The aim of this study is to discuss the meritocratic characteristics of kanbun educational materials in the Meiji period through a comparison of kanbun educational materials in Chutou Kanbun Tokuhon (edited in1901) with the first national elementary textbooks (edited in 1904). Comparison of these books reveals that the meritocratic characteristics of kanbun educational materials are different from those of the first national elementary textbooks. Kanbun meritocratic materials were composed in the tradition of samurai education. On the other hand, the meritocratic materials in elementary education consisted mainly of the life histories of NINOMIYA Kinjiro, an efficient farming producer in the Edo period, and educational materials for citizenship. This fact seems to be related to the position of elementary education and kanbun education in the Meiji period.

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The purpose of this research is to examine differences in the interaction between teachers and students in junior high school science lessons which are conducted by The Best Teacher awardee teachers and common teachers who haven’t been awarded in Ghana. 5 awardee teachers’ science lessons and 5 common teachers’ science lessons were analyzed with regard to IRF sequences (teacher Initiation- student Responseteacher Feedback/ Follow up; Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975) and IRE sequences (teacher Initiation- student Response- teacher Evaluation; Mehan, 1979). And the questions asked by teachers in the lessons were also analyzed with a revision of Blooms’ Taxonomy which consisted of 6 dimensions: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. The total number of questions of the best teacher awardee teachers’ lessons was more than twice as large as that of the common teachers. The number of IRE sequences was less than that of total questions, and the number of IRF sequences was considerably less. This means that even the best teacher awardee teachers could not extend and facilitate the classroom discourse fully because they did not take advantage of students’ responses; instead they just evaluated. In terms of a revision of Blooms’ Taxonomy, almost all the questions which the common teachers asked in their lessons were lower-order questions like “remembering” and “understanding”. On the other hand, the best teacher awardee teachers mainly asked lower-order questions. They did also ask higher-order questions like “analyzing” and “evaluating”, although not frequently.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a handball class for the improvement of junior high school students’ physical fitness. The participants in this study were 21 junior high school students. Before and after classes, a skill test (handball throw), a fitness test (150m sprint with changing direction ; 25m×6 times, rest interval 30s) were conducted. In addition, this study administered a questionnaire consisting of items about the subjects’ technical skills, physical fitness, and psychological aspects at the end of each class. After completing the program, another questionnaire regarding skill, attitude, and knowledge, conception and judgment aspects was given to the students. The findings of this study reveal that this handball teaching program improved students’ physical fitness levels. However, there was no significant difference in the results of the skill test before and after the program.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ consciousness in classes of integrated studies (CIS). Some teachers regard CIS as effective for their students because they stimulate learning motivations. They understand the purpose and the meaning of CIS, and they come up with various ideas to make them effective. Thus, this study administered a questionnaire and conducted interviews with elementary school teachers, and I analyzed their consciousness using this data. Some teachers enjoy themselves in CIS, and regard these classes as positive. Some other teachers regard CIS as a burden because the content and the methods of CIS are too flexible. The assessment of CIS is divided into four types: teacher’s assessment, self- assessment, mutual assessment based on reports, results, and portfolio-files, and assessment by observing their students. Teachers should consider what is important about CIS and how to create an optimal learning environment. Teachers should align their interests with their students and make students discover themes, pursue themes to make a prospect, and solve problems by themselves. Teachers should keep a record of CIS and their results, and they should hand them over to their successors.

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According to Talmy (2000), languages can be divided into S(atellite)-framed languages and V(erb)-framed languages depending on what components of a Motion event such as Manner and Path are characteristically shown in what syntactic constituents in a language. English belongs to the former, and Japanese the latter. English allows Manner to be expressed not only by manner-of-motion verbs as in Tom ran to the park but also by a participle as in Tom went to the park by running. In contrast, Japanese does not allow it to be expressed by manner-of-motion verbs used as a main verb, but requires directed motion verbs such as kuru “come” and iku “go” to be used as a main verb, as in Tom-ga kooen-ni hasitte itta, where Manner is expressed as a gerund, or a so-called te-form. In addition, English allows Path to be expressed both as goal PPs like to the park and locative PPs like in the park, which means English locative PPs are ambiguous between directional and locational readings. At the same time, Japanese locative PPs are unambiguously locational as in Tom-ga kooende hasitta. However, it remains unclear whether and how such typological differences between the two languages influence the acquisition of each language. Moreover, previous studies on the acquisition of English motion constructions by Japanese EFL learners mainly have the following problems to address: (i) different studies have applied different methods to the similar research questions, and have come to different conclusions, and (ii) there remains a possibility that some methods in previous studies were not reliable enough to correctly evaluate the acceptability of target sentences for the participants because multiple test sentences or a couple of pictures were presented simultaneously to the participants. In this study, the author investigated the acceptability judgements of English motion construction for Japanese EFL learners using a unified and improved method. An acceptability judgement task with pairs of pictures was used and the data was analyzed using a two-way ANOVA followed by a multiple comparison test. Participants were composed of 46 Japanese university students, 26 of whom majored in English, and 11 native speakers of English. Each test sentence was presented with one pair of pictures. They responded on 5 point scale how natural they felt each of the test sentences was. A total of 32 English motion constructions and 20 periphrastic expressions were included in the test. The analyses resulted in the following: (i) goal PPs were more acceptable as directional readings for Japanese EFL learners than locative PPs (ii) locative PPs were more acceptable as locational readings for Japanese EFL learners than directional readings, and (iii) Japanese EFL learners tend to accept excessively periphrastic expressions of English motion constructions. In conclusion, these results suggest that typological differences between English and Japanese may influence the acquisition of English for Japanese EFL learners, and that it may be pedagogically beneficial for these learners to pay attention to comparative characteristics of both English and Japanese to develop “metalinguistic awareness and abilities” (Otsu, 2012, p.179).

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In this paper, the ingenuity of a class to take advantage of the continuity of learning was analyzed with a focus on empirical knowledge acquired in kindergarten and nursery school. The study analyzed the lesson scenes of a second-year life environment studies class in elementary school. The findings show the significance of practicing life environment studies class based on the experience of children at kindergarten and nursery school. This study reveals the following three points. 1. In the class building on the basis of the experience of children at kindergarten and nursery school, children can learn widely and deeply. This is because children are able to take advantage of empirical knowledge acquired in kindergartens and nursery schools. 2. In the class building on the basis of the experience of children at kindergarten and nursery school, children can continue to work while updating the ideas one after another. This is caused by the unspecified shape of the final target such as the textbook sample. 3. In the class building on the basis of children’s experiences at kindergarten and nursery school, the empirical knowledge acquired in kindergarten and nursery school that “it was fun to have experienced” can be a stimulus to encourage their commitment to activities.

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This study discusses an interdisciplinary framework with integrated objectives at elementary and junior high school levels employing the Engeström activity theory. The purpose of this study is to examine changes of students’ emotional development, awareness of food, and their eating behaviors. From a survey of textbooks, this study sheds light on several viewpoints: in the area of home economics, making daily life changes and creation of lifestyle factors; in the social sphere, creating a social science perspective; and in the area of science, engendering a natural science perspective. In the area of food, by linking food, agriculture, and the environment, the study can facilitate improved social and economic skills, a life of better quality, and development into individuals capable of considering social questions-in addition to the more obvious topics of food safety and physical/mental health. Systematic goals help students to deepen the learning process and are also effective for boosting social and emotional skills.

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