I review research on teaching materials in science education in regard to archaeology. In particular, I re-examine the possible uses of archaeological content in earth science education. Up to now, archaeology education in Japan has been thought of as merely a part of history, but there is much subject matter and many different methods of study regarding archaeology. I discuss the significance of developing archaeology teaching materials for environmental studies or integrated studies from regional, practical examples. It is noteworthy that the subject archaeology can be treated as separate from the subjects of science and history. It is possible to approach the texts of archaeology both as natural science and as social science. Despite the relationship between archaeology and natural science, few teaching materials and programs have been developed. At the high school level, it is important for earth science education to borrow information from archaeology.

In this paper, We discuss how speech communication in the science classroom can be understood from a sociocultural approach, by using Lotman's notion of "functional dualism of texts in a cultural system" and Wertsch's notion of "privileging." With Lotman's notion, we can analyze speech communication in the science classroom by the formation of voices such as ''the univocal function of texts" and "the dialogue function of texts," and characterize the role of others in science learning based on the formation of voices in speech communication. With Wertsch's notion, we can trace the trajectory of the contents students learn through the changes in conversation topics during speech communication in the science classroom. To demonstrate the usefulness of Lotman's and Wertsch's notions for understanding speech communication, we conduct an interaction analysis of the unit on "the characteristics of various solutions." In this interaction, students can learn the specific content and deepen their understanding of the content, supported by others as teacher and students. And also, this analysis suggests some points for reflection on speech communication in this unit.

In upper secondary schools, students learn Arrhenius' theory and Br ф nsted's theory about acid and base in the chemistry class. These two theories are so similar to that it is difficult for students to understand them. It is necessary to teach that the former of the two theories is concerned with the ionic product and pH. I tried talking with students one by one in order to assess their understanding of the concepts of "acid and base" and "neutralization." The results are as follows: ① Some students understood the difference between both theories about acid and base and the meaning of a hydrogen ion in the definition of acid, others did not. ② Some students did not understand the relation between an oxonium ion and a hydrogen ion in the definition of acid following the theory of Arrhenius. ③ Students did not understand the diversity of salts very well. ④ Students did not understand acidic oxides and basic oxides because the textbook did explain them sufficiently. We should treat the oxonium ion under Arrhenius' theory and clearly distinguish this oxonium ion from the hydrogen ion used in Br ф nsted's theory. This is the best way to prevent students from misunderstanding. The definition of a salt is based on Br ф nsted's theory, so it is difficult for students to realize the diversity of salts. Since the teacher is a key person in the classroom, he must select questions for students carefully, prevent them from misunderstanding, modify descriptions in the textbook, and develop new teaching methodologies.

The purpose of this study was to clarify gender issues in the history of science education in Japan. In the first part, we analyzed and compared science education programs in High Schools for Girls and Middle Schools from the introduction of the modern educational system until WWII. The following results were obtained : ① Before and during WWII, the idea of women as 'good wives and wise mothers' dominated thought about education for girls. ② Between High Schools for Girls and Middle Schools there were some differences in science education that had to do with the objects of study, timetables, the contents of textbooks, and laboratory equipment. ③ Science education in High Schools for girls emphasized the relationship between education and daily life, and, in particular, the subject known as home economics.

Functional differentiation of understanding activities in cooperative learning has been suggested as one means of making learners perform cognitive activities more efficiently. But a teaching method that aims at making learners activate their scientific communication by enabling them to differentiate the various functions of learning activities hasn't been investigated concretely. The purpose of this study is to propose eleven hours of class using "Circulatory styled questions and answers-critical learning" in order to make children activate their scientific communication by teaching them to differentiate the functions of learning activities. Another purpose of this study is to evaluate this program was useful by analyzing the conversations of children and a teacher through a questionnaire survey. The criterion of evaluation was the degree activation of the children's communication. In this case, the program proved useful as a teaching method in that children improved both in their meta-communication and in their ability of scientific communication with each other.

In this study we analyzed the relationship between learning and assessment process in the science classroom, using constructivist views. Science teaching, it functions within complex processes. In such situations teachers are immediately required to react to the children's constructive learning process. Therefore we analyzed and presented some constructivist teaching strategies. Consequently, six science teaching strategies were presented and integrated into the scheme of science teaching. The effectiveness of this scheme was verified through science teaching practice.

