We have argued with regard to the role of observations and experiments in science study in terms of utility, limits, and so on. In general, we recognize the importance of observations and experiments in science study. Until now, we have neglected to examine the learner's actual conditions of cognition in science study, junior high school student's actual conditions, observations and experiments. The objective of this study was to examine the learner's actual conditions in science study. Within this framework, the following facts were established : 1 ) The male students prefer the science study of doing observations and experiment lessons, and worked harder in the study than female students. The female students tended to decide the like or dislike observations and experiments. 2 ) Female students tended to prefer the science study of doing observations. It is evident that the female students like observation and experiment themes and learning units. 3 ) Both male and female students dislike learning the unit of electric current and magnetic field at second year and the unit of ion at third year. 4 ) There are differences between male and female students towards aim and forwardness of doing observations and experiments ; reliability of results about them in science study. For instance, the male students display a greater understanding of, and ability to perform the basic skills of observations and experiments than female students. 5 ) Almost all student appreciates the merit of doing hands-on classes and are concerned with learning contents of observations and experiments. But there is a difference between male student's viewpoints of tendency, and female students' idea of the role of observations and experiments. Female students place importance on learning contents and associate the form of learning with a particular role.

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This present paper is an attempt to tackle the problem on how to identify the nature of our contemporary highly techno-scientific society. What types of techno-scientific human resources should be developed? What is the best way to allocate them in our society? The possibility of these questions to serve as a strategic method to decipher the very nature of our society itself is the central theme of the paper. The paper begins with a description of strategic intention and discusses the definition issue of "human resources" (Jinzai) . After a short review of relevant research trends, it proceeds to discuss the effectiveness of a methodology using the concept "human" as a strategic tool to analyze the nature of contemporary society, and results in the idea of "techno-scientific human resources as a techno-scientific knowledge intermediary." A proposal is then made for a strategic model named "sequential decipherment of techno-scientific knowledge and information." The applicability and usability of the model to decipher the nature of techno-scientific society is examined in a case study and some implications of the resultant view of the relation between our society and techno-scientific human resources are suggested.

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A questionnaire investigation of university freshmen was carried out in order to study decision-making in the identification of elements by density. Prior to analysis we defined the maximum and minimum allowable ranges of density values on the basis of conditions in the questionnaire. Studying the results, we found two types of range recognition according to the values that students used in setting their allowable ranges. Type I (reference value dependent) is defined by a narrow allowable range set equally to either side of the density value of the given element within certain limits ( ± 0. 5) ; the mean values of the allowable range, MVAR, remain constant, c, for any element. Type II (neighboring value dependent) is characterized by a broad allowable range influenced by, and expanded towards, neighboring density values ; the MVAR, y axis, increases with increasing differences between the neighboring density and the density of the given element, τ, x axis, following the relation y = a + bx. The constants, b and c, varied according to questions that asked the students to determine the allowable range both with confidence and without confidence. When the density of only one element is given, Type II students tend to favor a relatively narrow allowable range, influenced by "expected" neighboring elements. Type I students, however, were not influenced by "expected" neighbors. Dependency of MVAR on τ reveals characteristic properties of Type I and II range setting by students which reflects the influence of teaching materials or instruction.

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The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the concept of height and the perception of directionality in two-dimensional figures. First, the concept of height in triangles was examined by analyzing the replies from primary schoolchildren. Second, the accuracy in the perception of directionality in the figure was measured in Experiment so that the responses between examination and experiment could be compared and analyzed. From the above study, the following result was obtained : It was suggested that those who judged the directionality of height from the relationship between the "Base line (the base) " and the "Helght" tended more frequently to judge the directionality of the figure from the relationship between the "Base line (framework of the figure) " and the "Figure."

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We proposed an instructional design method to integrate ICT (Information and Communication Technology) education into school subject areas. In this study, we developed a training curriculum for pre-service, secondary school teachers to test the method and verify its effectiveness through practical activities. The results indicated that our curriculum promoted providing them with the general principles of ICT education. This helped teachers imagine the use of ICT-integrated lessons and motivated them to implement the new curriculum materials. Hands-on practice such as lesson planning and developing teaching materials proved to be effective ways to provide the teachers with models for technology implementation. However, analysis of the teachers' lesson plans showed that they tended to use ICT as an instructional tool rather than integrating it into educational content. Moreover, those who had no previous experience using computers tended to show a negative attitude to the ICT-integrated curriculum. The study recommended that more deliberate support and incentives are necessary to help teachers improve their lesson planning.

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An investigation to grasp students' naive conception about "force and motion" was carried out. Questionaires were distributed to 681 students in junior high schools and one university. By analyzing the replies to the questionaires, we find that the following are their main naive conceptions. When an object moves, the velocity of the object is directly proportional to the force acting on the object and the force is acting in the direction of the motion. It is speculated that the reason why students have these naive conceptions is the lack of a correct conception of inertial mass. These naive conceptions are based on experience of everyday life. An attempt was made to find a teaching method to replace the naive conception with a scientifically correct conception. A lesson on the motion of a falling object was conducted to teach the relationship between inertial mass and gravity acting on an object. The number of students who could correctly explain the motion increased in the class in which Atwood's device was demonstrated. Moreover, the expression "the greater the mass of an object, the more difficult for one to move the object." led to effective understanding of the motion of an object on a sloping surface.

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Sodium sulfate is superior to alum and phenyl salicylate for petrogenic analysis in lower secondary school class. The advantages are : 1 ) sodium sulfate is safe and easy in use, 2 ) ease of operation in experiments, 3 ) no need of strict control of temperature and concentration, 4 ) an absence of noxious gases and foul odors, 5 ) students can observe equigranular and porphyritic textures in rocks, and 6 ) the agent is reusable.

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