Japanese university students spend much of their time on extracurricular activities. It is assumed that the experience in extracurricular activities greatly contribute to students’ human development, but it is not completely clear in previous studies. This study examined various dimensions of university students’ involvement in extracurricular activities, and whether these dimensions are related to the development of their generic skills, based on a questionnaire survey of university students. The results of this study showed that the students who only have experience of working part-time, as well as those who have no experience in extracurricular activities have lower generic skills than those who have experience in extracurricular activities. Moreover, only the linking between experience in extracurricular activities and in-class studies was related to the development of generic skills.

The purpose of this study was to classify scrolling strategies in digital reading and to develop an algorithm to discriminate the scrolling strategies. In order to develop an algorithm for discriminating scrolling strategies, we conducted a reading experiment to record screen location and number of finger touches in 20 participants with normal vision. The reading stimuli were set at two levels of magnification that required horizontal scrolling. Two types of scrolling strategies were observed in both low and high magnification conditions ： "Point Swipe," where participants had shorter finger contact times, and "Wide Swipe," where participants had longer finger contact times. As for the discriminative model of the scrolling strategy, the discriminative algorithm using support vector machines showed a high success rate in both the low and high magnification conditions. By using the findings obtained from these results, we can estimate effects of scrolling strategies on reading efficiency in digital reading for people who require magnification.

With the increase of leadership education programs in universities, there is a need to examine relations of personal factors with leadership behavior of university students. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relations between university student’s leadership behavior and their leader identity based on quantitative data. In this study, we conducted an online questionnaire survey on 291 university students. We then performed path analysis on the data obtained from the survey to verify our hypotheses. As a result, we found that the relational and collective levels of leader identity have a positive association with the leadership behavior of the university students, and the collective level of leader identity have a stronger positive association with their Modeling, Challenge, Goal Sharing, and Goal Management leadership behaviors than the relational level of leader identity. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings and educational practice and future research directions.

The relationship between reflection and learning outcomes among university students has predominantly been examined in specialized education courses or experience- and practice-based courses, while the elaboration of reflection measurement has been overlooked. Using the process model of reflection, this study has operationally defined reflection as "recollecting the classroom experience, analyzing and evaluating it, recognizing what was learned, and applying the findings to the subsequent experience." This study aimed to organize the characteristics of the reflection process model, develop a scale to measure reflection that can be applied to lecture and seminar courses, and examine the relationship between reflection and learning outcomes, such as grades and the sense of the acquisition of abilities. Based on a factor analysis of data from 942 university students, a reflection scale was developed, consisting of three dimensions: "recall and analysis of content," "recall and analysis of activities," and "application." Subsequently, a cluster analysis identified six types from these three sub-dimensions. The findings of the multivariate analysis of variance revealed that students belonging to the active reflection type tended to have a higher sense of competence acquisition than the other types.

This study aims to define the transfer process of training outside of the school for novice teachers based on the concept of self-regulated learning and to examine the effectiveness of behavioral intention as an indicator of improving training. Factor analysis conducted on the responses of 145 novice teachers revealed that the group of items related to behaviors and cognitive activities for “utilizing the cloud services for education” consisted of two factors: “self-regulated learning” and “feedback-seeking.” Analysis of elementary and high school teachers using multigroup structural equation modeling revealed significant positive effects of behavioral intention on “transfer attempts,” a latent factor of self-regulated learning and feedback seeking. Consequently, behavioral intention appears to play a role in connecting training outside of the school and self-regulated learning in the workplace, suggesting that it is an effective indicator of improving training.

In recent years, peer assessment has been applied in various learning situations. However, owing to problems such as rater characteristics and assessment burdens, peer assessment is used sparingly for educational evaluation. Therefore, in this study, the author utilized one of the item response models, which incorporates rater characteristics such as severity and consistency. Practical simulations were conducted to determine how many evaluations can be reduced regarding the accuracy of estimating model parameters. In addition, based on the simulation results, the author practiced peer assessment with a university class of about 20 students, systematically reducing the number of evaluations. Data analysis showed that it was possible to obtain valuable information about the characteristics of the assignments and the raters, and the abilities of students, even when reducing the number of evaluations.

