Self-regulation is a comprehensive construct for the regulation of cognition, behavior, and emotions whose foundation is the executive functions. Self-regulation and executive functions are of interest to educators because of their influence on adaptations to school life, academic performance, and peer relationships. In this study, we examined the development of self-regulation and executive functions in 2nd and 4th-grade elementary school children by directly measuring inhibition, shifting, and working memory (WM) as executive functions and self-regulation. The results showed that self-regulation, inhibition, shifting, and visual WM were significantly higher in 4th graders than in 2nd graders. No significant difference was found in auditory WM. Multiple regression analysis with executive functions as the explanatory variables and self-regulation as the dependent variable revealed that inhibition predicted self-regulation in 2nd graders. Simultaneously, shifting, visual WM, and auditory WM predicted self-regulation in 4th graders. These results indicate that executive functions besides auditory WM develop from 2nd to 4th grade. Furthermore, the executive functions that influence self-regulation differ between 2nd and 4th grade children.

View full abstract

This study aims to cultivate management’s curriculum abilities through the social teachers’ lessons． The study consisted of the following three steps. First, I encouraged participating students to reflect on their own perceptions of the meaning of learning． Second, their own views of social studies and theories of teaching were relativized by learning about multiple theories of teaching with different goals. Finally, I explained to them the importance of engaging in the study of teaching materials and content construction in accordance with their subject objectives, using material subjects． After practice, students developed tentative social study lessons from diversified standpoints. It transpired that it was possible to foster teachers’ perspectives on social study lessons.

View full abstract

This study aims to analyze the process of constructing “learning prospects” and the subsequent learning that develops from it. It also seeks to clarify the optimal method for implementing this process in the classroom, thus focusing on the analysis of classroom discourse. Consequently，the construction of learning prospects involves both goal-setting and strategic planning by both teachers and learners. Throughout this process, teachers are required to tailor their approach to the learners’ individual needs and situations. In addition, by positioning language activities as a learning method facilitates the promotion of self-regulated learning. However, this style of learning can sometimes result in performance disparities among learners. As a result, teachers must transform the outcomes of learners' learning activities into information that can be used by learners, while fostering their assessment self-regulation activities.

View full abstract

This study focuses on the rearing of living organisms (silkworms) as a theme and develops and implements art and crafts, science, mathematics, language, and social subjects in integrated learning for elementary school third grade. A cross-curriculum learning combined “experiential learning” and “exploratory learning” conducted during integrated study time. In particular, experiential learning lets children engage in creative activities, experiments, and experiences by merging the studies while linking the activities to the unit of each school subject. The study also analyzed a questionnaire that measured the learning outcomes of children who had experienced the cross-curriculum learning introduced on art activities and developed in the study. It also focused on students’ basic general abilities in terms of personal development, capabilities toward learning, etc. The results revealed an improvement in the participants’ specifific curiosity and tenacity and suggested that cross-curriculum learning enhances personal development and capabilities toward learning.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the contents of the retrospective descriptions of students who experienced the practice of “Sculptor and Clay” (Spolin, 1968), which expresses stop-motion with others. Moreover, this analysis considers the signifificance of this practice for collaborative learning by students aiming to become childcare workers. The method of this study is to analyze the student's description of the experience using quantitative text analysis software as an adjunct. As a result, three possibilities were found for students aiming to become childcare workers in the experience of “sculptor and clay”. The fifirst is learning to understand that others can expand the scope of activities. The second is learning to willingly understand the image of others. The third is learning to respect others who are different from oneself.

View full abstract

This paper presents three teaching materials (free hand-bell, free-bending bar, and pocket music box) developed by the author for encouraging severely multiple-handicapped children to perform spontaneous actions. The length of the handle of the free hand-bell can be changed to fit the size of a child’s hand. A free-bending bar is a 60 cm long bendable soft-bar made of silicone with an aluminum wire inside. A pocket music box contains a music box covered with a plastic capsule. Using these materials, the author succeeded in educating multiple-handicapped children to express actions, such as watching, grabbing, shaking, bending, and extending. This highlights the importance of safety, flexibility, and hygiene in designing teaching materials for severely multiple-handicapped children. Additionally, teachers should develop simple and low-cost teaching materials through repeated trial and errors.

View full abstract

The self-regulation of learning was regarded as an important aspect of “self-directed attitude toward learning,” when the Japanese Ministry of Education revised the form of cumulative guidance records in 2019. In the present paper, we review the academic studies of the self-regulated learning (SRL) process, which is based on the three phases “forethought -performance-reflection,” and the practical studies aimed at learning skills in the lesson-based acquisition (LBA) cycle “preparation – lesson – review.” Although the above two streams of research focused on fostering self-regulated learners, their contexts of learning appear to be quite dissimilar. We therefore propose three possible relations which represent the correspondence between the SRL process and the LBA cycle. In addition, we discuss the reasons why the concept of self-regulation of learning is difficult to understand in Japanese school education in spite of its promotion by the Ministry of Education. Finally, we present the future perspectives of the studies and practices with reference to Japan’s recent educational policies.

View full abstract