The purpose of this study was to clarify student teachers' views of science teaching during teaching practice in secondary school, and to discuss the relation between the changes in their views and their experiences during teaching practice. As a result of analyzing their images of science teaching and experiences / episodes, the following were observed: 1. Most of their images of science teaching at the beginning of teaching practice focused on the aim and role of science teaching, but at the end of teaching practice there was an increase in images that focused on the planning and practicing of science teaching. 2. Many of the student teachers whose images changed in category described 'the planning of science teaching' and 'the practicing of science teaching' at the end of teaching practice. Such images included the importance of the teacher's understanding of the subject matter, cooperation between the teacher and students, and the differential practice of science teaching. 3. The main categories of the student teachers' experiences and episodes in teaching practice were 'teaching methods', 'the students' conditions in science teaching', and 'the teacher's understanding of the subject matter and educational materials.' 4. For student teachers who used images in the category of 'the aim and role of science teaching,' their experiences and episodes in the teaching practice contributed to identifying their views of science teaching at the beginning of teaching practice. On the other hand, for student teachers who used images in the category of 'the relation between the teacher and students' and 'the differential practice of science teaching,' their experiences and episodes contributed to the reconsideration or change of their views of science teaching.

This study analyzed students' conversations and activities during laboratory activities. The subjects of the study were fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade students. The results showed that female students were not generally encouraged to participate actively in science experiments. In fact, some male students acted in a way that discouraged their female counterparts from participating in such experiments with them, and some of the female students showed no interest at all in science experiments. Furthermore, neither male nor female students made an effort to change such undesirable attitudes of their classmates. Because problems of this nature do not arise from a single source, solutions require a whole-class approach. In this respect, we tried out a few approaches to improve inter-gender relationships among students in the sixth-grade science class. During the first fifteen minutes of the first day of class, students were shown a video and participated in a role-playing game. Some improvements were subsequently observed in both male and female students' activities during science experiments. A follow-up survey, which was carried out two months later, showed continued improvements in the students' classroom activities. This indicates that, with proper guidance, students are capable of improving inter-gender relationships by themselves.

A questionnaire determined to what degree the observations and experiments described in textbooks were carried out, according to differences of gender, age and individual specialties for 128 science teachers. Moreover, the study investigated the rationale for observation and experiment in the science classroom. 29% of the teachers carried out 80% or more of the observations and experiments, while 58% carried out 50 to 80%. It seems that teachers understand that many students become interested and involved in the contents of study by performing observations and experiments. They understand too that observation and experiment are required in the science classroom. However, under present conditions, there are important obstacles: teachers have little time to prepare for observations or experiments, and there is a lack of equipment and instruments.

The purpose of this study was to obtain the relative number of teachers with science and mathematics backgrounds in municipal elementary schools in Osaka City, Japan, through a questionnaire survey. The background of teachers plays a vital role because researchers from universities and research organizations should be able to communicate well with science and mathematics teachers in order to disseminate new information in their respective fields. When there is poor communication, the school teachers may be misunderstood or mislead. The number of teachers with science and mathematics backgrounds in municipal elementary schools was found to be around 5.9%, and 2.3%, respectively. Among the different fields of science, the number of teachers with physics, chemistry, biology, and geoscience backgrounds were found to be about 1.0%, 0.9%, 1.0%, and 0.6%, respectively. The relative numbers are rather low in all fields of science, the number in the geoscience field being the lowest. Therefore, the background of applicants should be duly considered when employing elementary school teachers. Further, when researchers communicate with elementary school teachers, they should consider the level of understanding of more than 90% teachers who do not have sufficient background in the field of mathematics and science.

Wild plants growing in the yards of elementary schools in six different blocks were taxonomically and ecologically examined by two different procedures: documentary records (Asahikawa, Niigata, Tokyo, and Hyogo blocks) and fieldwork (Tottori and Matsuyama blocks). The results were as follows : 1) the plants in one schoolyard included fewer than 190 species, and they were identified as ruderal or weedy plants. 2) The number of species commonly seen in over 80% of the schools in one block was only 11-24% of the total species number, and there was not necessarily so high a frequency in the other blocks. 3) The wild plants in the schoolyards differed from each other, and they were rarely similar to those of neighboring areas. Making illustrated plant books can help identify the plants and prepare a more advanced environment in which students can learn about them.