This study examined the effects of providing feedback (FB) and supporting improvement on speech performance in terms of the interaction with the aptitude of regulatory focus and the perception of evaluation value. The speech performance effects were compared under three conditions. One condition provided FB-improvement-support, in which the students were asked to think about problems and improvement plans based on FB (n = 20). One provided only FB (n = 20), and one was an improvement-support condition in which the students were asked to think about problems and improvement plans only (n = 20). The results showed that participants with low improvement evaluation value (recognition that evaluation is meant to improve learning) had the highest linguistic performance in the FB-improvement-support condition. In contrast, participants with high promotion focus aptitude and improvement evaluation value had the highest performance in the FB condition. Those with low improvement evaluation value may pay more attention to FB and use it for improvement with support for facilitative use of FB. However, those with a high aptitude in promotion focus and improvement evaluation value would tend to make improvements only with the provision of FB.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether visualization of others’ note-taking promotes interaction in the classroom and improves note-taking and instruction. We developed a tablet-based note-taking support system and conducted two studies. The results showed that high school students improved their sense of classroom community and note-taking through visualization. Therefore, we found that interaction among students was facilitated. Furthermore, the visualization of class comprehension by the system allowed the teacher to change the instruction in class, which could improve the students' understanding of the content. Thus, we suggested that the visualization promotes interaction between the teacher and the students.

The purpose of this study was to clarify whether the problem-solving skills acquired in specialized education could become generic. First, the degree of mastery of the problem-solving process was directly assessed using performance assessment for third-year students of the Faculty of Dentistry at University X, who had been studying the specialized field of oral health and welfare under the problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. Then, 15 of them were interviewed regarding their understanding of the problem-solving process they had acquired during their specialized education and its application to everyday situations. The results suggest that as the level of understanding and mastery of the problem-solving process increases, the acquired problem-solving skills can be transferred to everyday situations far from specialized education contexts. In addition, it was shown that collaborative learning, setting learning tasks, and searching for information in PBL may be effective in improving understanding and mastery of the problem-solving process. These results exemplify the process by which skills acquired in specialized education become generic.

This study examined the effects on student competencies of providing opportunities that investigate academic truth and understanding methodological expertise through five seminars given by university researchers as a high school-university collaboration during period for inquiry-based cross-disciplinary study. We conducted a web survey targeting first and second-year students of high school A, in which the "University Collaboration Seminar" involving high school-university collaboration was introduced during period of inquiry-based cross-disciplinary study. The results showed that: (1) regardless of the seminar theme, the university teacher's field of study, or seminar management method, awareness of logical thinking, objectiveness, and utility for entrance examinations and employment significantly improved equally; (2) the students most actively involved in this practice improved their awareness of logical thinking; (3) in terms of the objectives of the period for inquiry-based cross-disciplinary study, "the ability to think, to make decisions, to express themselves" and "an attitude of proactive learning and developing students' individuality" improved. These findings suggest that providing opportunities that investigate academic truth and understanding methodological expertise by university researchers as a high school-university collaboration during period for inquiry-based cross-disciplinary study may effectively improve student competencies.

This study investigated the effects of microteaching. A veteran kindergarten teacher with 13 years of experience played the role of a childcare worker in job training, and three kindergarten teachers played the role of infants. We used a mixed research method consisting of behavioral observations and a questionnaire survey. The behavioral evaluation confirmed improvements in the veteran teacher’s instructional skills. Moreover, self-assessment of the training efficacy indicated improvements in all four participants’ childcare skills. Furthermore, the four participants recognized their learning conditions, identified problems, and improved their understanding of infants. Also, the free descriptions of the participants suggested that feedback in the role of a childcare worker, role-playing, and observational learning in the role of an infant can improve the recognition of learning conditions, learning motivation, and understanding of infants. In particular, changes in the seating arrangement indicated that the veteran teacher tended to be overwhelmed by improvements in instruction inertia. These results confirmed the efficacy of microteaching training for veterans.

In this study, we developed a worksheet that integrates the perspectives of computational thinking and social studies competence in the middle grades of elementary school. We also conducted a class practice using the worksheet. We examined whether both computational thinking and competence in social studies in this unit were expressed in the lesson practice example. As a result, the evaluation using the writing rubric suggested that both computational thinking and competence in social studies in this unit were generally expressed from the examples of classroom practice using the developed worksheets. In addition, four perspectives in computational thinking and two perspectives in social studies competence in this unit were expressed in the descriptive analysis of the developed worksheet. In the discussion scenario using the developed worksheet, both computational thinking and competence in social studies in this unit were expressed.

