In this study, we aimed to clarify the characteristics and roles of dialogue in groups in science learning, attempting to verify both the quantity and quality of dialogues using three analytical methods. At the outset, we visualized the state of communication within the group using a “business microscope” system that collects and analyzes behavioral big data and clarified the aspect and amount of communication. Based on the amount of communication, the groups were organized into two groups, and the contents described in the prediction and summary were analyzed using “User Local AI Text Mining”, a text mining tool that quantitatively and qualitatively analyzes and visualizes a large amount of text data from the cloud. It was clarified that intra-group dialogues indeed affect the generation of meaning in individuals. Furthermore, protocol analysis of the high- and low-communication groups revealed the characteristics of utterances that lead to semantic generation. Based on the aspects, which were clarified using the analytical methods described above, we examined the relationship with others that leads to the generation of meaning. The above research results highlight the significance of dialogue within groups in science learning, warranting increased attention as a learning tool

Analysis of the 2015 OECD Student Achievement Survey, as well as other factors, highlights the need to improve the quality of inquiry activities used in upper secondary school science learning. While the Course of Study published in 2018 advises that inquiry-based learning should be implemented in stages at the elementary and lower secondary school levels, it does not clearly state as such with regard to the upper secondary level. Upper secondary school science teachers reportedly have not been proactive in implementing inquiry activities due to various barriers, such as their busy schedules and lack of materials to support such activities. The study reported herein focuses on the levels of inquiry framework as a potential approach to incrementally improving the quality of inquiry activities used in Japanese upper secondary school science learning, and applies the framework to inquiry activities detailed in five upper secondary school biology textbooks that are compliant with the Courses of Study. The results suggest that the inquiry activities described in the textbooks could be analyzed with reference to the definitions proposed by Banchi and Bell (2008) and Buck, Bretz and Towns (2008)—that is, structured over five levels of inquiry from 0 to 4, based on the amount of information provided to the students. The analyses revealed that most inquiry activities described in the textbooks were level 2 or lower. However, one company’s textbook included several descriptions that raised the inquiry level. Given that science teachers can freely vary the levels of inquiry when dealing with familiar experimental materials by applying the levels of inquiry model and adjusting the amount of information given to students, it is advisable to reconsider how the materials presented in the approved textbooks should be approached, taking into account improvements in the quality of inquiry activities in upper secondary school science and the resulting enhancement of students’ inquiry skills.

We designed an experiment that can be easily conducted in the classroom to find the relationship between raindrop size and terminal velocity, as an experiment to be conducted by Science course in the Faculty of Education who aim to become science teachers in the future. Styrofoam balls of different radii were used as raindrop models, and their falling velocities were measured using the high-speed camera function of a smartphone. The results demonstrated that the theoretical and measured terminal velocities generally agreed with each other (mean relative error 3.7%), indicating that terminal velocity is proportional to the square root of the radius. To verify the effectiveness of the developed experiment as a teaching tool, a trial practice was conducted with university students, and their understanding of terminal velocity were recorded before and after the practice. The results suggest that the experiment enhances the students’ understanding of terminal velocity.

The purpose of this study is to develop a Science teaching method in elementary school with the aim of improving pupils’ attitudes toward collaboration, as well as their sense of competence, through collaborative problem solving. In the measures that we developed for improving pupils’ attitudes toward collaboration and their sense of competence, individual pupils are put in charge of one experiment among several that were planned by pupils to solve a problem. Pupils who chose the same experiment conduct their experiment together, every student explains the results of his/her experiment to groups that conducted other experiments, and pupils solve the problem collaboratively by using a worksheet that encourages them to perform well. Verification lessons were conducted in the unit “how things melt” in the 5th grade of an elementary school. An experimental group was taught using our newly developed method, while a control group was given the lesson using a standard method. The results showed that the effect of improving pupils’ attitudes toward collaboration and their sense of competence appeared only in the experimental group. The results also suggested that the experimental method increases the students’ confidence and interest in learning science. Our newly developed teaching method was thus verified to be effective.

This study is a practical research on the “Mechanism of Combustion” in the sixth grade of elementary school. By reading a section of Faraday’s “The Chemical History of a Candle”, children were able to understand “the formation of carbon dioxide by the bond between carbon and oxygen”. The three times reading method, so-called SANDOKU-HOU (Ishiyama, 1991), was utilized for interpretive reading the scientific documents , they could discover the proposition as the scientific problems in the text. Furthermore, the children were able to read the theory, the experimental method, and the results obtained, making the experiment significant and meaningful to them. The success of the experiment ensured that the children read the texts and attained understanding of the target concepts. The introduction of the particle model aided the reading of the text because it evoked the image of a “bond between carbon and oxygen”. The children conducted the experiments on the main content of the text, but the teacher demonstrated the experiments on the supplementary content, which allowed for the class to be taught expediently, within the standard time frame of the unit. Children were thus able to successfully understand “the bond between carbon and oxygen” through the reading of a Science text.

The purpose of this study was to classify all questions in lower secondary school Science textbooks approved for 2020 by three textbook companies (Company X, Company Y, and Company Z) according to a framework based on Sekine et al. (2012), and to clarify the characteristics of these questions. The results of the analysis revealed and clarified the following four points: (1) Verifiable questions such as “how + verb,” “ how/what + noun,” and “what” accounted for about 83% of the total. (2) In the comparison by domain, the tendency of “questions” is different in each domain. In the energy domain, “questions” related to relationships and regularity are often seen. In the particle domain, “yes/no” questions tend to be common. In the life domain, many “properties” are found. In the Earth domain, “why” questions tend to be the most common type. (3) In the comparison by grade, the tendency of “question” was different in the second and third grades: “where” tended to be more common in the second grade, while “what” questions, as well as those related to “change/state”, tended to be more common in the third grade. (4) In the comparison across the three publishers, “how + verb,” “what,” and “means” were found most frequently in Company Y’s Science textbooks.

The purpose of this study was to examine teaching practices focusing on the development and expansion of “experience” in science education from the knowledge obtained based on Hiroshi Takahashi’s notion of “experiential education” and its specific processes, and to examine the nature of “exploratory learning” with regard to the W-style problem-solving model for science education. Further, this study advocates for enhanced experiential activities. From the results, we were able to confirm the development and expansion of “experience” based on all the “connection” elements of “experience”, “Representation”, and “re-experience”, which are specific processes of “experiential education”, as expressive activities in its practice, including nature experiences and “experiential” science education elements. The first and second phases of the W-style problem-solving model for science education, “exploratory learning,” were also found to be interwoven throughout “experiential education” practice. The results suggest that by incorporating these “connection” elements into experiential education in science education, children as learners would find the value of “experience” and enhance its effectiveness in essential experiential learning activities.