There are many types of fibers come from creatures. However, in today’s high school biology, there is no complex educational program to learn fibers. Therefore, in this study, we developed an inquiry experimental system using natural fibers and practiced this program. First, as a plant fiber, we started growing cotton and as an animal fiber, used cocoon silk as teaching materials. Then, we also developed an experimental system using dry cocoons (spider, GFP) of non-living transgenic silkworms. With this system we succeeded in extracting DNA from the pupas about one year and determined whether they include recombinant DNA by PCR. By measuring the tensile strength of the fiber from each cocoon, we confirmed that the silk fiber from the spider cocoon was tough. In addition, by comparing the reactions of the silk fibers from each cocoon and cotton to each reagent, I made the students realize the differences among them as a substance. In this way, through these experiments of natural fibers we can integrate various studies, such as botany, entomology, biotechnology and clothing materials engineering. We can definitely say that the experimental system will make the students have different kinds of interests.

In 2008 edition of the government curriculum guide for science class in junior high school, the study unit “Science, Technology and Humans” newly included the properties and use of ionizing radiation. Until 2008, former edition of the guide had not included these items, and new teaching programs for ionizing radiation had been needed. Then several teaching programs were developed for this purpose. One of them was a model experiment to observe the sterilization effect of ionizing radiation using ampicillin resistant Escherichia coli, ampicillin containing agar plates and ultraviolet light instead of ionizing radiation. The combination of ampicillin resistant E. coli and ampicillin containing plates were used to reduce the risk from contamination of airborne bacteria. The bacterial strain used was E. coli DH5alpha/pUC19 which was genetically modified organism (GMO). GMO is regulated by the Cartagena Act, which seemed to restrict the number of schools could perform the teaching program. To remove the restriction, we measured actual risk from contamination and found the risk was not high. Then E. coli was plated without addition of ampicillin under non-sterile condition and the percentage of the bacterial contamination was also found to be low. Finally viability of E. coli was measured after ultraviolet light irradiation without aseptic manipulation and the viability was not affected by the contamination.

I devised an experiment that reproduces the luminescence of a firefly using a LuciPac Pen and presented it to first-year high school students taking a Basic Biology course. In the experiment, the substrate luciferin reacted with the enzyme luciferase, and a remarkable luminescence was observed. The following procedure should be performed: the tip of the swab of the LuciPac Pen was dipped into the solution containing only ATP that was freshly prepared by the teacher, the swab was then re-inserted into its holder and was shaken. The luminescence produced lasted for more than 30 minutes due to the presence of pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase. Students participated in the lesson by performing the experiment, and thus it became very popular among them. Considerations of what causes the light emission to stop can also be addressed. This experiment can be used as teaching material and can also be used for additional inquiry-based learning activities.

In science education, one crucial competency is the ability to “analyze and interpret the results of observations and experimentations.” This study investigates how to utilize tables or graphs from “Basic Biology” authorized textbooks for upper secondary school students as an example. The aim of this study is to clarify how the tables or graphs published in such textbooks are utilized. The surveyed textbooks had an average of 296 charts each, of which 36 were graphs or tables. The graphs or tables only listed in the text accounted for 16% of all charts.

Regarding how these graphs and tables are cited in the text, 6% “appeared as reference material for the content of the text,” while both “appeared as a summary of the description in the text” and “there exists a description of the graphs or tables” represented 12% each, and “appeared as the basis of the description in the text” had the highest incidence, at 71%. Regarding the graphs that “appeared as the basis of the description in the text” or those for which “there exists an explanation of the graphs or tables,” 66% of them were referred to in the text.

It has been pointed out that learning biology involves a significant amount of memorization, to the detriment of logic. Reading the graphs in the textbook and confirming the description in the text increased scientific validity. In addition, since this report focuses on the utilization of graphs, we hope it will be used for future lesson planning.