In this study, we investigated a framework that seeks to understand how children's knowledge restructuring occurs in order to build a science learning environment that facilitates this restructuring. The learning theories of Rogoff and Bronfenbrenner that describe how learning occurs in social interactions were of use in solving this problem. We tried to verify these theories of learning environments in the science classroom of sixth graders learning about the human body. As a central feature of this educational model, we employed a portfolio. In collaborating to construct a learning portfolio, the children's restructuring knowledge increased.

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 has made a great impact on the administrations in many cities of Japan in regard to the matter of disaster reduction. In this paper, I discuss science education concerning natural disasters and their reduction in the school curriculum after the earthquake in the context of educational reform in Japan. Then I discuss the relation between science education and integrated learning in the new course of study in Japan. It may be true that in the revised school curriculum, the words "natural disaster" are stressed, but it is not enough for students to study geoscientific topics such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Learning about natural disasters and their reduction is being combined with integrated study for practical purposes in the schools. And we can see such a tendency in elementary and lower secondary schools and in boards of education, especially in Hyogo Prefecture. In addition, with this approach we can treat the natural environment in each region as a teaching material in the period of integrated learning, so more students can study geoscience, a subject which has tended to receive less attention in the school curriculum. And we may have the opportunity to dispel current apprehensions about a decline in the scholastic ability of students as a result of the new course of study.

A survey of students' knowledge and images of energy, atomic energy, and other related matters was conducted and analyzed on lower and upper secondary school students in Tokushima and Tsuruga, two places in which there are atomic power stations. Below is a summary of our findings: (1) The students surveyed in Tokushima and in Tsuruga regard "fossil fuel" and "atomic energy" as the most important sources of energy at present. But both groups of students regard "solar energy" as the most important source of energy for the 21st century. (2) Most students in Japan learn about atomic energy from the mass media, but many of the students surveyed in Tokushima and Tsuruga say that they learned about it from "lower secondary education" and from "museums, exhibitions and home." (3) The students surveyed in Tokushima and Tsuruga know many terms and have much knowledge about the "atomic bomb" and "atomic power facilities and nuclear fuel." (4) More female students regarded "solar energy" as the most important source of energy. In reply to a question about atomic energy, male students tended to reply "danger," while female students tended to reply "atomic bomb," "noxiousness," "fearful" and "Roentgen rays or roentgenogram." (5) It can be deduced from the data relating to (2) and (3) that the students' knowledge and images about atomic energy were influenced by "peace studies class in their lower secondary school days" and "educational activities by a municipality and enterprises."

In this research project, we investigated the educational effects of two teaching methods. The first method involved one teacher working with one student on the process of observation. In the second method, two students worked together. First, we classified the students involved into two types by their EFT results. The students who got a high EFT grade were classified as the field independent type, and the students who got a low EFT grade as the field dependent type. In one group, which we called an 'instruction group,' a teacher explained the process of observation to individual students of both types. In the other group, which we called a 'communication group,' we had two students, one a field dependent type and the other a field independent type, communicate together freely. In each group, we made students write down their discoveries and observations. We classified their discoveries into twelve categories and compared the number of students or teams in each category within the instruction group and the communication group. The result was that the students in the communication group noted more points of interest than the students of the instruction group in two categories: slope and fault.

The results of this investigation revealed the following points. It is necessary for students to attain a full fundamental knowledge of light in order to solve comprehensive problems on light. Students seem to believe that studying light is difficult, partly because the position and size of light change according to the position of an object, partly because they cannot understand how light advances, and partly because they must construct an image of the advance of light. There is a close correlation between the ability to solve comprehensive problems and the ability to complete this construction. It is very important to acquire the latter ability in solving these problems. Therefore, in order to give the students a deeper understanding of the image of the light, it is quite important to enhance their ability to think abstractly, in particular, to learn how to construct and manipulate a figure geometrically. This can be done by actively introducing such methods of construction into our lessons.