Since the 1950s, it has been recognized that teaching problem-solving methods in science is very important. However, many students in lower secondary school do not in fact acquire the ability of problem solving in science. We focused on the process-skills that are part of the problem-solving methods and surveyed the actual conditions of teaching in lower secondary school by questionnaire. In this study, teachers made lessons focusing on process-skills, and we asked how many students acquired these skills. Moreover, we asked what kind of revisions the teachers did. The results are as follows. (1) Though the teachers focused on process-skills, they did not think that the students acquire them. (2) The teachers who participated in the survey actively designed classes that included forming a hypothesis, proper control of variables, and stating a conclusion. (3) The teachers who participated in the survey actively introduced in-group and in-class discussion.

This paper discusses the concept that whole-class discourse consists of peer collaborations through support by local discourse. The following three trends were identified: (1) Students start whole-class discourse based on a "meaning" proposed by the local group. This activity stimulates students who don't have confidence in the whole-class discourse to participate. (2) Local discourse assists and maintains incomplete whole-class discourse, and whole-class discourse is concluded by local discourse, so students can freely participate in whole-class discourse. (3) Teachers started local discourse, and whole-class discourse followed. We organized lessons, considering not only the interactions between teachers and students but also the interactions among students by local discourse in order to pursue studies by whole-class discourse.

In this research project, upper secondary school chemistry textbooks were examined for the period between 1947-1996 in order to find out how the changes in the way Sodium Hydroxide is manufactured during this period were presented. By interviewing authors and editors, I attempted to find out their views with regard to the teaching materials. I also investigated the technological and social changes that have influenced the way the chemical industry produces Sodium Hydroxide. The results are as follows: (1) Teaching materials found in upper secondary school chemistry textbooks concerning the manufacturing Sodium Hydroxide included the Solution method, the Porous Partition Membrane method, the Mercury method, and the Ion Membrane method. (2) With regard to the teaching materials, the authors and editors said that the books must reflect present chemical manufacturing techniques and that difficult concepts about the chemical manufacturing process are not introduced until students have mastered the basic concepts. (3) Changes regarding the way the manufacture of Sodium Hydroxide is taught in upper secondary school chemistry textbooks have generally corresponded with the changes in the chemical industry.

J. O. Head and C. R. Sutton say that individual cognition, sentiment, and rhetoric unite in the metaphor of a scientific concept. That is, it is shown that a new concept is constructed by having and intuiting a sentiment-prejudice. In order to develop the ability to express the concept of a natural phenomenon, studying the construction methods of logic such as the analogy is required. Simultaneously, the usefulness of "warm cognition," that is, cognition united with sentiment, is shown. These can be considered indispensable when drawing up a science lesson.

The objective of this study was to clarify the differences in children's likes and dislikes and the development of their thinking in learning scenes of science by the difference of teaching method. Elementary and lower secondary students were asked to answer a questionnaire about the learning scenes of science. The questions concerned the quantity of the learning scenes, the likes and dislikes of the learning scenes, and the development of thinking in the learning scenes. The mean scores were analyzed, and an analysis of covariance structures was performed at each school. As a result, in an elementary class which had many learning scenes of student's thinking, predicting and discussing, the students liked such learning scenes, and they developed their thinking through them. Furthermore, it was observed that the students developed their thinking in the following order: making a problem, planning observation and experiment, performing observation and experiment, and analyzing the results. In a class which had many learning scenes consisting of teacher's explanation and children's taking notes, the children liked such learning scenes, and they developed their thinking through them. Furthermore, it was observed that students developed their thinking in the following order: teacher's explanation of a problem and the method of observation and experiment, students' performing observation and experiment, teacher's explanation and summarizing, and students writing in their notebooks.

"Circulatory styled questions and answers-critical learning" has been useful as a teaching method in the science class, and it has been shown that as a result of its use the students improved both in their meta-communication and in their ability of scientific communication with each other. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of eleven hours of class using "circulatory styled questions and answers-critical learning" in teaching the unit "electric current and electromagnetism." The effect was evaluated by analyzing the results of a questionnaire and a written examination. In this case, the results were as follows: (1) It encouraged students to acquire knowledge about the experimental method to compare the force of the electromagnets. (2) It encouraged students, especially female students, to acquire knowledge about assembling an electric circuit. (3) It encouraged students to acquire knowledge about the reason why they chose the 5 ampere minus jack of an ammeter when they assembled an electric circuit.

In the 1930s in the former Soviet Union, integrated science teaching was discontinued, and physics, chemistry, and biology began to be taught as separate sciences so that students could acquire the fundamentals of science required for industrializing the socialist society. This separated science teaching system was maintained until the end of the Soviet Union. After World War II, as industrialization progressed and brilliant results in space development thrilled the people of the Soviet Union, it was considered even more important for children to acquire the fundamentals of science. Furthermore, recognizing that a Scientific-Technological Revolution had come, it was thought that the acquisition of the fundamentals of science was essential for the socialistic development of personality. The background to this way of thinking is scientism-the idea that life and society will develop from natural science. From the standpoint of scientism, the establishment of the separated science teaching system in the 1930s was begun. Moreover, as the idea of scientism spread and was strengthened, the separated science teaching was considered essential in Soviet schools.