The progress of ocean acidification caused by an increase in the CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere inhibits calcium carbonate formation of calcifying organisms by decreasing the CO₃^2– concentration in sea water. In this study, we conducted experiments to obtain the data required for the development of experimental teaching materials on inhibition of calcium carbonate formation by calcifying organisms. Using the results of these experiments, teaching materials on inhibition of calcium carbonate formation by calcifying organisms, which can be used in regular science classes, were developed. The teaching materials developed consist of (1) “Heat the shells strongly with a burner to make CaO and then generate an CaCO₃ aqueous solution using it”, (2) “Dissolve some different volumes of CO₂ in the CaCO₃ aqueous solution” and (3) “Observe that after dissolving CO₂ the CaCO₃ aqueous solution changes from transparent to cloudy to transparent in the order of the dissolved volume”. To evaluate the teaching materials developed, a science class using them was implemented in senior high schools, and questionnaires were given to students before and after classes. The results of the questionnaires indicate that the developed material is effective for environmental education.

Various pseudoscientific theories regarding health and food sciences have spread widely among both the general public and healthcare professionals. This study examined the degree of infiltration of such theories, particularly in the professional medical community, through an investigation targeting students attending a medical training school. In addition, to compare if these students’ perceptions would be corrected by proper education, the investigation targeted a fixed group of students from the time of their entrance until graduation from medical training school. The result revealed that various pseudoscientific theories regarding health and food sciences had infiltrated deeply among many students, and that some of their perceptions of several such theories had not been altered between their entrance to and graduation from the school. At the same time, significant findings were obtained regarding differences in the educational effect among students due to differences in learning content in the subject of basic medical sciences according to students’ major fields of study. The importance of education with concrete context has been demonstrated in previous studies, along with the importance of enhancing the level of students’ science literacy; the results of this study suggest the necessity of the same approach, of ensuring concrete context regarding pseudoscientific theories on health and food sciences.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the state of statistical reasoning based on sampling distributions for Japanese college students aspiring to be mathematics teachers with a focus on variability, and to identify problems in recognizing variability through sampling distributions. To achieve this objective, this study developed and conducted a survey, and analyzed the results. The results revealed that the college students were not able to make appropriate statistical reasoning based on the sampling distribution, and that there were three problems in recognizing variability: (1) There was a problem in reasoning the range of the sampling distribution, and a tendency to reason a wider range compared to the range guaranteed by the confidence interval; (2) A certain number of students had problems in understanding and reasoning the effect of sample size by relating the population distribution to the sampling distribution; (3) More than half of the students confused the properties of the sample distribution with those of the sampling distribution, and did not understand the effect of sample size on the standard deviation of the sampling distribution compared to the its mean.

The nature of science (NOS) refers to the various aspects of scientific knowledge that are associated with how scientific knowledge is generated. It is considered to be an essential part of scientific knowledge itself, and has been introduced in many national curricula. However, it has yet to be introduced into the science curriculum in Japan. Indeed, the lack of Japanese students’ understanding of NOS has been known for over two decades. In this research, COVID-19 was chosen as a theme to examine its potential to illustrate NOS in a familiar manner. Lederman’s NOS aspects were used as a framework for analysis. The results demonstrated that a variety of COVID-19 related topics, such as aerosol infection, vaccine development, and mathematical modelling, serve as excellent sources to demonstrate various aspects of NOS, including its empirical nature, the difference between observation and inference, the social and cultural embeddedness of science, and the involvement of creativity and imagination.