Since it is often believed that onomatopoeia is a childish form of language, research on it has not developed. However, Tamori et al. have shown that onomatopoeia is an important language element in Japanese. Moreover, the relation between the development of a child's cognition and onomatopoeia has been demonstrated by Takiura et al. It is thought that this research becomes the key to understanding the relationship between onomatopoeia and cognitive notice. In order to demonstrate that onomatopoeia expresses cognitive notice, the following three investigations were conducted: 1. the function of onomatopoeia in early stages of observation; 2. the function of onomatopoeia in communicating what has been noticed in activity; 3. the transfer function of onomatopoeia. Consequently, the following results were obtained: ○ Onomatopoeia expresses the individual impression m connection with the target tactile feature in the early stages of activity in many cases. Moreover, if activity progresses, the auditory feature will increase. ○ Onomatopoeia is a method of expression that links tactile and visual experiences to the auditory. Thus, onomatopoeia expresses various types of information, and it may become a key to understanding cognitive notice. Moreover, since the target feature is captured correctly and can be communicated, onomatopoeia can be seen as an early stage of scientific thinking. Accordingly, in science education, onomatopoeia can become an effective method of expression.

The goal of this paper lies in clarifying how a mental construct is formed in the minds of the children in the Department of Life Environmental Study when they become intellectually aware of and begin comprehending nature. For the study, we examined the case of a children's excursion, relying on three papers as a framework, "Logical Operation" by Kamii C. and Devries R., "Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)" by Vygotsky, and "Structure of Knowledge" by White. We discovered that a web of children's intellectual awareness about natural phenomenon is formed through informal concepts (life concepts), going beyond their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

The purpose of this study was to improve the experiment on the extraction of DNA and to contribute to teaching materials used in this experiment in the enrichment study of the unit “cell and reproduction of living things” and in the elective science classes in lower secondary school. In traditional experiments, the material was warmed in hot water twice. In this study, by warming the material in hot water only once, DNA was extracted. Using the liver of an animal, DNA could be extracted by adding 2M NaCl before filtering. Using three methods to extract DNA, new materials for this study were found. In the elective science class in lower secondary school, students were able to perform this experiment very well.

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the science curriculum principally in a political context. We took the process of drawing up the National Curriculum in science in England and Wales as the object of study. In conducting the study, we adopted a new approach based on interviews in order to examine the subject from the viewpoints of planners, administrators, and science education scholars. The following results were obtained: 1) As Young, M.F.D. (1998) suggested, there was indeed a bureaucratic integration in the process of developing the National Curriculum in science. It was also found that there were various conflicting political demands and controls in the process. 2) The most influential controls among them were the professional control of the Science Working Group, composed of science teachers and science education scholars, and the bureaucratic control by the government, which aimed at the centralization of school education. 3) Our study presents a new view that the National Curriculum in science was designed in the process of these conflicts.

Concept mapping is used for vanous purposes m science education and environmental education, and its validity has been demonstrated in various studies. In this report, we proposed that the use of the "Jibun" (I, me, or myself) label in concept mapping can help identify the personal side of concepts. This method has a further advantage in the study of living things: noticing the association between the contents studied and the observer makes learning relevant. It becomes an opportunity not only for the construction of the "Jibun" concept in the taxonomy of living things but also for the construction of the "Jibun" concept involved in a social activity in a familiar environment. The following are the results of our research: ・Using the "Jibun" label and "Ikimono" (living things) label in concept maps about the "next generation of living things," students in the first grade of lower secondary school projected the concept of the "reproduction of Medaka" into the concept of "reproduction of human and/ or other living things." ・Making a concept map at the end of the study about the "growth of Medaka," fifth grade elementary school students used the "Jibun" label to indicate the concepts of "Jibun as a living thing" and "Jibun as an individual person." ・Fifth grade elementary school students constructed a "Jibun" concept including not only the cognitive side but also the personal side of concepts about environmental problems in a concept map at the end of their study of "the environment for living things." These results indicate that concept mapping using the "Jibun" label is an effective method in science education and environmental education.

