Examination of the Teaching Skills for Reading Scientific Materials Needed by Science Teachers by Comparing In-Service and Prospective Science Teachers

We examined the teaching skills for reading scientific materials needed by science teachers. We compared the views of teaching skills for reading scientific materials of science teachers both in service and in training. The result of text mining for free description of the teaching skills of both groups showed that, whereas trainee teachers emphasized language ability as a teaching skill (for example, the ability to image the contents of a text), current teachers emphasized teaching the curriculum contents (for example, the ability to correct scientific knowledge). Such a divergence in views of teaching skills for reading suggests that it is important to make trainee teachers learn reading and comprehension skills in science teacher training

The effect of semantic constraint of a noun phrase on determining the prepositional representation of a sentence

A meaning of a verb depends on the noun phrase it is combined with. A verb ""open"" used in a sentence as ""I open a window"" was interchangeable with the antonym ""close,"" but that used in ""I open a can"" was noninterchangeable. Thus, although the representation of the sentence ""I open a window"" might be associated with the ""close,"" the representation of the sentence ""I open a can"" might not. In the experiment, the priming technique was used in order to examine whether the propositional representation of the interchangeable sentence was different from that of the noninterchangenable sentence. The prime stimuli were the Japanese sentences which consist of a noun phrase and a verb, and the target stimuli were the antonyms. Sixteen participants were required to make lexical decisions to the target stimuli. The result showed that the interchangeable sentence facilitated the classification of the antonym, but the noninterchangeable sentence did not. This result suggests that the constraint of the noun phrase determine the individual propositional representation for each sense

Development of the composition strategies use in argumentative writing scale for undergraduate students

This study developed a scale to capture the conscious use of writing strategies that undergraduate students employ when they write argumentative essays. The questionnaire survey was conducted with 202 undergraduate students. The factor analysis of the responses to the questionnaire indicated four factors: Reader Awareness, Consideration of Opposing Views, Flow of Composition, and Expressing One's Position. The content validity of this structure was examined by comparing the score for the strategy between those with high and low subjective frequency for writing essays, as well as groups separated by high and low levels of student expectations of effectiveness and values towards writing essays. Scores for the Flow of Composition strategy were higher among students reporting a high frequency of writing essays. Additionally, scores for the strategies of Reader Awareness, Consideration of Opposing Views and Flow of Composition were higher for students with greater expectations of effectiveness and values toward writing essays. This indicated a degree of content validity for the scale

中学生の円滑なコミュニケーションを促す授業実践 : 自己理解と自己表現に着目して

コミュニケーション能力は，社会において他者と関わる上で必要な基礎的能力と位置づけられ，その育成への取り組みが求められている。本稿では，中学校１年生を対象とし，生徒に自己を多面的に捉え表現することを促す授業実践について報告する。また，同授業実践における自己の捉えの推移を分析したところ，自己への捉えを見直したり，自己を表現することの良さに気付いたりする機会となること，他者理解においても有効であることを示す

Student tendencies in communication : self-efficacy in schoolwork

社会において様々な集団に属している私たちにとって，コミュニケーションは必要不可欠である。本研究では，生徒の学業における自己効力感と学校生活でのコミュニケーション傾向の関係を明らかにすることを目的とした。その結果，自己主張に消極的な生徒は，攻撃的な生徒よりも学業における自己効力感が低いなど，学業における自己効力感とコミュニケーション傾向との関連が示された。Communication skills are necessary because humans belong to many different social 'groups'. The focus of this study was students’ self-efficacy with respect to schoolwork. This study aimed to investigate differences in communication tendencies at school with respect to students’ self-efficacy in schoolwork. It was found that self-efficacy in schoolwork and communication are to some extent related. For example, non-assertive students (failing to express one’s honest feelings) had lower self-efficacy related to approval of their schoolwork than aggressive students (forceful type of argumentation)

Developing a scale to assess the use of report writing strategies based on audience awareness

