In this study, the authors created teaching materials that promote an exact understanding of crystal structures through the implementation of an educational program for cooperation among subjects studying natural science. The teaching materials were designed to solve the problem of measurements of the atomic packing factor of crystal structure models that were fabricated by latex balls which derived an unacceptable results from the aspect of physics and mathematics, due to their elastic bodies. The materials were made by PLA resin fabricated by a 3D printer. The results of the implementation, revealed that the materials are helpful to correct students' misunderstanding, as well as, assisting students in solving the physical and mathematical conflict which arises. We advocate that the implementation accorded to STEM education, be traced to the teaching procedure of the “Practice” of the K-12 science education's framework established by NGSS.

When a teacher designs a learning instruction plan, it is important to raise the degree of difficulty technological problems gradually in order to improve the level of students' ability to solve problems in technology education. However, a combination of the specific contents which were selected from among the different areas of technology education which caused an occasional mismatch between the degree of difficulty and the level of ability. The purpose of this study is to develop grades for designing a learning instruction plan in which the degree of difficulty matches the level of ability on the basis of instructional content considered to be important aspects for every target by the teachers. To obtain the most relevant types of content, we carried out a questionnaire which surveyed 259 teachers. We analyzed and classified responses of the questionnaire into 6 teaching content-clusters which include 'ability in safety control, skill and utilizing technology', 'basic technological knowledge', 'technological problem setting and technological design and planning', 'technological consequence assessment', 'knowledge and skills for design elements', and 'creativity'. Finally, the desired grades were derived by combining these clusters with the taxonomy of solving problems.

The purpose of this study is to develop a practice for promoting students' devices and creation abilities through projects by making LED lighting devices in Contents B: "technology related energy conversion" in technology education. We designed an instruction model which included 2 projects: The first project was a “Group Project for developing LED lighting devices” and the second project was “Designing and Making LED lighting devices for one's own daily life”. To implement this practice, we prepared an electric circuit simulator with a tablet PC and blocked electrical parts as part of the learning instrument. As a result of this implementation, it was shown that students' problem-solving skills, including the processes of inquiring and designing, were promoted through two projects. Also, 82.5% of the students self-evaluated positively to their own devices and creative process. Many students described comments about the importance of the device and their creative abilities and keeping maintenance technology related with energy conversion in their daily life.

In this paper, an electric outboard motorboat for coastal fishing was developed and economically evaluated based on the results of a verification test for preventing global warming and introducing renewable energy. The production cost for an electric outboard motor was 5.83 times higher than that of the engine outboard motor used in 2010. By 2020, it is expected that the cost will be reduced to 2 times or less by price reduction of lithium-ion batteries and the volume efficiency of electric outboard motors. The energy cost of electric outboard motorboats was 0.27 times of that of the engine outboard motor. Economic superiority, including the CO2 emission trading, was clarified. Furthermore, the utilization model of the electric outboard motorboat in consideration of the present conditions of the coastal fishery was proposed and the possibility of its realization was discussed. Teaching materials in the area of technical education of the electric outboard motorboat was also described.

We developed a smartphone application to support the study of planing motion. Our application assesses a student's planing motion using three primary criteria: the speed of pulling, the accuracy of straightness, and the timing of the waist movement. We conducted experiments to reveal the benefits of studying planing motion at home using our application. In this experiment, participants practiced a planing simulation at their home using a PET bottle which were likened to a plane in order to get a basic feeling of the planing motion. As a result, we revealed that the students planing motion significantly improved at "the speed of pulling" and "the timing of the waist movement".

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