This paper will discuss requisites to create field study programs at institutions which offer natural experience for students in terms of (1) a development scheme, (2) user needs, and (3) study tasks and utility value. To explore these, first, a development process to create field study programs for school children and students in the Field Studies Council (FSC) in the UK will be introduced as an efficient example. Second, some characteristics of the program development methodology of the FSC will be examined. Finally, some implications for the delivery of such experience in the natural environment will be presented in order to solve the problems for organizations in Japan. The following four points are relevant to the creation of systematic field study programs in Japan: (1) to create development schemes, including managers and chiefs of the organizations following the program development process; (2) to set clear and consistent tasks for studying; (3) to provide basic skills for learning and to set up original programs using the characteristics of the natural environment of the local area; (4) to set up a framework to cover various requirements of the users, such as stocking modules as pieces for drawing up a program and combining some of them, depending on user needs.

The purpose of this study is to identify factors that obstruct the communication of instructions between fellow students and to investigate the usefulness of 2.4 hours of class using "circulatory-styled question-and-answer critical learning." This teaching method was used in the unit "basic operation of a gas burner" in the first grade of lower secondary school in order to overcome such obstacles. In this case, it was found that the following two factors obstructed the construction of supportive relationships among the students: (1) Advice with a strong tone arising from the advising student's desire to gain operational skill and avoid danger immediately. (2) The adviser recognizes that it is difficult to operate a gas burner. But a misunderstanding that the operator is not willing to accept the advisor's advice when the latter observes that the operator is not able to operate a gas burner as the advisor advise. In this case, the use of circulatory-styled question-and-answer critical learning encouraged students to pause when the operator made a mistake and describe the good points of the prior explanation and the operation, and then to offering suggestions for improvement. As a result, this interaction helped students to realize the importance of supportive relationships, to raise their social competence, and to perform meta-communication.

In order to demonstrate the occurrence of the phototaxis to high school students in a clear manner, an experiment using Euglena was improved. In this experiment, a compact apparatus was devised. Several Light-Emitting-Diodes (LEDs) containing white, blue, yellow, and red were used as the light source in the apparatus. The improved experiment using the newly devised apparatus was tested in four 10th grade science classes. The students obtained good results. It was confirmed by students' reports that they could realize the phototactic phenomenon of Euglena. They also considered that there might be some relationships between the action spectrum for phototaxis and the absorption spectra of chlorophyll pigments.

This study focused on teaching the unit on the motion and function of a simple pendulum in science classes for fifth grade students, and developing a learning tool called the "learner-oriented thought experiment simulator" that enables primary school students to accurately measure the observation time and the observation location of a simple pendulum. The following three teaching effects were observed as a result of conducting science classes at primary schools using the "learner-oriented thought experiment simulator": 1) The simple pendulum phenomena can be analyzed and examined in real time and space with precision and in detail. 2) The simple pendulum phenomena can be simulated by computer so that time, position, and conditions can be manipulated according to the interests of the students. 3) A mental experiment can be conducted by analyzing the data acquired from experiments, identifying physical laws isochronically, simulating the experiment according to this isochronism, and comparing and contrasting the results with physical phenomena in the real world.

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the roles of students in science classes and their field-independent / field-dependent cognitive styles. We examined the type of field-independent and field-dependent cognitive styles of the students by the Embedded Figure Test, and examined their individual behavior in small groups in scientific experiments during these classes. We analyzed the differences between the field-independent and field-dependent cognitive styles of students in terms of the students' roles. These roles were of four types: experimenter, advisor, recorder, and onlooker. We then counted the number of students of the field-independent and field-dependent cognitive styles who chose the same role in the group. We found that there was no significant difference in the roles of students between those with field-independent and field-dependent cognitive styles. However, the percentage of field-dependent type students who chose the same role in the groups of scientific experiments was higher than that of the field-independent type.