A scale for assessing report writing strategies based on audience awareness was developed and validated. In a pilot study, we collected strategies and techniques used for improving the understanding of reports through free descriptions of participants (N = 29). Then, we conducted a questionnaire survey with undergraduate participants (N = 156) using the strategies identified in the pilot study. Exploratory factor analysis of their responses indicated seven factors: "Checking the logical structure and context", "Checking expressions and grammatical errors", "Checking by others", "Checking the format", "Simplifying sentences", "Writing attractive sentences for readers", and "Proofreading". To assess the validity of the scale, we examined if the scale identified differences in use of strategies between participants. Participants were classified into high and low score groups based on their characteristics such as the frequency of writing reports and self-efficacy of report writing. Results indicated that Checking the logical structure and context and Writing sentences attractive for readers were significantly higher in the high compared to the low group. Also, participants were classified into high and low score groups based on their experience in report writing such as the frequency of feedback from teachers and peer reviews by students. Results indicated that Checking by others and Checking the format in the high group were significantly higher than in the low group. These findings suggest that the scale is effective for identifying the usage of report writing strategies based on audience awareness

A developmental study of violence-related problematic behaviors (3)

The present study was designed to examine the discrepancy between pupils' and teachers' normative consciousness with respect to the multiple problematic behaviors in the three groups of pupils. Participants were pupils from fourth- to sixth-graders (N= 285) and their teachers (N=69) in the elementary school, pupils from first- to third-graders (N=270) and their teachers (N=91) in the junior high school, and pupils from first- to third-graders (N=274) and their teachers (N=120) in the high school. Normative consciousness was measured with 49 items in eleven subscale areas of problematic behaviors. Each item was rated on a 4-point scale indicating how severely pupils were punished, from not at all (1) to very much (4). Pupils rated the extent to which they would receive punishment from their teachers if they would do each problematic behavior. Teachers rated the extent to which they would give punishment to their pupils if their pupils would do each problematic behavior. The main results were as follows. Pupils' ratings on nine subscales, such as bullying, violent behavior, defiant attitude, fashion, disturbance of activities in a class, shoplifting and use without permission, undisciplined school life, drinking and smoking, and undisciplined home life, declined with age. Contrarily, teachers' ratings did not change as a function of pupils' age on ten subscales excluding undisciplined school life. These findings show the discrepancy between pupils' and teachers' normative consciousness about problematic behaviors. Further studies are required to find out the factors which decreased normative consciousness of the high school students

The attitudes of university students in a teacher training course on ICT utilization

The current study sought to investigate the attitudes of university students undertaking a teacher training course on information and communications technology (ICT) utilization. The relationship between confidence in using ICT equipment in educational situations, the frequency of using ICT equipment, the experience of taking lectures on the use of ICT, and the experience of utilizing ICT in classes were examined. The results indicated that students who routinely used personal computers (PCs) had high confidence in preparing lessons, evaluating children, and teaching information-related ethics using ICT. In addition, it was suggested that the experience of taking lectures on how to utilize ICT had a positive effect on confidence in utilizing ICT. Furthermore, classification of responses in a free description task revealed that university students in the teacher training course had a somewhat conservative opinion on the use of ICT in educational institutions. Based on these results, potential improvements in the educational curriculum for the utilization of ICT in the teacher training course were discussed

Consideration of Student’s Self-Understanding Using Egograms : From the Perspective of Changes in Assertive Behavior

本研究は，小学校６年生の児童の自己理解や対人コミュニケーション傾向に着目し，次の３点について検討した。第１に，エゴグラムを用いて児童の特徴を把握するともに，自己理解を促す働きかけを行った。第２に，児童の対人行動の特徴，特にアサーティブネスを測定し，エゴグラムとの関連を検討した。第３に，アサーティブネスに関する介入授業を実施し，行動変容が生じるかを検討した。 エゴグラムは，児童が興味を示しやすく，自己理解を深めるために有用なツールであると考えられた。アサーティブネスとの関連については，アサーティブな行動をとる児童はNPの得点が比較的高く，非主張型の児童はAの得点が比較的高かった。攻撃型の児童の中でも特に攻撃的な言動をとりやすい児童には，AおよびCPの得点が他より高い傾向があった。しかし，介入授業を行うことによって，攻撃型の児童の数は，有意ではないものの，減少した。This study investigated the self-understanding and communication style of sixth-grade students, focusing on three points. First, we used egograms to understand students’ personalities and promote their self-understanding. Second, we measured students’ assertiveness and investigated the relationship between assertive behavior and students’ egogram patterns. Third, changes in assertive behavior by intervention intended to promote reflection on one’s communication style were examined. The egogram is a potentially effective tool for increasing students’ self-understanding because the students were highly interested in egograms. Assertive students tend to score highly in the NP of egograms. Non-assertive students tend to get high scores in A. Especially aggressive students tend to get high scores in CP and A. Our intervention decreased the aggressiveness of the students who chose an aggressive style of communication