An assessment exercise is an instructional method, in which students assess exemplars with a rubric and then a teacher explains how to assess the exemplars. The assessment exercise has been introduced because it is difficult for students to improve their performance even if the teacher discloses rubrics to the students. However, the research of the learning effects of assessment exercises on students’ performance is limited, and particularly it is not clear what kind of exemplars enhance the learning effects. Therefore, this study empirically examined the learning effects of the assessment exercises in classes based on the appropriateness of students' self-assessment and the quality of their performance. Two conditions were compared: one with exemplars corresponding to all levels of the rubric, and the other with exemplars corresponding to some limited levels. The results showed that the all-levels condition tended to have a significantly larger effect on the appropriateness of self-assessment and the quality of the students’ performance.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of lessons on university students in which they are aware of the Internet news senders on their evaluation criteria through two practices. In this research, the word “sender” refers to not just meta-information but is considered as a clue to evaluate the information itself, similar to the term “writer” in national language education in Japan. Therefore, the lesson was designed to included a lecture in which the university students could learn about the diversity of the senders and work that would enable them to become concretely aware of the senders. In this way, they can understand that the perspectives, positions, and intentions of a wide variety of senders are reflected in the article. The hypothesis that “the practice group will be more likely than the control group to use the criteria related to the articles itself when evaluating Internet news” was formulated and tested through practice, and the results were in line with the hypothesis. In addition, the findings revealed a relationship between the practice group’s understanding of the diversity of the senders and the evaluation criteria for the article itself, which was not found in the control group.

This study examined effects of two new student orientation programs in junior high school that aimed to enhance subjective adjustment to school and motivation for learning. The first orientation in April was designed to introduce features of the school and the new students had opportunities to communicate with senior students and classmates. The second orientation in June aimed at increasing content attached motivation through listening to the talks given by a senior student, graduate, and a vice principal regarding the important attitude in studying. As a result, subjective adjustment to school was increased after the first orientation, while content attached motivation for learning decreased significantly after the second orientation. This study also examined the effect of orientation on second-year students’ motivation for learning. In the orientation, senior students told their learning experiences with concrete examples. The result showed that the orientation increased content attached motivation and subjective adjustment to school. At last, focal points in carrying out school orientation were discussed based on the result.

This study developed a method to detect teachers’ cognitive load fluctuation throughout lesson time by means of real-time measuring of skin conductance and peripheral skin temperature. Five elementary school teachers who participated in this study, crossing multiple grades and school subjects, wore the multimodal wearable devices, and conducted lessons. To demonstrate adequacy of the method, this study investigated the relations between these physiological psychological indices and teachers' body movements accompanied by teaching behavior, subjective ratings, and a retrospective interview using recorded videos. The results indicated that skin conductance and peripheral skin temperature values are insusceptible to teachers' physical movements, and the possibility of continuous measurement of teachers conducting lessons with various body movements. The results also suggested that class situations in which both teachers' skin conductance increases, and peripheral skin temperature decreases, could be interpreted as imposed cognitive overload.

In this study, we conducted a survey of teachers who had experienced both system scoring and manual scoring in order to characteristics of scoring support systems used in elementary and secondary education on their scoring work and learning instruction. The results suggested that teachers of both elementary and secondary schools preferred system scoring as a scoring method to be used in the future compared to manual scoring. Furthermore, analysis of the survey results revealed that the scoring support system can reduce the scoring time and workload, as well as the accuracy of the scoring process. In terms of learning instruction, the characteristics of the scoring support system were clarified in terms of grasping the understanding of the entire class. In junior high school and high school, the characteristics of the scoring support system were clarified in terms of reflecting on the teacher's own instruction. On the other hand, system scoring had the negative effect of making it difficult to grasp the understanding of each learner. To solve this problem, a solution to check the paper answer sheets after printing was proposed as an approach to combine paper and system scoring.

In this study, we developed a system aimed at supporting the design of classes using information terminals and verified its operability and usefulness. In designing the system, current challenges were identified from previously conducted studies, with five functional requirements determined by an investigation of user needs. Subsequently, a system was developed that satisfies the functional requirements of an application that operates on smartphones. When 16 teachers evaluated the developed system, there were no problems regarding operability. As for its usefulness, the application was favorably evaluated on the specified criteria for functional requirements. This included presenting examples of lessons in a step-by-step manner based on the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model, which is a unique functionality of the application. On the contrary, it was shown that a certain number of teachers showed resistance to functions involving user participation such as the writing function and the practical upload function.

Self-effacement, showing oneself modestly invisible, is seen as a desirable behavior in Japanese culture. It is also considered desirable to portray one’s family members as inferior in the presence of others. Previous studies mainly focused on situations involving patronizing one’s spouse. However, there are instances where caregivers demean their children in the presence of others. This study aimed to explicate the relationship between caregivers’ tendency to show humility by deprecating their child and the child’s focus on their own strengths. A questionnaire administered to 167 elementary school students showed that caregivers’ portrayed humility was positively associated with internalization of self-deprecation in children; and it shaped the children’s understanding of desired humility regardless of gender or age. Further, desired humility was negatively related to how the children focused on their own strengths. Based on these findings, this study discussed the relationship between caregivers’ tendency to show humility by deprecating their child and the child’s focus on their own strengths.