Previously, we have developed a swinging toy that moves with two arms on an inclined overhead rail as a teaching material. In this study, we improved the toy and analyzed its movement via simulation. The swinging toy moves like a pendulum, with pivot points and jumps alternating between the contact points of two hands and a rail. It continues swinging using potential energy. In the previous study, we made two kinds of toys using a square bar or round bar for hands. Experimental results confirmed that the toy with the round bar moved on the inclined overhead rail with a higher probability than the toy with the square bar. Therefore, we developed the toy using a round bar and clarified the effects of hand shape by experimenting as the toy moved on the inclined overhead rail. Further, we analyzed the operation of the toy with a simulation analysis.

We propose using aquaponics as an integrated teaching material for technology education. Aquaponics is a food production system that connects land culture with hydroponic culture. When this system was utilized in a junior high school technology department, it could be used to teach students about food production and technology related to a recycling society. Also, if we could handle it as a production teaching material, we thought that it would function as an integrated problem indicated in national curriculum. Therefore, we developed aquaponics as a production teaching material and examined whether it is possible to cultivate crops and marine organisms. As a result, aquaponics as a production teaching material made it possible grow crops and cultivate fishery organisms for a certain period. Consequently, it is suggested that aquaponics as a production teaching material can be used in technology education.

A new junior high school course of study about technology and home economics was published in June, 2017.In regard to the "technique of energy conversion", the sentence "Energy conversion such as the characteristics of the fluid" and "To elaborate a plan by dynamic mechanism, and to realize a design" appeared. This study was performed to develop a hydraulic drive model using by plastic syringes. We made a prototype using corrugated cardboard and a finished product using digital fabrication apparatuses. The possibility of utilization was studied through a workshop for teaches-in-training and junior high school technology education teachers.

In this research, a hanging seismic isolation post-beam structure that makes it empirically easy to understand seismic isolation technology for aquaponics was developed as a processing teaching material for technology education in junior high school. Thus, it could make it easy to move aquaponic setups safely in school, and moreover, it could make it possible to effectively manage aquaponics teaching materials so that students can learn about hydroponics and aquaculture. After verifying the seismic isolation performance, it was concluded that a satisfactory seismic isolation effect was demonstrated on the short frequency, which decreased to one tenth of the height of the waves at 8.32m/s². In addition, regarding the dampening system that absorbs the colliding impact, a sponge dampener (which can be easily obtained) was introduced. Finally, a low-rebounding sponge was selected with an 8.1% modulus of repulsion elasticity. Furthermore, the area of the sponge dampener showed a strong relationship with the height of the waves in the determination of the effective area of the sponge dampener.

In the process of stabilizing the inverted pendulum, we adjusted the value of the feedback gain to minimize the scale of the swing and displacement. However, using a smaller model, we focused specifically on the effect of maintaining the inverted state instead of the scale of the swing and the stabilization process. As a result, in lessons using the smaller model, most students' attention was not drawn to the problem of the swing during stabilization. We therefore concluded that further lessons were needed to teach students the importance of minimization through the use of a rideable inverted pendulum in conjunction with the smaller model. In our study, we developed a rideable inverted pendulum as a teaching material in addition to the smaller model and used it to teach a lesson to students at an industrial high school. In the lesson, we researched the students' impressions of learning about feedback control through physical sensations. As a result, our lesson helped the students to learn about feedback systems and control theory and experience the scale of the swing during stabilization with the rideable inverted pendulum. Moreover, we found that our lesson demonstrated the potential for students to think about the mechanism of feedback systems in the context of safety design.

Junior high schools conduct several learning activities in technology classes involving manufacturing with wood-based materials. However, these activities require numerous tools and a considerable amount of time. Moreover, such classes require the development of a simple method to evaluate the mechanical properties of wood-based materials. Therefore, we developed easy methods to manufacture wood-based materials by using a milk carton rather than a wooden forming box that compresses wood shavings or a wood powder mixed with adhesives, and further evaluated their mechanical properties based on the principle of a Charpy impact testing machine. In junior high school technology classes, students used the new method to manufacture and improve upon the quality of particleboards and wood powder boards. These newly developed methods for manufacturing wood-based materials and evaluating their mechanical properties were easy and simplified the processing work. The results indicated that these methods were useful teaching resources as evaluated using the plan-do-check act cycle.

This study was performed to develop teaching materials associated with the "technology of information" and "technology of materials and their processing," mainly relating to the "technology of energy conversion." Concretely, we developed a radio-controlled car using a microcomputer board. The possibility of utilization was examined by assembling teachers-in-training and proposing training for junior high school technology education teachers. In addition, we created an eight-hour learning instruction plan intended to be utilized in the "technology of energy conversion."

In this study, we held programming education classes focusing on problem solving from the viewpoint of promoting technological literacy in integrated study (15 unit hours) for elementary school third-graders. In the lessons, pupils developed robots using Lego^® WeDo 2.0 in order to solve daily-life problems presented by teachers. For example, they made robots that counted the number of homework submissions, robots that carried a newspaper to the school principal, robots that supported the practice of skipping rope, and so on. After the lessons, we examined the effect of these lessons on the children's consciousness, critical thinking attitude, and creative attitude. We found that pupils' consciousness of "wanting to improve society and my life using computers" was promoted, and the levels of all factors of their critical thinking and creative attitudes were improved. Also, it was indicated that the thinking process related to programming contributed to deepening their critical thinking and creative attitudes.