Although proactive behavior, which is characterized by individuals’ actively and proactively working on themselves and their surrounding environment to adapt to an organization, improves working ability and self-understanding in the workplace, the process has not been studied. This study examines the effect of young workers’ proactive behavior on the improvement of their competence at work, focusing on the mediation effect of reflection. A quantitative survey was conducted on 942 employees of Japanese companies in their 20s. Their mean age is 26.6 years; 46.0% are females. Factor analysis demonstrated that proactive behavior comprised feedback-seeking, organizational information-seeking, and networking behavior, and that their impact on ability improvement was examined through reflection. Path analysis showed that the feedback-seeking and organizational information-seeking behaviors of young workers positively influence the improvement of competence in the workplace through the mediation effect of reflection. Based on these results, the significance of this study and future issues are discussed.

In this study, we focused on developing information literacy to support lifelong learning. We explored what perspectives should be incorporated into the senior citizens' content to learn knowledge broadly and continuously in open university programs. Specifically, this study aimed to understand computer usage's actual situation widely and clarify educational practice requirements. We examined the relationship between utilization purpose, usage experience, and computer anxiety while considering learners' basic information such as gender, age, and final academic background. Questionnaires surveyed Fifty-three students enrolled in TMU Premium College. The results suggested that the following three points are essential: 1) Consideration for those who do not own a computer or are beginners. 2) A step-by-step class structure that covers the basics and provides support from the very beginning. 3) Reduction of anxiety about using computers by providing more opportunities to use them in the classroom and promoting their daily use.

This study developed a scale to the Usefulness recognition of ICT utilization for junior high school science classes． First，in a preliminary survey，collected scale items and created 36 items for 122 junior high school students who have their own terminals and in daily use． Next，an exploratory factor analysis was performed on 692 junior high school students．As a result，the recognition of the usefulness of ICT utilization in junior high school science classes consisted of 22 items of four factors: efficiency of learning ， positiveness toward learning， deepening of thinking，and comparison and sharing with others．Examined the relationship between learning attitude ， learning motivation ， ability to collaborate，and learning sustainability，which are the effects of education using ICT ， and confirmed the coexistence validity of the scale．In addition，when the relationship between ICT utilization frequency and usefulness recognition was examined，it was confirmed that there was a difference in usefulness recognition depending on the ICT utilization frequency．Finally，Considered the viewpoint of utilization of the usefulness recognition scale in lesson design using ICT at school sites and future issues．

To improve in-house engineer training programs of a group training type, four kinds of improvement measures were implemented in series for ten years. The effect of the measures on the class work comprehension was evaluated based on the after-class questionnaires issued to participants. The questionnaire answer data of the education courses which started before the first measure (corresponding to the data from approximately seven thousands of participants) were analyzed to show how the class work comprehension changed before and after the execution of each measure. The analysis of variance and effect size suggested that the measures overall resulted in the significant increase of the class work comprehension and a medium effect size. Among the four measures, the following three measures were particularly effective: to systematically arrange and revise the education courses, to set up key points in study of each course and to provide feedback on results of an examination to participants during a class. In addition, the change of the class work comprehension tended to depend on lesson styles.

In order to meet the requirement of Curriculum Guidelines (2017) of MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) for elementary school pupils’ comprehensive learning, a course unit was designed based on the following conditions by considering the qualitative abilities to be acquired, which have been assigned in the guidelines, and by setting an assumption that the pupils would grow with the changes in the network of people and things around them: (a) having all class pupils work on one common project, (b) setting goals and acting on them through pupils’ own efforts, and (c) selecting interesting local subjects from around the school．The effectiveness of this course unit design was tested during a year of practice in a classroom to which the author was assigned. To evaluate the pupils’ transformation process, actor-network analysis, text-mining analysis, and quantification analysis were applied mainly using portfolio data the pupils created. Coevolution of the growth of the pupils and of the expansion/deepening of the network with the whole class and with the local community was found, indicating the appropriateness of the above assumption and the importance of designing course units based on conditions (a), (b), and (c).

In school education, the importance of inquiry learning, in which pupils pursue their own interests, has been emphasized. In this study, we conducted a special class mainly to support task setting for independent research during the summer vacation, which is often conducted in elementary schools in Japan. In one class of 6th graders of a public elementary school, we held a special two-hour class in which pupils expressed what they wanted to investigate as a question, and to consider a hypothesis and a method. At the end of the summer vacation, the pupils in the experimental group showed higher scores in both comprehensive and perspective-based self-evaluations than the pupils in the control group who did not receive the class. In addition, when asked about how to successfully conduct free investigation, which indicates pupils’ awareness of inquiry skills, many pupils in the experimental group mentioned what they learned in the special class. Finally, the reasons of these results and future directions are discussed.

This study aimed to clarify the relationship between children’s listening ability, its influencing factors, and the children’s academic ability in science. In the teaching matters of “listening” as indicated by the Explanation of Elementary School Course of Study (MEXT 2017), children’s listening ability is defined as “listening and understanding what the speaker wants to convey and what they want to ask, and having their own impressions and thoughts based on what they heard.” We examined whether children's listening ability and its influencing factors defined participants’ academic ability in science using correlation and path analysis. The results showed that academic ability in science was determined by children’s listening ability, kanji writing ability, and verbal working memory. The results suggest that designing lessons and curricula that focus on children’s listening ability, kanji writing ability, and verbal working memory could improve their academic ability in science.

It is clear that the "university educator with teaching career" of the graduate school for teacher education need to have the ability to plan and manage educational practice research as "a teacher educator". Therefore, in this study, the final goal was to develop a program for those educators to improve their abilities, and a questionnaire survey was conducted as a basic research for that purpose. Specifically, for university educator with teaching career, question items related to the improvement of lectures and so on for graduate students were constructed and implemented. The survey contents include the category of "identification of problems", "formulation of plans for solutions", "execution of actions for solutions", and "evaluation of actions and research development". We asked educators with teaching career whether they were engaged in activities that belong to them or whether they were instructing graduate students. As a result of analyzing the responses from 162 people, it was found that there were difficulties in educational practice research by the university educator with teaching career in situations such as "evaluation of actions and research development" or in satisfying requirements such as "collaboration".