In this world we are surrounded by plants, and often need to know their names in daily life. The phylogenic grouping of plants and the searching for plant names are tasks carried out in biology classes from elementary school to high school. Students outline the phylogenic relationships within the plant kingdom in this study. As a resut, students develop not only their eyes for observing nature and gain familiarity with it, but also expand their interest in the environment and its problems.

I developed several teaching matarials for identifying seed plants. They include a plant identification table with synoptical keys, identification cards (body-punched) and computer programs. Characteristics observable with the naked eye were chosen to search for plant names. I used these materials in plant identification exercises for students at junior, senior high schools and univcrsity, as well as for teachers from elementary to high schools, and ob­ tained successful results in biology education. In this review, these teaching materials and their application to biology education in school are described in detail with other research in this field.

Three species of Aspergillus (Aspergillus oryzae, A. niger and A. sojae) were cultivated on wheat bran and α-amylases were extracted from the culture. The enzymes were precipitated with ethyl alcohol and analyzed by native-PAGE. The α-amylase bands were detected clearly on the gel by an iodine­ starch reaction. The enzymes were immobilized in a calcium alginate gel sheet, and the effects of temperature on its starch-liquefying activity with iodinestarch reagent were studied. The methods of cultivation on the wheat bran and precipitation of enzymes with ethyl alcohol do not require any expensive tools. It is important for students themselves to cultivate microbes and to prepare some enzymes and to analyze their enzymatic characteristics. Through these experiments, students increase their interest in experimenting on enzymes and learning the relationship between microbes and human life. So, a series of such experiments on enzymes are suitable as a teaching technique especially for inquiry and problem-solving activities in high school biology.

To assess the potential of the application of biologically acute effects of non-ionizing radiation in a school of medical technology, human lymphocytes were radiated in vitro by ultraviolet B (UV-B) at wavelengths from 280nm to 320nm. Survival ratios of radiated lymphocytes were examined with a trypan blue exclusion test. Lymphocytes were damaged by UV-B irradiation. At UV-B irradiant of 5 × 10⁻⁴ Jm⁻² or 8 × 10⁻⁴ Jm⁻² survival ratios were

approximately 50% and 70%, respectively (significant at P < 0.05). The survival ratio decreased exponentially with incremental increase of UV-B irradiation. This suggests that the one-hit-one-target model (which is a well-known model of biological effects of ionizing radiation) will be applicable to the explanation of acute effects of UV-B irradiation on the human lymphocytes. Addition of xanthine oxidase/xanthine dehydrogenase, which produces activated oxygen, had no significant effect on lymphocyte survival.

In conclusion, the irradiation experiment of UV-B on in vitro cultured human lymphocytes is an alternative to ionizing radiation for induction of biologically acute effects, and is suitable for laboratory practice in a school of medical technology.