The difficulty and excess amount of curriculum content and resultant low attainment level of students are some of the concerns expressed by teachers with respect to the present science education in Japan.

The objective ofthe present study was to attempt developing a biology curriculum suited for the average students in upper secondary schools.

1. After analyzing the biology textbooks for secondary schools used in Japan as well as other countries, 455 content items were elicited, and they were systematically rearranged.

2. The list of 455 contentitems was sentto specialists in biology education, and they were asked to rate these itemsin terms oftheimportance and/or the necessity for the average studentsin upper secondary schools.

3. Contentitems which consider to be essential for biology educationin upper secondary schools were identified as minimum essentials based on the results of the responses from the specialists.

4. A new biology curriculum for upper secondary schools which takes into account core and essential items to be taught at this level was developed and presented for use in schools.

To know how well schoolchildren are acquainted with common names offamiliar plants and animals, a survey was conducted among 5873 elementary and middle schoolchildren in Kobe City using questionaries with color pictures of 24 species. Also the proportion ofchildren wh was able to point out correctly the habitats ofthose organisms was compared between the group who knew the names and the one who didn’t.

The results are as follows:

1) Children’s knowledge of common names is classified into six types.

2) Knowledge ofcommon names can be considered as a scale to measure children’s familiarity with plants and animals.

3) Children do not know those plants and animals only by names, butin connection with their habitats.