness factor and the subjectivity factor revealed significantly higher mean values than the empirical basis factor and the creativity factor in Korean two teacher groups. (3) In comparison of the Korean two teacher groups, the empirical basis factor in the primary school teacher, and the tentativeness factor in the secondary school science teacher revealed significantly higher factor mean values. The perception of the same factors about NOS in two Korean teacher groups is due to the same aims of science in Korean National Science Curriculum. The difference of factor mean value about NOS in the Korean teacher groups shows that they consider the aspects of cognitive development of students in science classes.

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This study replicates Barcroft's (2009) experiment. which tested the type of processing-resource allocation (TOPRA) model (Barcroft, 2000) in incidental new second language (L2) vocabulary learning through reading. The model predicts that the semantic processing of new L2 vocabulary assists learners in memorizing the meaning of the vocabulary, but simultaneously depletes other resources that could have been used to process other aspects of the vocabulary (e.g., form and form-meaning connection), thereby inhibiting their learning of these aspects. To replicate Barcroft's (2009) experiment, Japanese university-level EFL learners participated in the present experiment in which the effects of the semantic processing of new L2 vocabulary were compared with those of no particular vocabulary processing (control). Results show tht semantic processing has a negative impact on the learning of new L2 vocabulary, as predicted by the TOPRA model; it thus suggests that processing-resource allocation plays a role in new L2 vocabulary learning during reading.

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