A great deal of effort has been made on the way a class is conducted. What seems to be lacking, however, is that we don't have so many methods to monitor the class development objectively. This paper's purpose is to study a hypothesis. The hypothesis is that structuring a content of learning, which cultivates an ability nurtured by industrial arts, will make a class development more clearly. The problem is whether there is a merit in structuring the content of learning logically in executing "operations of cut". These operations are the process of manufacture in work of learning based on the technique of R.M.Gagńe's analysis. By making the learning hierarchy, we were able to confirm visually that executing "operations of cut" is not two separate processes of planning and manufacture, but one unified class development. And we must conduct a class this way. Therefore we may well conclude that the above mentioned is useful in conducting a class.

View full abstract

Part II of this article provides a methodological review of introspective second language (L2) studies surveyed in Part I , and discusses issues of controversy over the use of introspection in L2 research, concluding with suggestions for future introspective research. The perspectives from which introspective L2 studies were reviewed also serve as criteria for classifying or evaluating the studies. Most of such criteria are either binary (e.g., + /- informant training; + /- combination of methods) or sealer (e.g., degree of structuring; degree of being beneficial to the informant-learner). While what has primarily motivated the recent employment of introspective techniques in L2 research is the proved limited use of extrospective observational research for investigating metal processes, concerns have also been raised about introspection, the most basic one being the questioned veridicality of verbal reports with actual cognitive processes. Suggestions that have been made to enhance the veridicality of verbal reports include the following: (a) use of task-based information, (b) use of a less complicated verbalization task, and (c) reduction of processing-reporting time intervals. With the current increasing attention being paid by L2 researchers to learner strategies, verbal reporting has again come to the fore as a vital methodology for obtaining invisible insights from learners. Although care is always needed to obtain valid mentalistic data, it is expected that introspective data from L2 learners-as-L2-performers actively being engaged in L2 learning will continue to provide us with useful information concerning the inner workings of the mind unobtainable from extrospective observational studies.

View full abstract

This study has clarified that children are able to discriminate between salty flavors, and it also shows the necessity of teaching the correct amount of salt in food. Many health problems such as hypertention and apoplexy for example are caused by eating too much salt. To avoid overeating salt it is necessary to get used to eating lightly salted food at a young age but under the present state of education this is hardly case. As a preparation for teaching elementary school children the amount of salt in miso soup which is good for their health, the capacity to discriminate between salty flavors was examined with in the sixth grade. The results were as follows : 1) The children could discriminate between differences in the salty flavor of miso soup. 2) They tended to like thick miso soup. 3) It is possible to teach children to know by taste the amount of salt good for their health.

View full abstract

While science teachers draw a straight line when presenting time, and recognize that time flies objectively, independent to human's will, how do children recognize time? In this study, children's conception of time is investigated by use of the interview method. The target children arc from kindergarten pupils, through 2nd, 5th, 8th graders, to 11th graders, each group consists of 10 samples. The results indicate that (1)while the conception of time held by kindergarten pupils is so subjective, that held by children older than 5th grade is objective; (2) significant number of children, despite of their grade, suppose that time in the airplane, an example of a moving object, or time at the moon, an example of a cosmic body flies in the different way from that on the earth; (3)most children suppose that time is definite and that there exist the beginning of time and the end of time; (4)while kindergarten pupils suppose that the model of time is a circle, children older than 5th grade supposing it as a straight line; and (5)the 3rd and 4th graders are supposed to be in the transient stage of the development of the conception of time.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the processes of students' problem-solving in a technical task. The subjects, some junior high school students, were assigned a technical task. The task was to draw lines on a wooden board for parts of the object shown in the picture. They were asked to think aloud as they performed the task, and afterward to say what had been through their minds while working on it. We video-taped students' behavior and analyzed their problem-solving processes from the cognitive points of view. The results were as follows: (1) This study confirmed three cognitive processes in a technical task in all the students, such as problem representation, knowledge transfer, and evaluation. (2) The task to be solved consisted of several smaller tusks, and we also found cognitive processes in each of those tasks. (3) The more the subjects took notices of smaller tasks and used cognitive processes, the better their results were.

View full abstract

This study aims to clarify significance of disabled persons in home ecnomics education. Although public concern on disabled persons is accumulating, only few reports have been found which deal the subject in mazagines of home economics education during the past 10 years. While some teachings on disabled persons and on disabilities are found in nursery teaching of junior high and high schools, they are mostly limited within the precautionary measure against disabilities; there have been few education classes of understanding disabled persons. In this report, we investigate the effectiveness of education classes on disabilities and disabled persons for 58 students in a Kochi prefectual high school who have learned precautionary measure against disabilities and understanding disabled persons. The results are as follows: 1. The students had little consern on disabled persons before the teaching. There was significant neccessity in teaching on this theme. 2. After the learning, many students understood disabled persons, but some students were only pitiful for them. As effects of learning, the students recognized the necessity of welfare work and improvement of their behavior, and obtained the prospect of society with various persons.

View full abstract