In this study, we proposed an instructional method to develop “the reasonable thinking attitude” of critical thinking attitude through the framework of argumentation in high school science. In the method students took the following two learning activities in the unit: First, the students learned the framework of argumentation by using of “Argumentation cards”. Second, they applied the framework to analyze the argumentation of other students about expectation of experience． In order to investigate the effectiveness of the method, we conducted a class in which 75 students took a basic physics course at an affiliated senior high school. Based on their writings on questionnaires and worksheets for the class, we concluded that our method could improve their reasonable thinking attitude of the critical thinking attitude.

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The aim of this study is to devise a method of teaching chemistry to develop “proactive metacognition” of upper secondary school students and to verify the effect of this method through teaching practice. In order to achieve this, a teaching method was devised whereby students were first encouraged to activate the monitoring using the check seal, and then looked back on their activities in discussion activities with others for next experiment. Then, a lesson about chemical reaction and heat was given to a class of 81 first-grade upper secondary school students so as to verify the effect of the teaching method. Based on the students’ writings on questionnaires and worksheets in this experiment for the classes, we concluded that our teaching method could contribute to develop their monitoring skills to understand the experimental methods and inspect their ways, and their control skills to make a modification of behavior, which were part of the metacognition during the experiment.

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In this paper, we examined the effect of common language instruction in the 1950’s on the Japanese language academic ability. Previous studies have revealed that common language guidance has been done eagerly as a way to solve the communication disorder. However, learning common language had a great deal to do with the academic ability of the Japanese language, with the aim of solving the incompatibility of communication in the country. Especially, it was considered to be deeply related to vocabulary skill. It is also considered to be related to motivation and the learning efficiency accompanying it. In other words, to conduct common language guidance has been aimed and practiced with two directions; that is, improving the efficiency of learning activities and improving academic ability itself. In addition, a paper test was also conducted to achieve these effects, indicating that they had been systematically instructed.

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Teacher educators are expected to play a significant role in providing teachers of good qualities. There is, however, a great deal of uncertainty about how to educate teacher educators. The purpose of this study is to answer the following three research questions: (1) How have the teacher educators candidates (= Ph.D and master course students) been developed through experiencing GTAs (graduate teaching assistants)? (2)What are the promoting and limiting factors for their development? and (3) How do they perceive their experience? In order to answer these questions, we conducted a small scale qualitative study focusing on three teacher educator candidates for one year in 2014. According to this research, the findings can be summarized in three points: (1) the process of the development of each candidate is varied. While candidate A has been developed based on the identity as a teacher educator, candidate B focuses more on the identity as a researcher. In contrast, the identity of candidate C seems to have been confused between a teacher educator and a researcher. (2) The important factors are their identity and background. Particularly, experience as a learner and supervisors and colleagues seems to have an impact on their perceptions and practice. (3) From their perceptions, the experience of GTAs would have a good effect on developing them not only as teacher educators but also as researchers. In fact, for candidate C, who used be confused about their identity, the experience as a GTA seemed to have given a good opportunity to reflect and establish his identity.

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This paper discusses the perspectives on the issue of critical reading instruction of expository text, analyzing journal articles (April 1995-March 2014). Through this analysis, I found that most critical reading instruction was focused on argumentation, especially “date”. However, critical reading requires criticism of “warrant”, and hence we need to instruct it. Moreover, I discussed the means of comprehension and criticism of “warrant”.

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This study aims to investigate the three sides (knowledge about contents of training material, children, and educational method) of elementary school teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and to acquire the insight to support teacher’s masterization. The participants in this study were three elementary school math teachers with varying years of experience. The research methods were as follows: (1) They were interviewed while watching a video clip of a math class in progress. (2) They answered the questionnaire on “class image, teacher image, and child image” studied by Mishima (2007). The major findings were as follows: (1) The teachers with 5 years and 13 years of teaching experience responded with more teacher-centered content, while the teacher with 22 years of teaching experience responded with more learner-centered content. (2) The teachers with 5 and 13 years of teaching experience felt that children were non-creative and did not trust children, while the teacher with 22 years of teaching experience had higher trust in children. This study has developed the matrix with which teacher’s masterization is supported based on these insights.

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This study investigated what effects extensive reading in an EFL classroom had on Japanese students’ English writing ability. A four-month extensive reading program was conducted for 12th graders in a public secondary school in Japan. The participants read graded readers under the conditions of Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). They were organized into two groups: 40 learners in Group 1 (45-minute extensive reading plus 5-minute essay writing on the books they read: ERW) and 30 in Group 2 (50-minute extensive reading only: ER). As pre- and post-tests, they took reading comprehension tests, which consisted of CEFR A1-B2 level questions, and writing tests in English. The writing tests were evaluated on the basis of Simplified EFL Composition Profile (Ohba, 2013) with the following five subcomponents: content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics. The research questions (RQs) were as follows: (1) Does extensive reading in an EFL classroom improve learners’ writing ability? (2) If the RQ1 is positive, which of the five subcomponents does it improve? (3) Which of the five subcomponents relates to the participants’ reading ability or the number of words they read? The analysis of variance of pre- and post-writing tests showed that the instructional difference between ERW and ER was not recognized, the significant development in writing skill was recognized in lower level students of each group, and four subcomponents (content, organization, vocabulary, and language use) were significantly improved in lower level students of each group. Regression analysis showed that there was a moderate correlation between writing ability and reading ability and there was a significant difference both in Language Use of ERW group and in Vocabulary of ER group. Participants’ reading ability, rather than the number of words the participants read, had a greater effect on the participants’ writing ability. The significant effects of reading ability were recognized in each of the five subcomponents for both the ERW and ER groups.

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The demand for quality assurance of university education suitable for today’s knowledge-based society is increasing from various directions. According to the 2012 conference of the Central Council of Education report, the structure of society has undergone a major transformation, and values have been under review fundamentally. In order to live in such times and contribute to society, when we encounter unexpected situations, we need to have the ability to discover the existing problems and to identify the path to solve them. Universities have to develop education curricula to aid students in confronting real world challenges in the future. However, the current state of mathematics education in universities is not sufficiently developed for liberal arts curricula in particular. Mathematics education does not teach mathematical literacy to liberal arts students at the university level. Universities are therefore now being instructed to foster problemsolving abilities as mathematical literacy. Mathematical modelling is a method of problem solving in mathematics. This research extends the mathematical modelling based on previous research, and proposes how students need to be educated to recognize the role the mathematical ability plays in society and apply it to real world problems. I want to develop mathematics education especially at the first year experience and general education course in university. This research concerns the practice of mathematics education intended to develop the problem-solving ability of liberal arts college students.

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This study examines Robert Karplus’s theory of science education focusing on the activities developed in his SCIS project. Karplus designed science education as general education where the objective is students’ achievement of scientific literacy. He developed SCIS’s curriculum based on the theory of Piagetian intellectual development. The curriculum was consisted of three kinds of concepts: interpreting concepts, explanatory concepts, and concepts about objects. He also conceived of the learning cycle strategy which was based on the Kuhnian theory and Piagetian theory. This enabled teachers to support students to transform preconceptions into scientifically appropriate ones; and to promote children’s intellectual development. Thereby, students learned scientific concepts and developed ability to operate abstract concepts to solve problems around them.

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