This study examines the characteristics of stress among mid-level junior high school teachers, and its prevention. The subjects were teachers who participated in a training program for teachers with 10 years’ experience, which is legally required for public junior high school faculty. The subjects’ ages ranged between 32 and the mid-40s. A questionnaire survey regarding their stress was conducted. The result showed that stress characteristics of the teachers are categorized as follows: sluggishness, lack of time, feeling inadequate in the workplace, and feeling resistant to new initiatives. Furthermore, it was revealed that their stress characteristics are closely related to gender, marital status, and whether or not they want to be a manager. Thus, sluggishness is high among teachers who don’t want to be a manager, whereas feeling inadequate in the workplace is high among teachers who don’t have a spouse. Furthermore, feeling resistant to new initiatives is higher among female than male teachers. Moreover, no significant difference is found in their lack of time. Therefore, it was shown that all of the mid-level teachers feel the same stress level for lack of time. In addition, the results show that their stress is related to burnout.　 Furthermore, it is shown that cognitive operation coping is effective for dealing with the stress these teachers experience. In contrast, solution avoidance coping increases their stress. We examined the direction of their stress prevention from the above results.

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The purpose of this study was to propose the construction and development of a model in which students in junior high school social studies history lessons would be able to acquire causality and interconnectedness cognition, and also to demonstrate a method to improve the learning of history, in which students were likely to acquire conclusive cognition based on knowledge in segments. Through the practice and analysis of “A small unit-the change from the Jomon to the Yayoi Period”, students recognize the interconnectedness cognition of “Rice cultivation began with the start of Yayoi Period, and as a result the population increased.” The results of the analysis revealed two important points were made clear: 1. The proposing of a new viewpoint, stating that re-examining the knowledge students already possess is effective in interpreting, explaining and monitoring this knowledge. 2. That by using several examples of material and data, examining their reasoning, and applying additional examples, causality and interconnectedness cognition can be acquired.

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This study examined the extent to which experiential activities of rice farming were able to meet the aim of the Period for Integrated Studies (PFIS). It explored via qualitative research the notion that children learn from experiential activities of rice farming by undertaking such activities. Study 1 involved 55 fifth-grade elementary school students who experienced a series of experiential activities of rice farming, which expanded their awareness, allowed them to understand various aspects of rice farming, and changed their thinking and behavior. Study 2 involved 542 fifth-grade elementary school students who undertook experiential activities of rice farming in a different environment of a number of activity processes. They gained knowledge through “cooperative learning” and had a positive learning experience, especially from harvesting. It appears important for children to experience the work processes in a rice field of a sufficient size. These results suggest that when children undertake experiential activities of rice farming, they can be the “driving force” that produces proactive learning that is expected from them in the PFIS.

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To develop the piano practice methods in nursery school, kindergarten and elementary school teacher training, students’ attitude towards and the conditions of piano practice were examined and analyzed. The results of a questionnaire for students who took piano classes, piano beginners gave high priority to piano practice in their student life and had feelings of accomplishment that were higher than the experienced piano students, although they had a strong sense of inadequacy about their piano playing, and had trouble with reading music scores and moving their fingers and hands. In open-ended questions about students’ attitude to practice and their practice methods, it was noted that piano beginners did not have concrete practice strategies. On the other hand, higher-level students knew the targets to practice for, and they intensively practiced these points. There is a need for practice strategies for piano beginners.

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　The major purpose of the present study was to examine whether the Kinetic School Drawing (KSD) can be used to assess children’s School Adjustment (SA). Surveys of SA and KSD were obtained from 170 pupils (first to fifth grades) in Guangzhou, China. Peer relationship, teacher-student relationship and school attitude were applied as indicators for evaluating SA. Height of self, distance between figures, number of peers and drawing order are used as indicators for evaluating the KSD. The results revealed： ① the indicators of KSD had good inter-rater reliability, and the experience of drawing training did not affect the diagnosis of indicators of KSD on SA. ② Among all the indicators of the KSD, height of self and friends were positively related to peer relationship, as well as the figure’s height and drawing order of self to the teacher-student relationship, while teacher-student distance was negatively related to teacher-student relationship, as well as self expressions to school attitude. ③ Significant differences were showed in height of figure, self direction and self position among students from different grades. In all grades, sport was the most common activity of drawing. ④ The height of figure drew by the high SA students were significantly bigger than the low SA students. In general, the study suggests that the KSD can be used as an instrument to measure SA among elementary school students.

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