The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student thinking and sketching style in the design processes of making a draft and integrating ideas for articles. Design processes were analyzed according to free descriptions and sketches of articles, which were collected in a design experiment. Thirty undergraduates who had some experience in a manufacturing class participated in the experiment. The results confirmed that repeatedly drafting a complete product figure was the primary drawing style for sketching in the design process, and that this style caused active thinking in comparison with the kind of drawing style that annexed parts from the drafting of former sketches. In terms of the transformation style of sketching, designs based on preceding sketched articles were made frequently. When the articles' visual appearance changed significantly, learners considered how materials were processed in the manufacturing stage.

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In order to show the influence of mutagen on living things, teaching materials have been developed. The living things used was silkworm larva. The mutagens used were detergents, cigarettes, acid solutions, alkali solutions, organic solvents. All mutagens influenced the survival rate of silkworm larva. When the experiment about detergent was done in upper secondary school, the students could do this experiment and get good results and conclusions. It is thought that these experiments could play an important role in environmental education.

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Research on understanding of science of adults reveals that females are less knowledgeable about organized science-especially physical science-than males. This study examines the effect of "I don't know" responses given to a series of true and false science knowledge questions in an adult survey on public attitude toward and knowledge about science and technology. The independent variables to be explored include respondents' age, exposure to science and mathematics education, gender, and attentiveness for science and technology issues. In addition, responses to scientific attitude will be examined to create a measure of the strength of the respondents' opinions about controversial issues in science. The model showed that age and attentiveness to science and technology also contribute to an understanding of the "I don't know" response to science knowledge questions. However, it is clear that other factors need to be considered to explore a more complete understanding of the "I don't know" response in this context.

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This paper reports how Japanese grade 6 students use a "find a pattern" strategy for solving both non-routine word problems and pattern finding problems and what obstacles they face when executing the strategy. Twelve grade 6 students, who were taught the "find a pattern" strategy, solved two types of problems and their solution strategies were analyzed. After teaching of strategies, high achievement level students learned to use the "find a pattern" strategy more easily than middle and low achievement level students for solving both types of problems. But middle and low achievement level students came to use the "find a pattern" strategy only on pattern finding problems. Some obstacles to use of the "find a pattern" strategy were identified.

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Theresults of a survey revealed that many science teachers in secondary schools want to deal with an aspect of energy/environment education ; in particular, contents related to recycling, water, and energy. A teaching module consisting of such contents was prepared and the trial lessons were conducted at Hiroshima University. The analysis of the trial lessons showed that the lessons were evaluated positively. Through the lessons students were able to build up the positive moral motivation that is needed to transform scientific knowledge of the environment into environmentally responsible behavior. There is an added advantage that such an approach can contribute to the improvement of science/chemistry education, which so far has been rather unsuccessful in building up the ability of students to make decisions, based on their personal values, about complex issues related to science/technology in society.

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'The Relevance of Science Education' (ROSE) is an international survey project, whose aim is to provide insight into factors that relate to the relevance of the contents as well as the contexts of Science and Technology curricula, organized and managed by Svein Sjoberg and his team of University of Oslo. Its target population is 15 year-old students, who are supposed to be in the final stage of their compulsory education in their respective countries. It focuses on students' emotions like interests, attitudes, values, future plans, perceptions of science, technology and/or environment as well as on their prior experiences, not on their achievement. At present, about 30 countries (mainly from Asian, African, European countries) are involved in the project. Comprehensive international comparative analysis has not yet begun, but national teams are permitted to begin to analyse respective countries' data set by themselves in advance. The present report proposes an analytical framework, by which students can be divided into three distinctive groups (Specific Priority Group, Other Priority Group, and Poor Priority Group) in terms of their 'School Science Preference, ' and argues for its applicability and usability to obtain information on characteristics of respective groups' interests in learning topics and out-of-school experiences, in order to improve science teaching through preliminary analysis of ROSE data.

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