Students are required to learn fundamentals concerning physics before conducting experiments, which, so far, have been taught by the traditional method of lecturing. The present study aimed at an effective pre-instruction by using a microcomputer. The students' understanding as to the theory of error was investigated and the training was undertaken for them to understand it correctly. A printed problem sheet with multiple-choice type problems was used together with the newly constructed program. Not only did the method help us carry on the investigation smoothly, but made it possible to apply the program to investigations in other fields as well as pre-instructions for other physics experiments, without any remarkable modification. The description of the method and some findings in the instruction of error are given in the paper.

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It is considered that the group composition has influence on group learning of science in school education. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of group composition in group learning of science lessons. The experimentation was carried out on the sociometric group and the heterogeneous group in terms of subjects' intelligence scores. The hypothesis tested was: "The subjects in the sociometric group condition will make more relevant interaction than those in the heterogeneous condition. Furthermore, the former was expected to show better performance and attitude than the latter." The subjects were elementary school children of 5th grade. Each group was composed of four children of the same sex. The indices of "performance", "attitude" and "interaction" of subjects

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[in Japanese]

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The teaching theories of Social Studies are divided into three groups in Japan. One is "Social Studies teaching for empathizing and understanding the social meanings". Another is "Social Studies teaching for developing children's thinking ability". The third is "Social Studies teaching for bringing up practical human beings with scientific knowledge". This paper intends to clarify the epistemological basis of "Social Studies teaching for empathizing and understanding the social meanings", in order to compare with the three Social Studies teaching theories.

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This paper is a link in the chain of studies whose purpose is to analyze the epistemological foundations of the teaching theories of Social Studies. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the teaching theory of "Social Studies for developing children's thinking ability" based upon the theory of knowledge in pragmatism. The result of the analysis is as follows: 1) The content in Social Studies is the network of knowledge that is discovered by teacher's problem-solving. 2) Through the teaching process, children learn to replace their common sense with new ideas based upon their problem-solving.

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Social Studies teachings based on the Marxian social science have formed a powerful researchers-teachers group in our country. They have been characterized by aiming to "bring up practical human beings with scientific knowledge". This paper intends to analyze the learning contents and learning process in one of these teachings from the viewpoint of epistemological basis of Marxism, in order to clarify the relation of "practical human beings" and "scientific knowledge".

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In order to get fundamental data for adopting family planning into the curriculum, personal inquiries have been made at three public schools in Hiroshima Prefecture, in order to know how the high school girls recognize this theme at present. The results are summarized as follows: 1) Ninety-four(94) percent of the high school girls wanted to marry in future. The major reasons for the marriage were to have a sweet home with their lovers and to give birth to and bring up their children. 2) They answered that they wanted to have 2 or 3 children. Even the majority of the girls who would not marry wanted to bring up their children. 3) They were well aware of a necessity of family planning, as they learned it school. 4) About 90% of the girls were aware of contraception and how to use contraceptives. They learned it mostly at school or from journals.

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While the learner grows as a person and grows in the range, depth, and meaning-fullness of his immediate personal-social relationships, he is simultaneously involved in a broader environmental and social relation of science and technology. He can be helped to develop a sense of the interdependence of field of knowledge and to become appreciative of the value of the experience of past generations. He can gain a conception of the growth and nature of science, and see the effects of its applications on social institutions. Social life and economic life are very closely related in modern scientific and technological society. The individual is entering into his role as a citizen in a society characterized by growing industrialization, by associational activity on an increasing scale, and by more and more disposition toward the solution of environmental and social problems. In this article, analysis of the personal-social implication of science and technology reveals a careful examination of a hidden code of the agricultural society and scientific and technological society. Especially the problems underlying all contemporary socio-scientific issues are carefully discussed and clarified.

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Attribution Theory concerns the way people arrive at causal interpretations of behavior - their own, other people's, and that of the world in general. This theory examines the processes that go on inside us when we use incoming information to assign a cause (attribution) to that information. The assumptions and expectations that we use to interpret events affect not only the cause assigned to a situation after it has occurred. They also have implications for our expectations and performance in the future. Attribution is concerned with how people come to know and to understand their world, including interpersonal relationships, and how they subsequently function in it. Attributions may be categorized as internal and external. If the cause of a behavior is attributed to the person rather than something outside the person, this is called an internal attribution. An external attribution places the responsibility or cause of a behavior outside the person. There are some consistent differences between the way people make attributions for their own behavior and the way they make attributions for the behavior of others: people tend to make external attributions for their own behavior while they make internal attributions for the behavior of others. For example, if I do well on a test I might say it was because the test was easy (external cause) while if Mary does well I might say it is because Mary is smart (internal attribution). The way we make attributions to our own and other people's behavior also has implications for expectations and performance. Attributions influence a wide range of personal and interpersonal phenomena, including self perception, person perception, attitudes, and motivation in learning English. It would be no easy task to identify which factor is the most influential and significant for the success of foreign language learning. Many attempts have been made by psychologists and educators to do so. Among them is J.B. Carroll, who has presented a conceptual model of the learning process which applies with particular force to the learning of a foreign language. The model proposes that the success of learning in an educational setting is a complex function of the following five kinds of elements: The learner's aptitude, general intelligence, perseverance, the quality of the instruction and the opportunity for learning. But I suppose that the most important factor is the relationship between motivations and attributions in teaching- learning situations. If we know the relationship between motivational factors and attributions in pupils and let them study English with their own will, they can surely make theri learning more effectively and significantly.

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