University entrance examinations are the first step in the selection process of students possessing the knowledge and ability that is necessary in the various fields of science. Questions on the entrance examination are therefore considered to reflect the policy of selection at each university. To confirm this hypothesis, I analyzed the questions in entrance examination in the field of biology from the following two perspectives: (1) the degree of consistency between the idealized content of high school level studies in the field of biology as viewed by high school and university biology teachers for those who intend to advance into faculties (departments) in the field of natural sciences (i.e., science, engineering, agriculure, medicine, dentistry, etc.) and actual questions in the entrance examinations of national and non-national universities during the period of 1990~95 and (2) the frequency of combination-type questions, (i,e., questions that combine various subjects from differing courses of study), in the entrance examanation of each university prior to (1988~89) and subsequent to the introduction of the National Examination Center tests (1995~96). The results indicated that there were relatively few questions requiring extremely detailed knowledge most likely included for the purpose of elimination. I found that of the 88 items that were surveyed, about 90% were consistent with the idealized subject matter. This would seem to be an expression of the intentions of universities to select students who had acquired a basic knowledge of high school level biology. In addition, compared to the time prior to the introduction of the National Examination Center tests, combination-type questions increased by a factor of about 1. 3 subsequent to introduction. I conclude that this reflects the desire of universities to select students who have acquired a broad range of knowledge and possess the ability to integrate this basic knowledge in other fields of natural science.

This study reported detailed protocol and hints of DNA extraction for teaching material in high school and general education course. In this method, long chain DNA was able to be extracted within 50 minutes at room temperature without cooledcentrifuge, incubation shaker, or liquid nitrogen. The efficiency of DNA extraction by this method was comparable with conventional methods(Kusanagi and Kusumoto 1976).

Science and technology developed rapidly in the latter half of the 20th century. As a result, the outcome of the latest scientific research has come to influence our life directly. It is not recent findings, but established facts, that are taught in school education. To fill the gap and introduce the present condition of science, we made a database of today’s active scientists in biology, which we call Scientist Library.

The Scientist Library consists of research topics and personal history written by 88 individual scientists. They belong to active fields of biology, including developmental biology, molecular and cellular biology, and molecular evolution. The Scientist Library can be accessed throgh the Internet and is also available as CD-ROM.

We surveyed the possible use of it in school biology. The result shows that Scientist Library can be used as an information source for guidance counselling, or as a supplementary material in class. It also shows that information about scientists currently doing research is needed in school education and the Scientist Library helps to provide it for teachers and students.

The Scientist Libarary is a new attempt to introduce science through scientists.

We propose that similar libraries should be made in other fields of science.

Participation in plant identification exercise in school is a very effective method to acquire one of the goals in the science at junior high school, mentioned in national course of study in Japan, that students have interest in nature. It also contributes to achieve the environmental education which places its emphasis on the relationship between human and the environment. Ohkawa (1983) developed the simple BASIC plant identification program. In this study, the simple program which uses the same data as plant identification tables (synoptical keys) and cards (body-punched cards) was applied to plant identification exercises for students of senior high school to develop the new program [PLANT]. Laptop computers were used for field exercises. As Windows PCs are now prevalent, the BASIC program [PLANT] was run on Windows95 PCs by an emulater and [PLANT] was used in the exercises for school teachers. Plant identifications were carried out more speedy by computers than by synoptical keys and the body-punched cards. The participants understood very well the high ability of computers in processing data. Recently the use of computers in schools has been recommended for students to learn how to process data and to collect information through the internet. The plant identification exercise is suitable for information technology courses.