A new junior high school course of study on technology and home economics, published in June 2017, deals with "problem solving by technology" in the third grade. The course tasks the students with integrated problems based on their prior learning. The present study was performed to develop a platform for solving such integrated problems, in the form of a radio-controlled car that can move in all directions. In addition, we developed an interchangeable mechanism module, sensor module, and control module. The utility of the platform was examined by assembling training and problem-solving studies on agriculture for university students training to be teachers.

It has been suggested that inappropriate animal keeping that does not consider the characteristics of animals can undermine children's empathy for animals. In today's schools, which faces many problems in animal keeping, there is concern that animal keeping activities may have a negative impact on children and students.

To solve this problem, it is essential to systematize the treatment of animals in school education throughout the curriculum and establish a framework for "animal education". As a starting point, this study aimed to understand the treatment of animals in the Courses of Study that will be newly enforced in 2021. As a result, it was shown that in current education, animals are studied in life science, moral science, science, social studies, and technology. Furthermore, the social role of animals that is highly relevant to the study of each subject was clarified. In addition to, from the contents of the descriptions for each subject, it was organized the handling of animals in the current education system into three types of learning: “learning to cultivate an attitude of respect for life and love for nature", “learning about the structure, function, physiology and ecology of animals", and “learning about the relationship of animals to society and nurturing techniques".

In a previous paper, a wooden toy, which holds a glass ball under the toy, rocks while the ball rolls down on an incline, and a presentation model for investigating the motion of the ball have developed. During inquiry

activities in class, Kindergarteners had difficulties understanding the motion of the toy. During teaching practice for in-service teachers, active experiments involving the toy or any of its parameters were not conducted.

Therefore, we developed an assembly-type of teaching aid that moves when rocked while a cylinder rolls down on an incline, the purpose of which is to conduct scientific inquiry through experiment and observation. We analyze the movement of this model and clarify the principle of its movement. We conducted a practice lesson with elementary and junior high school students using the model, and observed the intensity of the students' attention to the experiment, as well as the depth of their observation and inquiry.

Ordinarily, in junior high school technology education, the teaching of material properties emphasizes learning the forces acting on structural members when applied externally to materials. In addition, the Lower Secondary School National Curriculum Standard published in 2017 aims to provide students with an understanding of concepts that can be used in various situations in society. Therefore, in this study, a statics model teaching material was developed for junior high school students to learn the types of loads experientially without using mathematical formulas. Students can judge the compressive or tensile loads acting on the members of a structure by removing the members of the teaching material. Then, by using the teaching materials that simulate a structure, the students can think of the application in society. The developed teaching materials were used in class and found to be useful.

Learning about information security in junior high school occurs in technology and home economics (technical field) courses. The time allotted for the study of information is very limited in these courses, and effective instruction and teaching materials are indispensable. Therefore, in this study, we decided to develop online teaching materials related to information security as taught in junior high school technology and home economics (technical field) courses and to verify their effectiveness in a practical classroom setting. The online teaching materials consisted of 15 items: “dangers hidden in our daily lives," “in formation security measures," and “solving information security issues." Using the materials in a classroom setting confirmed that the materials facilitated acquisition of basic knowledge about information security and students' awareness of same was improved.

In recent years, new economic activities using robots have become necessary in Japan. This study drew on the use of robots, which have previously been reported as part of teaching techniques in school education. The purpose is to develop teaching materials and methods for fostering problem-solving skills and to verify their learning effectiveness through the students’ own problem-setting and collaborative problem-solving in measurement and control learning for technology education in junior high school. In this paper, we propose a new problem-solving measurement and control learning method that aims to introduce learning contents for discovering and solving problems as a team, and to foster the ability to solve problems in cooperation with others while controlling the body of a humanoid robot. A teaching guidance plan and evaluation criteria were developed for this study. In the class practices using the humanoid robots, the team was able to set problems and accomplish tasks through discussion and collaboration. The learning effects were discussed based on the results of the class practice, and the usefulness of this problem-solving measurement and control learning approach was demonstrated.

The school education is required to remove the boundaries between subjects and to improve the designing, planning, practicing by relating each subject. This study addresses the relationship between statistical data and high school Civics and Mathematics courses in order to create cooperative practices between Information and other subjects. The utility of subject cooperation became clear after the results of a questionnaire administered to students and teachers was analyzed. However, it is also clear that students and teachers do not recognize the relationship between subjects. Therefore, this study considers whether subject bridging can and clarify this relationship. Further, we offer a subject relationship table that aims to explain to conscious the conceptual relationships between different subjects.

The purpose of this study was to make clear an influence of learning basic knowledge on students' abilities of problem identifying and task setting in the content “C. Energy Conversion Technology" of technology education.

We set Group1(n=31) who learned knowledge of Energy Conversion Technology and Group2(n=68) who unlearned it. Both groups answered the questionnaire of the problem identifying and task setting. As a result, in regard to students in Group2 tended to identify problems from social viewpoints, students in Group1 tended to identify the problem around them. Also, students in Group1 could set task for solving the problem concretely than students in Group2. However, diversity of their approaches for solving the problems was not rich, there was a tendency to be biased toward "multifunctionalization" and "ingenuity of implementation".

(80)