The phenomena of sound are studied in the 1st grade of science classes in junior high school. As part of these topics, students mainly learn that sound is produced due to the vibration of objects, that it travels in waves, and that the properties of the waves determine loudness and pitch of sound. Sound is composed of three elements: loudness, pitch and timbre, but the focus is not on timbre at junior high school. However, students have plenty of experiences on differences of timbre in music classes as well as ordinary daily life, so learning about the details of timbre should also be possible in science classes. In this study, we propose teaching materials and methods to teach timbre effectively and understandably; we designed teaching materials to make students recognize differences in timbre, and to learn that the differences in timbre are caused by the differences in harmonics that produce the voice. We also practiced these methods in a junior high school to examine its educational effects. As a result, even junior high school students are able to understand the principle of timbre with the voice analysis, and therefore it is expected that the effect of learning about sound is enhanced.

This study examined whether the incorporation of game-like activities into the instruction of synthetic resistance improves lower secondary school students’ understanding of synthetic resistance. We also examined the individual factors affecting the learning of synthetic resistance.

As the result of classroom practice and a questionnaire survey of lower secondary school students, the experimental group, which incorporated game-like activities, gained a better understanding of synthetic resistance in complex circuit diagrams than the control group. Also, the analysis disclosed that both “interest value” and “control” have a positive effect on the students’ understanding of synthetic resistance. It seems effective to introduce game-like activities and instructions for enhancing “interest value” and “sense of control” in the learning of synthetic resistance in order to promote their understanding of it.

Currently, environmental issues such as aerosols, including PM 2.5 and SPM, which are liquid and solid particles present in the gas phase are attracting much global attention. However, at the level of school education, these issues are not being sufficiently addressed. Therefore, we developed a teaching material for an easy experimental observation of the formation process of aerosols, which we reported on in our previous study. In the present study, the teaching material we had developed was implemented in classes in junior and senior high schools. Furthermore, questionnaires were given to students before and after classes to measure their level of awareness of environmental issues. The results indicate a rise in students’ awareness of environmental issues after attending classes with our teaching material in both junior and senior high schools. Thus, we conclude that the material we developed is effective for environmental education.

With the advance of computer technology in recent years, the use of ICT has become widespread in science and science education. Research on learning support systems is also being actively pursued in Japan, and practical research has shown its effectiveness. Therefore, we thought that learning could be further advanced by developing a learning support system incorporating two elements, collaboration, and sensing technology. For that purpose, we developed a quiz game-type system that allows three people to learn about the conditions of germination and growth of plants. Experiments were performed on 5th and 6th-grade primary school students who had learned about germination and growth conditions, and 3rd and 4th-grade primary school students who had not learned about germination and growth conditions. As a result, it was suggested that the developed system can advance learning about germination and growth conditions of plants while collaborating. Future research will be required to investigate to what extent this system can promote collaboration among experienced persons by conducting a contrast experiment.

Clay has a strong cation exchange ability. If a soil sample is put into a plastic tube with a methylene blue (blue color cation) aqueous solution and the mixture is well mixed, the top layer is colored with blue. We can measure the layer length as an indicator of the amount of clay in the sample soil. We collected 24 sample soils from Mt. Handa in Okayama city, where a big landslide occurred in the Nishinihon torrential rainfall disaster (July 2018). Our methylene blue method for determining the clay amount shows that the clay amount of the sample collected from a point close to the landslide was the highest in 24 samples. The amount of clay in a soil sample can thus be a possible indicator of a landslide. Chemical weathering of rock minerals generates clay minerals with alkali and alkaline earth metal cations as byproducts. Actually, the adsorbed blue layer length is proportional to the soil conductivity caused by chemical weathering. This “methylene blue adsorption method” can be conducted with just a plastic tube or a PET bottle, a ruler, methylene blue solution, and sample soil, which are inexpensive, simple and easy procedures, and results can be confirmed by the visual blue colored layer. Therefore, this approach is suitable for education on disaster prevention at primary and junior high schools.

Although genetic engineering technology is used in various fields, few students have sufficiently learned about genes before entering university. In this study, we gave a lecture on genes to 51 undergraduate students at Tokushima University and asked them to experience molecular biology experiments. We investigated the genotypes of ACTN3 and ACE in the participating students and fed back the results to them, and then conducted a questionnaire survey on students’ awareness of the genes. As a result, the students’ knowledge about the genes increased and their interest in the genes also increased. A difference in consciousness between humanities and science students had been observed before the lecture, but their interest in genes increased after the lecture in both groups.

In response to emerging research on early childhood science education, Japanese museums have increased the number of early childhood children’s activities and exhibitions in their facilities. However, prior research has clarified neither the philosophy undergirding the early childhood children’s exhibitions’ designs and development, nor the background for the philosophy. This research explicates the philosophy and background of early childhood children’s exhibitions by conducting a case study analysis of “ComPaSS”, the Exploration Area for Families with Children at the National Museum of Nature and Science, using a literature survey and an interview survey. Our results summarized the ComPaSS philosophy into three points: cultivating scientific literacy in early childhood “feeling” and “thinking,” bringing the museum experience home, and encouraging scientific communication between parents and children. The establishment of the ComPaSS philosophy was influenced by the National Museum of Nature and Science’s need to develop an exhibition room to foster science literacy in early childhood children and by knowledge gained from existing visitor-education exhibitions. The ComPaSS philosophy is based on the National Museum of Nature and Science’s desire to propose and construct a new exhibition model.

Today’s society is becoming increasingly complex. To effectively function and develop in this society, all citizens need to overcome misconceptions about probability, and foster an ability of probabilistic reasoning instead. According to previous research, both theory and experiment are essential for the development of such reasoning. Japanese high school probability lessons, however, do not place great importance on the link between theory and experiment. Consequently, the more Japanese high school students study probability, the more they fail to accept probabilistic reasoning. To address the aforementioned issue, this paper aims to develop a high school probability lesson that will encourage development of the ability of probabilistic reasoning. The teaching material used will be the problem of “Effect of sample size”. To answer the research question, students need to think probabilistically and use the concept of repeated trials, which is a part of the high school probability curriculum. For the interplay between theory and experiment, we used TinkerPlots Software to visualize the process of data generation. As a result, we developed a lesson and showed that it is effective for the development of the ability of probabilistic reasoning.