Given the varying nature and frequency of disasters across regions, it is crucial to understand local disaster characteristics and preparedness through disaster education. This study designed and evaluated the effectiveness of high school disaster education through fieldwork. The learning objective was to learn local disaster characteristics and preparations for natural disasters by creating disaster prevention maps. The fieldwork used a support system for creating a disaster prevention map called “Sonael.” Subjective surveys showed that students’ disaster awareness had improved. Tests confirmed their acquiring of knowledge of local disaster characteristics. In addition, the interviews revealed that the students had become more aware of the local situation from a disaster prevention perspective. Although the fieldwork was the main influence on the learning effect, knowledge acquisition outside of the fieldwork area covered by the fieldwork was also observed, suggesting that ICT-based sharing also had an effect. The learning activities designed in this study were able to realize the learning of acquiring knowledge from a wide area perspective about local disaster characteristics and preparations through fieldwork and its sharing.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the results and issues of the collaborative reflection of students who had completed their teaching practice, with the aim of making them more aware of their own view of science teaching. The collaborative reflection was conducted with 13 students, and was evaluated by the students and based on the students’ descriptions. As a result of the study, 10 students indicated that they were able to deepen or deepened their own perspectives on science teaching. The students were either confirming their own view of science teaching, newly becoming aware of it, or both. It was concluded that collaborative reflection oriented toward becoming aware of one’s own view of science class gave students’ view of science class awareness and depth after completing the teaching practice. The study also revealed minute differences between the view of science teaching expressed by the participants and the view of science teaching expressed by others, which could be the germ of a more conscious view of science teaching.

Previously, we reported on the development of teaching materials using genome-edited tomatoes and the procedures for experiments using these materials, with the aim of acquiring knowledge about genes and basic skills for experiments dealing with genes, as well as to increase interest in genome editing technology. In 2022, a student experiment was conducted in a biology class to distinguish between genome-edited tomatoes and original tomatoes by a PCR-based method. However, there were many problems with the student experiment and the desired results were not obtained. To solve these problems, the details of the experimental process were adjusted and the educational process in the biotechnology class was revised from several perspectives. In the 2023 class practice, students were organized into 11 groups, of which about half of the groups were able to obtain the expected experimental results. Pre- and post-questionnaires of classes using genome-edited tomatoes revealed that students’ understanding of genome-editing technology deepened and that they came to prefer genome-edited crops over genetically modified crops (GMC).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of prospective elementary school teachers about children’s explanations by counterexamples. First, based on a framework, a questionnaire survey was designed. Then, the author conducted a descriptive survey targeting prospective elementary school teachers, and analyzed the results of the survey. The results revealed that prospective teachers had their own criteria for judging the appropriateness of children’s explanations using counterexamples. The criteria were organized into three primary criteria, which were consistent across responses, and two secondary criteria, which applied to some responses. The primary criteria were as follows: 1) counterexample type (whether a counterexample is mentioned or not), 2) explanation type (whether there are some reasons how the counterexample is generated or not), and 3) a combined type (combined criteria of 1 and 2). The secondary criteria were classified into: a) letter/symbol type (whether the generality is indicated by letters or symbols or not) and b) (counter) example space type (whether a counterexample space or example space is indicated or not).

In teaching optics using the geometrical optics approach, the so-called ray model is introduced. In this study, the author posed students a survey question that reflected the challenges of the teaching method of optics based on the ray model in the Japanese educational scene, and their responses were analyzed. As a result, a large number of incorrect answers indicating the negative effects of the teaching method were found. From this result, significant suggestions for a consideration of improving the teaching method were derived as follows: 1) it would be preferable to set the object that stands upright on an axis parallel to the optical axis and away from the optical axis, 2) it would be desirable to instruct students to draw light rays from at least two points, one being the tip and the other the end of the object.

The synthesis of ethene and diethyl ether from ethanol is a typical experiment to familiarize students with the properties and reactivity of alcohols, ethers, and alkenes. Different products can be obtained by changing the reaction temperature (130 or 160˚C), which builds student’s interest in functional groups and organic synthesis. However, this reaction is somewhat unsuitable for students due to its high temperature conditions. In this study, we developed a more student-friendly experiment to synthesize ether and alkene from ethanol and 2-methyl-2-propanol at 90˚C using a water bath. This experiment includes determination of the reaction products based on the reaction conditions, and the properties and reactivity of products. Student notes and questionnaire results after the class practices indicate that this chemistry experiment is effective not only in developing students’ knowledge and skills, but also in fostering their ability to think, judge, and communicate.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the changes and processes in children’s understanding of “properties of operation” in elementary school mathematics. As a research method, we designed a survey based on “the theoretical framework for the process of understanding the algebraic structure in the set” shown by Kurihara (2023), and conduct a questionnaire survey and an interview survey.

As a result of this paper, based on “the theoretical framework shown by Kurihara (2023), a “lower phase”, “observational level”, “insightful level”, “formal level”, and “higher phase” were defined. We also clarified changes in children’s understanding levels. In addition, when the level of understanding of individuals after solving a problem is the same in a pair, a change in understanding does not likely to occur during the problem-solving process by the pair. When the level of understanding of individuals after solving a problem differs between pairs, a change in understanding is observed, indicating that understanding can be promoted. In an analysis of the understanding process based on cases of pairs in which significant changes in understanding are observed, one child goes back and forth from the “observational level” to the “insightful level” and is then transformed to the “insightful level”.

Vitamin C is an essential human nutrient often used as an anti-oxidant in food and drinks because of its reducing properties. In this study, we developed a qualitative experiment for high school chemistry students to separate vitamin C, vitamin B₂ derivatives, and starch, using the properties of vitamin C, such as water solubility and weak acidity. After the students performed qualitative and titration experiments using iodine, they completed questionnaires, the results of which confirmed that they believed they had acquired new knowledge and skills. These included how to review topics they had studied previously, and perform experiments while gaining an understanding of vitamin C.

This study analyzed in detail the trends of women’s activities in the STEM workforce in Japan and examined the characteristics of the gender gap through a comparison with the United States, which has taken a leading role in the development of STEM human resources. The results showed that the gender gap of women in Japanese STEM human resources was greater than that of the U.S., both at the employment stage and at the university and graduate school training stage. However, the overall number of women in Japanese STEM human resources was increasing, and the number of STEM personnel was increasing for both men and women in the employment status of information processing and communications engineers, whether in the humanities & social sciences, or science & engineering fields. In particular, women in the humanities & social sciences were advancing, and the gender gap was trending in the direction of closing. These factors were considered to include the influence of diverse career choice factors and outcome expectations on career paths among women in the humanities and social science majors, and the influence of awareness of science-related studies on career choice among women in science and engineering majors.

In high school chemistry textbooks, elements are classified into typical elements and transition elements, and the properties of each element are described. This report deals with the precipitation of chlorides and sulfides of metal ions. The colors and substance names for the precipitates generated from cations and anions are listed in the textbooks, but the author thought of creating precipitates by reacting reagent vapor with an aqueous metal ion solution. For chloride ions, hydrogen chloride vapor from hydrochloride acid was used, and for sulfide ions, vapor generated from ammonium sulfide was used. As a result, it is possible to understand the ease with which chlorides and sulfides precipitate depending on the type of metal ion. This result can be extended to learning about the solubility product of precipitates.