The purpose of this research is to formally introduce standards-referenced assessment for developing capabilities necessary for the realization of Society 5.0, through the subjects of “Design and Technology (DT)” and “Computing”, comprising Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy, to further Japan-oriented STEAM education from elementary to lower and upper secondary schools. This article investigated the requirements of formative and summative assessments from the viewpoint of England/Japan comparative education. One of the reasons why the 2014 edition of the National Curriculum in England did not show the eight levels of learning attainment targets was the existence of a new proposal from the 1990s that refined the functional concepts of formative and summative assessments. As a result of this research, it was clarified that “assessment of learning” by teachers in each school and “assessment for learning” are emphasized in the 2014 edition of the DT subject and the Computing teaching guidance materials.

The purpose of this study is to explore the teaching and learning of data analytics, which has been recognised as one of the essential topics in 21^st Century. In this study, data analytics in school is defined as a process of ‘engaging creatively in exploring data, including big data, to understand our world better, to draw conclusions, to make decisions and predictions, and to critically evaluate present/future courses of actions’. This process involves the six competencies for data analytics, i.e. statistical literacy, ICT literacy, critical thinking, creativity, communications and collaborations, and ethics and social impacts. For developing data analytics competencies, teaching approaches such as using different data sets, statistical modelling, use of technological tools are recommended. This paper examines how the framework and teaching approaches might contribute to developing students’ data analytics skills by referring to existing studies and an example of teaching in the UK.

Of recent, cross-curricular education has achieved greater importance. The present research aimed to obtain the psychometric properties of the nationwide achievement assessments on science, reading and mathematic literacy by analyzing the response data provided by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan. The data includes all of the sixth grade (1,066,295) students in Japan in the 2018 academic year. We randomly picked up 500,000 students from the data set. The results of a factor analysis showed that the science assessment test might be assessing a combination of reading skills, mathematics skills and scientific skills, although the reading and mathematics test assessed each skill specifically. To obtain a more detailed picture, we compared the correct answer rates among 4 groups of students; the higher-scientific-higher-reading skills group, the higher-scientific-lower-reading skills group, the lower-scientific-higher-reading skills group and the lower-scientific-lower-reading skills group. The results suggested that all questions in the science assessment tests required reading skills. Moreover, in some questions, reading skills could complement scientific skills to answer them. These results suggest that we should be careful when dealing with the science assessment test; instead of just using the answer rate as the index of scientific skills, it would be better to use a weighted factor score in order to find out more about students’ achievements by assessing three skills independently.

In programming class using IoT teaching materials during comprehensive learning in elementary school, learning tasks of the exercise type and partner setting type are set up step by step, and students create programs using the IoT teaching materials. We examined how childrens’ practical ability of using information changed within the unit. From the results of an analysis of the students’ impressions, it became clear that the motivation for programming increased due to the learning tasks of the practice task type, and that the students made programs creatively through the learning task of the partner setting type. In addition, it was confirmed from the results of an attitude survey for children conducted before and after the unit that children’s awareness of the practical use of information increased.

STEAM education is attracting attention in Japan as well as in other countries as an education to cultivate the qualities and abilities required for modern issues. However, in education policy-related documents in Japan, the concept of “A” in STEAM education has not yet been determined because of the confounding of ART and ARTS. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate and clarify the concept of “A” in STEAM education in the United States, the birthplace of STEAM education. As a result of the investigation, it became clear that ART has different meanings in the singular and plural forms, and STEAM education is practiced on the basis of its own educational theory. Because there is no concept of plural or article in Japanese, it is difficult to understand the difference. However, in the future, it will be important to understand the differences between the concepts of ART and ARTS and the thinking behind them, in order to further discuss STEAM education in Japan based on the respective educational theories.

This article proposes a foundational framework for the curriculum design of mathematical sciences education, based on the two paradigms of “Science for Society” and “Science for Science” articulated by the Science Council of Japan, in order to develop students’ decision-making abilities in mathematical sciences.

For this purpose, the paper proceeds as follows. First, it considers the philosophical aspects of the “Science for Society” and “Science for Science” paradigms, and maps current issues in mathematics education. Second, it attempts a description of the process of mathematical-scientific decision-making. Third, it lays out a foundational framework for curriculum design in mathematical sciences education, structured around four pillars: objectives, methods, contents, and evaluations/assessment. In discussing the main features of these four pillars, the paper focused specifically on the following: 1) six process abilities, 2) the ability of realizing mathematical-scientific and social values, 3) the framework of mathematical-scientific decision-making, and 4) the basic structure of lessons in mathematical sciences education. In conclusion, the paper proposes an overall structure for mathematical sciences education, and identifies three types of lessons for developing mathematical-scientific decision-making abilities.

The purpose of this study was to develop new guidelines for appropriate implementation of safer technology education in Japan based on existing educational models in the United States. In this study, “Designing Safer Learning Environments for Integrative STEM Education”, which is a guideline for safety education in technology education in U.S.A., qualities and abilities were analyzed and identified by interpreting their relation with “Standards for Technological Literacy” as a curriculum standard. In addition, the study’s correspondence with “qualities and abilities related to safety” in Japan was examined in terms of the interpreted qualities and abilities. As a result, as regards the “ability to reason, judge, and express”, it seems necessary to nurture the ability to maintain and manage safe conditions by collecting, analyzing and evaluating data on safety.

The educational and developmental level of students registered at public night-time high schools varies dramatically, yet they must all study the compulsory Mathematics I seminar. This variability presents numerous challenges for lesson design. In order to consider effective learning models for students at night-time high schools, this report examines the use of lesson designs that follow the ADDIE model and utilize educational videos as part of each class. When utilizing ADDIE model lesson designs, we found that students had difficulty logging in to the learning platform. We consider how this problem can be clarified, examine night-time high schools students’ reactions to the implementation of the ADDIE model lesson designs, and conclude with a discussion of how class development can be examined to detect positive effects of this model on student learning.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the tendency of questions in Mongolian primary school science textbooks and to derive an intended “problem-solving” lesson from it. To achieve this objective, the results of this analysis were compared with the results of a study of Japanese primary school textbooks by Nakayama and Saruta (2015). As a result, it became clear from the tendency of the types of questions in the Mongolian textbooks that they depend on each content area (Energy, Particle, Life and Earth). The intended lesson for each area is as follows. The Energy and the Particle areas are characterized by (1) a lesson that asks questions requiring a “Yes/No” answer that includes a hypothesis in the question text. The Life area is characterized by (2) a lesson that asks questions with a viewpoint using “How” and “What kind of”, and (3) a lesson using “What”, requiring specific names in the answer. The Earth area is characterized by (4) a lesson using various types of questions and (5) a lesson using the question word “Why” to ask “inference” before the problem solving activities, and “reasoning” after the problem solving activities.

In Shiga Prefecture, elementary school fourth graders experience a forest-environment learning project called “YAMANOKO.” The authors endeavored to clarify factors concerning the retention of memories garnered from YAMANOKO programs by analyzing high school students’ memories. For this purpose, the authors carried out a group interview and a questionnaire survey of five to six students from six different high schools in Shiga Prefecture. Results of the analysis indicated two factors: enjoyability, and doing the activity by themselves.