The main purpose of this study is to examine whether pre-service elementary school teachers have acquired scientific knowledge of the heart. The method of the study was to examine the re-service teachers’ recognition of the names of the interior structures, blood vessels, and routes of blood flows in the heart by using description. The main findings of this study were as follows: 1) about half of the pre-service elementary school teachers could choose all of the correct answers with regard to naming each part of the heart; 2) 5.0% of the pre-service elementary school teachers could choose all of the correct answers regarding six blood vessels which are connected to the heart; and 3) there are 21 routes of blood flow which circulate through the heart and the blood vessels.

The aim of this study is to develop a method for students who lack ability in performing discussion to improve their communication skills, and thereby feel an enhanced understanding of science. We conceptualized discussion as a “game of catch” and devised a method called “catching the thought” using “the card to tell”. The unit of fifth-grade science, “functions of running water”, was examined utilizing this method. Questionnaires were conducted before, during, and after the unit. The following results were obtained: (1) The method “catching the thought” can change students’ attitudes from pitching one in which “I always teach to others” to not just pitching but also receiving one in which “I can listen to others”, and from a mindset of “I cannot express my thoughts” to that of “I can express what I do and do not understand”. (2) When students can articulate their thoughts and communicate well with each other, their understanding of scientific concepts becomes enhanced through discussion.

Seedlings of the dwarf sunflower ‘konatsu’ were approximately 20% as tall as the tall ‘kagayaki’ type 12 days after seeding. However, when gibberellic acid (GA) (1.0×10^–4 M GA₃) was applied 5 days after seeding, the dwarf sunflower seedlings became elongated, up to twice as tall as the control plants. The dwarf sunflower seedlings treated with GA elongated at the rate of 7.6 mm/day, while the elongation rate of the tall ones was 8.0 mm/day. That is, the dwarf sunflower seedlings could recover their height through the GA treatment. Based on these results, we developed a lesson in which students sprayed a dose of gibberellic acid solution on sunflower seedlings and measured the elongation of the seedlings for one week. The students plotted a graph of the seedling elongation and compared the heights of the tall sunflower seedlings with those of the dwarf ones, and also compared the height of the GA treated seedlings with those of the untreated ones with the aid of a worksheet. To clearly evaluate our lesson, the achievement tests of students’ understanding of the plant hormone GA and the plant’s morphology were carried out before and after the lesson. They revealed that the students’ correct answers on the relationship between gibberellin and height of the seedlings increased from 57% to 86%. Furthermore, approximately 95% of the students stated that their interest in the mechanism of the plant growth was aroused. Asking them about the comprehensive approach to the resolution of the relationship between plant growth and GA, some students proposed a quantificational experiment using endogenous GA contents and other students offered a comparison of the participant plants’ genes. These replies suggested that they came to consider the difference in the GA contents as well as variations in genes among the sunflower varieties.

This study is intended to devise a method of teaching science to foster rational thinking and reflective thinking in critical thinking skills in elementary school students and to verify the effects of this method through the lessons. In order to achieve this, students do the following learning activities. First, students describe their ideas based on the Toulmin model, which is composed of claim, data and warrant. Next, they experience various types of inquiry by 1. reading others’ questions and asking questions to others; 2. answering others’ questions; and 3. asking themselves questions about their own ideas. Finally, they describe their ideas based on the Toulmin model again. Then, through the lessons of “the ingredients in the air necessary for germination”, we verify the effects of this teaching method in a class of 35 sixth graders of an elementary school. From the results of students’ writings on questionnaires and worksheets, we conclude that the devised teaching method contributes to fostering critical thinking skills, whereby students ask questions with doubts about others’ ideas, think reasonably, seek knowledge or information based on their clear rationale, and reflect on their own ideas.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the effectiveness of teaching strategies and design elements derived from Chin and Osborne (2010a) to encourage elementary students to state justified claims in argumentation in Japanese science lessons. Design elements are guidelines that encourage reflecting on teaching strategies in science lessons. First, we discussed the teaching strategies and design elements derived from Chin and Osborne (2010a). Next, we conducted science lessons using the teaching strategies and design elements. We then demonstrated the effectiveness of the teaching strategies and design elements by evaluating the change in the number of students who stated justified claims from the records of argumentation. The results of the evaluation revealed that the number of students who were able to state a justified claim significantly increased toward the end of the lessons when compared to the beginning of the lessons. These results indicate that the teaching strategies and design elements derived from Chin and Osborne (2010a) were effective in encouraging elementary students to state justified claims in science lessons.

The purpose of this study was to present an anatomical exercise using “boiled-dried fish” in a 6th grade elementary school science class, in which the object of the activity was to observe the fish’s internal organ, and to discuss the effectiveness of the exercise by evaluating children’s consciousness and understanding of each organ’s anatomy. As a result of the study, the followings 3 points were clarified: 1. The anatomical exercise using “boiled-dried fish” was successful to positively change children’s consciousness in anatomy. 2. Children were able to understand each organ reasonably well in the anatomical exercise using “boiled-dried fish”. 3. There was some variance in students’ level of understanding of the four organs examined (bowel, liver, kidney, and ovary or testes) between the classes using “boiled-dried fish” and those using “row fish”.

For science club activities in lower and upper secondary schools, ongoing exploration activities with fixed themes are conducted. These are important opportunities to foster a love of science in students. One purpose of the present study was to investigate the reality of exploration activities conducted after school and over long school breaks. First, we targeted “student science research presentation workshops” with participating students from private lower and upper secondary schools in Tokyo. We organized and analyzed research reports from 759 lower secondary school students and 1,349 upper secondary schools students presented over 55 years between 1961 and 2015. The results of our analysis showed a recent increase in the number of applicants for physics and chemistry, a decrease in flora and fauna sketches in research reports and in the percentage of sketches on experimental devices, and a rapid increase in the percentage of photographs. Another purpose of this study was to investigate research themes centered on chemistry fields, which are thought to be less influenced by differences in school facilities and the natural environment around each school. We divided chemistry fields into 12 areas and analyzed overviews of each project and the popular points of each, taking into account school type and historical background. In chemistry fields, in addition to research that has traditionally been carried out regarding natural environments, we noted a tendency to select research themes focused on visual changes, such as changes in metal and chemical reactions involving dyeing and color changes.

A method of dropping ethanol into heated concentrated sulfuric acid appears in a high school chemistry textbook as an experiment on ethylene formation. This experiment is not popular in classrooms because of the difficulty of handling sulfuric acid and the experimental hazards. The use of aluminum oxide, Y-type and beta-type zeolites as ethylene formation catalysts has also been reported. However, it is difficult to obtain zeolites for industrial use. We investigated the possibility of using zeolites that can be purchased in DIY stores for ethylene formation from ethanol, and showed that commercially available zeolites sold as gardening and cooking materials are applicable to the reaction and can be used as a teaching material. The results of practice in upper secondary schools indicate that this teaching material was effective to foster students’ understanding of ethylene properties.