The Bulletin of Japanese Curriculum Research and Development
Online ISSN : 2424-1784
Print ISSN : 0288-0334
ISSN-L : 0288-0334
Volume 16, Issue 2
Displaying 1-6 of 6 articles from this issue
  • Jun Nishikawa
    Article type: Article
    1993 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 37-40
    Published: June 30, 1993
    Released on J-STAGE: May 08, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In the study, high school student's ability of selecting correct calculative methods was investigated. High school students were given figures that were macroscopic time, space; million years, light-years. They were instructed to calculate differences, ratios. In the results, few students can select correct calculative methods.
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  • Masako OHTA
    Article type: Article
    1993 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 41-46
    Published: June 30, 1993
    Released on J-STAGE: May 08, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In this study, based on data accumulated in previous studies on the ability to discriminate among the weights of food items, the extent to which college students would improve this ability after study sessions was examined. Objectives of this study are to confirm the effects of this teaching and to collect data for possible introduction of the subject to elementary, junior high, and high school curricula. The results are as follows. 1. Both male and female students in the experimental group scored significantly higher than those in the control group on a test of the ability to discriminate among the weights of food items.2. Both male and female college students participating in the experiment showed considerably high interest in the subject they studied experimentally. 3. Both male and female students rather strongly supported the idea of introducing the subject to home economics classes. 4. It was found that useful food items and equipment as teaching tools should meet the following standards: 1) frequent use in everyday life, 2) consistent size and weight irrespective of the time and place they are used, 3) simple shapes, easily compared with the weight of water. It was also found that the scores on the test of weight discrimination ability, using food items and equipment which meet these standards, was comparatively higher than scores using non-standard items and equipment. 5. Further study should be conducted in such areas as in the effective teaching methods to facilitate maximum learning, and in the relationship between grade level and specific teaching areas to be introduced in this subject matter.
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  • Kazuko Matsumoto
    Article type: Article
    1993 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 47-52
    Published: June 30, 1993
    Released on J-STAGE: May 08, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    As recent years have seen increasing- attention being paid by second language (L2) researchers to learner strategies, renewed respect for introspection has arisen as a vital methodology for obtaining invisible insights from learners. Part I of this article is concerned with a description and a survey of verbal-report data on L2 learners' cognitive processes and introspective research methods currently being employed in the field of L2 research. First, verbal reports were classified into two types, concurrent and retrospective, on the basis of Ericsson and Simon's (1984) model of information processing, and the four major verbal-report techniques currently being used in L2 research, namely, thinking-aloud, questionnaires, interviews, and diary-keeping, were explained. Thinking-aloud is the method of producing concurrent verbalizations, while retrospective verbal-report data can be elicited by questionnaires, interviews, and diary-keeping. Second, past L2 studies which employed these introspective methods were briefly summarized. The survey has revealed the following fact: the think-aloud procedures have been used mainly to investigate L2 learners' cognitive processes and strategies in translation, reading, writing, and test-taking; the questionnaire techniques have been employed largely in studies of learner strategies, and learner belief, attitudes and perceptions (i.e., learners' metacognitive knowledge about L2 learning); the interview techniques have also been used to investigate L2 learning strategies, learners' metacognitive knowledge as well as to explore the processes of L2 reading, writing and listening; and the diary-keeping techniques currently being employed in L2 research have primarily been concerned with exploring the affective dimensions of the learning/acquisition processes.
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  • Genzo NAKAYAMA, Floyd MATTHEIS
    Article type: Article
    1993 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 53-62
    Published: June 30, 1993
    Released on J-STAGE: May 08, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this project was to construct a valid and reliable non-curriculum-specific measure of integrated science process skills intended for use with middle school students. The major efforts in test development were focused on the refinements and modifications of the set of objectives and test items assessed by the existing Middle Grades Integrated Science Process Skills Test (Cronin and Padilla, 1986). Each objective and item was carefully analyzed to ensure that it was a valid representation of the intended process skills. Skills associated with planning, conducting, and interpreting results from investigations were delineated, and six objectives encompassing these skills were identified. Twenty-one items judged to be the best measures of these objectives were chosen for inclusion in the test. Modifications were made on the items in order to provide additional explanation for specific terms, i.e., the manipulated, responding, and controlled variables. The POPS test was constructed in order to assess the process skills dealing with identifying experimental questions (three items), identifying variables (six items), formulating hypotheses (three items), designing investigations (three items), graphing data (three items), and interpreting data (three items). The readability of the test was assessed using the FOG index, and the average grade level index of 6.8 was obtained. To establish content validity, objectives and items were submitted to a panel of reviewers. The responses of the four experts were consistent on almost all items in terms of indicating the correct answer and keying to a process skills objective. This concurrence of reviewers was taken as evidence of content validity and objectivity of scoring. To examine test reliability and item indices, the POPS test was administered to middle school students in grades six through eight. A total of 1,402 students were involved in this field test. Total scores on the 21-item test for overall students ranged from 1 to 20 (Mean = 9.8, S.D. = 4.2). Total test reliability (KR-20) was .75. Item difficulty indices ranged from .28 to .79 with an average of .47. Item discrimination indices obtained by using the upper 27% and lower 27% of the sample group showed that 20 of the 21 items were above .30 with an average of .49. Point biserial. correlation indices of item discrimination showed that 19 of the 21 items were above .30 with an average of .41. Each of these indices fell well within the acceptable range for a reliable test. These results provide evidence of the reliability and validity of the test. The POPS test is a reliable instrument for diagnostic and/or summative assessment in science classes or re- search studies. The test may be a useful means in classroom-based research, evaluation of instruction and learning, and curriculum validation in evaluation as well as assessing process skills competence of middle school students.
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  • Mayumi KOYANAGI
    Article type: Article
    1993 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 63-72
    Published: June 30, 1993
    Released on J-STAGE: May 08, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In the conclusion of my former study (in this Bulletin 1990, vol・14. Not 4 ), I've made it clear that the remarkable thing in music learning is not the problem-solving that students seek the given goal, but the problem-solving that students decide on the .goal for themselves. This study is the continuous one and aims at investigating the various features of the latter problem-solving. For this aim, referring to the studies of D.Ecker and E.W.Eisner, I've revealed "students decide on the goal for themselves" is quality problem-solving and teachers should have expressive objectives to appraise the quality. Consulting results of proceeding studies, I've analysed student's learning process of this problem-solving.
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  • Kazumi Kondo
    Article type: Article
    1993 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 73-79
    Published: June 30, 1993
    Released on J-STAGE: May 08, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this study is to know how the preschool children, who are from two to six years old, recognizing the outside world by their five senses. The children were showed seven relational but shuffled pictures and asked to making a story using these pictures by their words. The analysis of their words was made based on how they rearranged the seven pictures and how they explained each picture. From two to three years old children did not change the picture's order and illustrated each picture with independent sentences. From three to four years old children had a tendency to place similar pictures in a row. From four to five years old children had a tendency to place similar picture in a row, and explained them with the relation between cause and effect. Some children, from five to six years old, placed all seven pictures in the order and made a story. These four steps showed the developing process of human recognition and thinkings.
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