The aim of this study is to evaluate the educational effectiveness of the planetarium show, which has seldom been attempted in Japan. For this purpose, we attempt to (1) assess children's understanding of the sun's light before the planetarium show, (2) analyze how their ideas have changed one week and then about four months afterwards, and (3) point out some problems in the planetarium show. We found that (1) third graders who have not studied the sun's light in school have a variety of ideas about the sun, (2) 82% of the children change their ideas by watching the show (some of changes were mistaken), and (3) 13% of the children whose ideas changed after watching the show kept their ideas for about four months. Based on these results, we make proposals to improve the planetarium show.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Japanese science education exerted a considerable influence on Chinese education. At that time, many Japanese books on science education theory were translated into Chinese, Japanese teachers or Chinese teachers who studied in Japan played an active role in the field of science, and laboratory equipment was imported from Japan or manufactured on Japanese models. This study will examine these issues in order to examine the extent of Japanese influence on the formation of science education theory in China. The study makes the following points: 1 . The Chinese recognized that science education has not only practical value, but also educational and cultural value. 2 . By the progress of the method of teaching science in China, the Chinese realized that laboratory equipment is necessary for science education. 3 . The Chinese recognized the importance of domestic production of aids to teaching science. 4. The heuristic method of Armstrong was introduced in China, and the Chinese recognized the importance of students conducting experiments in science education.

The present authors devised two new index numbers to examine how much self-direction should be expected in science education when elementary students solve science problems. One is called S-density(S), which shows the level of students' self-direction when they solve problems. S-density equals the total points of a students' self-direction through a unit divided by the number of classes for the unit. The other index is called the impression index number (I), which measures students' preferences for targets of learning. The impression index number equals the total points of a students' preference for a unit divided by the number of students. In this study, the writers examined the relationship between these two index numbers according to SI-correlative tables. As a result, we observed that: (1) 'T' decreases as "S" does. Especially, teaching unit "C" the earth and the universe, showed this tendency. (2) "I" increases as "S" does. (3) Sometimes, even though the value of "S'' is very high, the value of "I" is not so high. Only teaching unit "B", materials and energy, showed this tendency. The S-density and the process of calculating it are useful in evaluating teaching programs.

Using this assessment method, there were practical studies of club activities. The educational effects were analyzed by use of concept maps. To evaluate the effectiveness, the author considered that the labels used in the concept maps were categorized into three groups: (a) everyday vocabulary (b) semi-scientific vocabulary (c) scientific vocabulary Comparing a Radar chart of the concept labels and structure of the concept map, the maps were categorized into : (a) everyday understanding (b) scientific understanding (c) integrated understanding As a result of these investigations : (1) Students' concepts were more hierarchical, complex, and relevant. (2) Students understood the activity of "bacteria" in soil by the experiment. (3) Students were able to understand the concepts that the "soil is alive" and "microorganisms in the soil are a part of the ecology."

This study examined the relationship between teachers' views of science and the way science is taught in the classroom. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. (1) Almost all of the teachers' views of science are traditional (Inductivism and Hypotheticodeductivism). More than half of them believe in traditional scientific methods, even teachers who have modern views on the criteria of demarcation. (2) Most elementary school teachers feel that guidance is more important in the constructivist approach. On the other hand, most lower secondary school teachers believe that content is more important. Despite this difference, teachers give careful consideration to traditional scientific methods.

Children have an opportunity to learn about animals and their environment at the zoo. However, the significance of school visits to the zoo has not been examined closely, and there are few studies concerning effective teaching methods. In this study, we investigated school visits to the zoo in order to identify effective teaching methods. As a result, it was shown that school visits to the zoo are intended to teach children about "life" and "symbiosis." We found that the zoos aimed more at understanding "symbiosis" than teachers did, but neither the teachers nor the zoos seemed to have been satisfied with the effects of the school visits. We noted that only 42% of teachers taught children about animals in advance of the visit. Since pre-visit teaching encourages children to enhance their interests and understanding of "life" and "symbiosis," we proposed a new teaching method to allow children to imagine and describe the animals before visiting the zoo. As a result of a test trial, the children found more about the animals. Moreover, it was found that teaching children to observe real animals carefully enhanced their interest and that the veterinarian's lecture developed their understanding about life. Regarding the results of an analysis of their compositions, it seems that discussion of their findings in a post-visit session promotes better understanding as well. So far, the effective teaching methods that we identified include: "enhancing children's interests," "careful observation and note of real animals," "getting information from zoo staff," and "discussing the findings." In addition, we introduced trial plans of science teaching by using concrete materials.