Problem-solving using scientific rules has repeatedly been confirmed as being more difficult than the teachers had expected. Previous studies on this issue, based on the "instructionist" premise that problem-solving becomes possible when rules are taught, focused on cognitive factors that may impede problem-solving. In contrast, the present study is based on the "constructivist" premise that emphasizes learners' knowledge construction and the relationship between their knowledge construction level and the functions of rules. In addition to the summarizing and predicting functions of rules, the present study proposes a deepening function that deepens learners' understanding of the concepts that make up the rules, and hypothesizes that teaching the functions of rules, particularly the deepening function, would increase learners' knowledge construction levels and promote problem-solving. The participants, university students, were asked to learn biological rules using instructional materials that emphasized each of the above functions of rules. The results indicated that the group that was taught the deepening function had the highest test scores, suggesting that knowledge construction levels may influence problem-solving.

  The present study investigated the influence of using a whiteboard during lectures on the lecturer's speech and university students' note-taking. The participants (24 students: 6 men, 18 women) were randomly divided into four groups and assigned to one of four mock lectures. In the two experimental groups, the lecturer (the second author) used a whiteboard in the first half of the class and oral explanations only in the second half. In the two control groups, the lecturer used a whiteboard throughout the class. The order of the experimental and control procedures was counterbalanced. The results showed that when the whiteboard was used, the lecturer's rate of speech was lower and pointing during the lecture increased. Time-series analysis showed that 21 of the participants took notes within 60 seconds after material had been presented on the whiteboard. The rate of writing words that had been written on the whiteboard was significantly higher in the control group in the second half of the class. The total number of strokes written and diagrams copied from the whiteboard into their notes varied across participants. The results suggested that whiteboard usage may decrease a lecturer's speech rate, increase a lecturer's physical movements, and maintain the writing of English technical terms and examples as explanations. The participants' responses on a questionnaire indicated that the motivation for taking notes varied among the students. This variable should be examined in future research.

  Research focusing on interoception may be useful in understanding and treating people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Recently, two core motivational dimensions underlying obsessive-compulsive (OC) behavior have been proposed: harm avoidance (HA) and incompleteness (INC). Incompleteness reduces therapeutic effects and has received increasing attention in recent research. Several studies have noted that difficulty in recognizing interoception has been identified as a variable influencing incompleteness. The present study examines the hypothesis that interoceptive sensibility predicts harm avoidance and incompleteness. The participants, 202 Japanese university students (mean age=21.13 years, SD=1.82), completed questionnaires online. The resulting data were analyzed by hierarchical multiple regression. The results showed that Emotional Awareness and Trusting significantly explained harm avoidance and incompleteness respectively, and that different interceptive sensibilities were associated with harm avoidance and incompleteness. It was suggested that effective treatments for obsessive-compulsive behavior may differ depending on the individual's motivation (harm avoidance or incompleteness). Future longitudinal research may clarify the causal effect.

  To date, training in teamwork competency for university students has been conducted face-to-face. The present study implemented an online training program aimed at improving university students' teamwork skills, and examined its efficacy. The three training conditions examined were (a) entirely online (12 men, 4 women), (b) partially online (8 men, 10 women), and (c) no training (10 men, 3 women). All participants were undergraduates taking a course from the author, who led the online training in the groups receiving training and taught unrelated subject matter to the no-training group. The training was conducted in 15 sessions, 90 minutes per session. Before and after the training, the participants completed self-report scales assessing general social skills and teamwork competency, including communication, team orientation, backup, monitoring, and leadership skills. Compared to the no-training condition, the entirely online and partially online conditions showed a significant increase in self-reported general social skills and in the subscale scores of four of the teamwork competencies, except for team orientation. However, no significant difference in scores was observed between the entirely online and partially online conditions. This suggests that online training may be effective for enhancing the teamwork competency of university students.

  Many applied field research articles that have been published in the Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology have reported the development of classroom-based psychoeducational programs aimed at fostering students' non-academic competence (e.g., social and emotional competence) and have examined the effectiveness of those programs. However, being classroom-based may create serious challenges for the evaluation of program effectiveness. Based on a hypothetical model of the association between classes at school and intervention programs, the present article describes some possible challenges from the following perspectives: (a) whether the primary effects of an intervention program and their mediational influence on the secondary effects were verified, (b) whether student-level observations within each intervention class were independent of each other, (c) whether fidelity of implementation was assessed, and (d) whether the issue of the demand characteristics of the intervention was addressed. The present review of 22 applied field research articles published in the Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology from 2009 to 2022 revealed that the majority of them were lacking in relation to these perspectives. The discussion suggests limitations of the present review and future directions for applied field research.