In this study, we attempted to clarify the value of the graduates' continued participation in the course for the graduates themselves, using a workshop of the "University Version of the Advanced Instructional Design (ID) Specialists Training Course" aimed at training ID specialists as the subject matter. The participant questionnaire suggested that participants thought they had received helpful advice from facilitators who had been chosen from the completers of the previous course. In addition, a focus group interview among those who had completed course suggested that continuous participation in the workshop provided an opportunity for reflection. On the other hand, further analysis of the effect of continued participation is needed.

In this study, video learning which students watch videos with the added function of fostering critical thinking attitudes, and questioning activities incorporated after video learning was practiced and evaluated. As a result, revealed the following from (1) to (3). (1) The questioning activities increased the motivation of 68.0% of the students toward video learning. (2) Students' scores on the Critical Disposition Scale were revealed to be higher after the class than before for both the slower and faster learning groups. (3) The Toulmin Model was incorporated into the face-toface class that were practiced, and it was found that 93.0% of the students were able to write appropriate descriptions as Toulmin Model through the classes.

In this study, the teacher conducted an activity in which the students created essay questions in history class as an exam preparer and examined its effect on their conceptions of learning, learning strategies, and motivation. 8th grade students in private high school in Tokyo made essay questions by themselves. In the first semester, the teacher taught types of essay questions in history learning and all questions students created were shared in the class with the teacher’s feedback comments. These interventions, however, seemed to be insufficient to make the activity work well. In the second semester, the teacher added the two interventions. At first, he picked up some good essay questions and made all students to solve them. Then, he asked students who made those questions to explain the intention of creating such questions and effective learning strategies for solving them. As a result, unfavorable conceptions of learning, such as emphasizing rote memorizing and outcomes, significantly decreased, whereas the use of effective learning strategy, such as self-explanation strategy, increased. The overall effect of the interventions and the issues left in this study was discussed at the end of the paper.

This study aimed to identify the competencies and experiences that teachers require of student staff engaged in learning support in first-year education, and how to develop these competencies. Based on the results of semi-structured interviews with five teachers, 11 abilities and experiences were derived, including “deepening the thinking process in problem exploration,”“providing feedback to reflect on activities,” and “being a role model for students.”These include the close relationship with“issues for first-year students and abilities that instructors want them to develop,”“empathizing with and thinking together with students,” and “mediating between teachers and students,”which are abilities that only students can have. The results also showed that faculty members provide a place for student staff’s development, and to work and give them feedback, and multiple student staff members compensating for each other's deficiencies.

In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of the MT scope by analyzing activity scenes during microscopic observation in a practical class using an optical microscope and a table-top microscope image presentation system (hereinafter, "MT scope"). Moreover, we evaluated the lessons using the MT scope from the viewpoint of children's perception of cooperative work. The results showed that in the class using the optical microscope, the children noticed the teacher's questions, and in the class using the MT scope, the children noticed each other's comments and observed the microorganisms. Additionally, it was suggested that the MT scope was more useful than the optical microscope for children who had a low awareness of cooperative work regarding awareness and motivation. The children with a high awareness of cooperative work managed to observe small creatures and further enjoyed the class than the children with a low awareness of cooperative work, regardless of the learning methods of the optical microscope and MT scope.

This study examined the effectiveness of a puppetrybased tabletop microteaching support system called EduceBoard which was used for improving student teachers’ professional development. The study analyzed student teachers’ discourse of microteaching role-plays when the student teachers used the system in an undergraduate teacher training course. The student teachers conducted three microteaching sessions, and they experienced microteaching with tangible puppetry by introducing EduceBoard for the second time. The student teachers’ discourse was analyzed by epistemic network analysis to extract characteristic changes in the discourse of microteaching and was further analyzed qualitatively. The results indicated that in the puppetry microteaching using EduceBoard, teacher-role student teachers conducted improvisational facilitation with children-role student teachers for the latter to deepen their learning as well as to smoothly proceed with the lesson.

A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among classroom teachers of grades 1 to 6 at 2,000 public elementary schools nationwide regarding children's health when using tablets. It obtained 1,321 responses during a survey period of about one month from August 1, 2021. The selection rates of "children's eye and body fatigue," "close eye distance," and "children's poor posture" as health care concerns ranged from 48-61%, almost half of the total number of respondents. In terms of considerations and guidance for tablet use, 78% of the respondents answered that they "always organize their desks," while only 23% selected "adjusting the position and angle to prevent glare" and 16% selected "adjusting the brightness of the display screen," showing a significant variation. It was suggested that the promotion factor for improving the implementation rate of these items is familiarization with and understanding of the contents of the "Guidebook for Using ICT with Attention to the Health of Students" published for teachers by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for teachers.

This study focused on the approved program for mathematics, data science, and AI smart higher education (MDASH) at the literacy level and surveyed 78 educational programs accredited by August 2021. The results revealed the following: (1) The most common curriculum in each school required students to opt for pre-designated subjects. However, most of the curriculums required the students to opt for existing subjects. (2) The common completion requirement was between 2 and 4 credits, but a wide range from 1 to 24 credits existed. These differences, despite the same accreditation system, are a concern in terms of fairness. (3) Most schools used spreadsheet software as a learning method for data analysis. This may reflect the reality of information education in high schools. (4) To be recognized as a leading program, promoting regional and industry collaboration within a clear framework tended to be more effective than class content or student support.

This study aimed to develop the Japanese version of the Contextualized Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) scale for junior high school teachers, based on the scale by JANG and TSAI (2012, 2013) that added "Context knowledge" to the TPACK scale, while examining its validity. A survey was conducted with 615 junior high school teachers using the TPACK items translated into Japanese. Based on MESSICK’s (1995) research, we examined and confirmed evidence based on the structural, content, generalizability, and external aspects. Consequently, the validity of the Japanese version of the Contextualized TPACK scale consisting of Technological pedagogical content knowledge in the context (TPCKCx), Pedagogical content knowledge in the context (PCKCx), Content knowledge (CK), and Technological knowledge (TK) was confirmed. In addition, we conducted examinations from the viewpoint of teachers including subject and experience of information-related task. Accordingly, some scales, such as Technology and Home Economics teachers’ TPCKCx and TK, showed a significant difference, but PCKCx and TK did not differ significantly by subject. Conversely, the levels of all subscales of teachers with experience in informationrelated tasks were significantly higher than those without that kind of experience.

In recent years, teacher training programs have incorporated classes that are designed to cultivate information literacy. These seek to foster the ability to effectively use ICT and instruct others to do so. University courses also call for study based on active learning. To accomplish both these objectives, I developed and implemented an active learning syllabus and lesson design for the first-year courses Information Literacy 1 and 2 taking student agency (hereafter, “agency”) into account. For this study, I surveyed students’ sense of their ICT use and instruction ability at three instances: near the beginning of the courses, midway through the courses, and near the end of the courses. At the end of the school year, I also investigated the levels of agency related to these courses. The data gathered established both degrees of agency and changes in ICT use and instruction awareness, and I calculated the correlation between these two things. The results revealed that students’ perceived ICT use and instruction ability increased over the course of the year. A certain degree of correlation was also found.

The purpose of this study is to explore changes in students’ interest levels in English reading practice with the intention of prompting self-regulated learning through stimulated recall procedures. Participants were students at a high school in Japan. They were asked to report their interests and reasons for having such interests through two to four scenes of each lesson. Data were examined as follows. First, we aggregated the data pertaining to students’ interests and considered the overall tendency of the lesson. Next, we selected lessons where students’ interests decreased and considered the factors responsible for the decline. Findings revealed the following points. First, there are five factors that influence the students’ interests. Second, the following factors are crucial for encouraging students’ active and spontaneous learning of the lessons: strategies with clear goals, ingenious ways of developing lessons and students’ learning during the instruction of the strategies, designing materials that stimulate students’ intellectual curiosity, and students’prior knowledge.

This study aimed to analyze the structure and characteristics of stories presented in storybooks. Storybooks were distinctive teaching material used is “Engineering is Elementary,” an elementary engineering education curriculum developed and implemented by the Boston Museum of Science. The schema, which is the common event in each of the 20 storybooks, was identified as “problem occurrence,” “solution clue,” “solution conception,” “meeting with expert,” “Engineering Design Process (EDP) description,” “investigation,” “production and improvement,” and “implementation and use.” In addition, the appealing structure was illustrated in terms of the deeper conflicts in the narrative as [problem occurrence ⇔ problem solution], [empirical knowledge ⇔ knowledge about technology], and [unique solution ⇔ appropriate solution]. Consequently, it was considered that the readers—the children—are expected to empathize with and learn from the process in which each story's protagonist learns about technology and the EDP to solve a problem.