A Research Study on the Critical Thinking of High School Students in Science

This study intended to clarify the realities of critical thinking of high school students in science learning. A 42-question survey was conducted on 231 1st-year high school students to achieve this end.　The results indicated while students have a strong curiosity about phenomena and emphasize objective opinions and ideas, they also draw conclusions even in the absence of the necessary experimental data and interpret results without confirming whether there are conditions that have been overlooked.　In addition, the causal relationship of “the more an inquisitive the student, whether they be a student of the humanities or sciences, the more importance they place on validity and reproducibility even when they know the rules or even in experiments where the results can be predicted” was also clarified as a factor structure that influences the critical thinking of students. At the same time, the causal relationship of “the more an inquisitive the student and the more they objectively judge their own ideas and the ideas of others, the more they carefully collect and interpret experimental data” was also clarified

Basic research on deriving perspectives on teaching materials development in senior high school chemistry : case study of an unit on “elements, compounds and mixtures”

　本研究は，各研究領域において，研究者の論文の読解を教材研究の一環として，自然科学の特定の研究領域における専門研究論文の読解を行い，論文の読解から研究者の「真正な学び」を見出し，研究者の学習過程を学習者の「真正な実践」へと変換するための教材開発研究の過程を究明することを目的としている。そのために， Thermochimica Acta 誌に掲載されたKoga et al. （1998）論文を読解し，研究者の「真正な学び」を見出し，そこから導出した教材開発のための視点に基づき，研究者の学習過程を学習者の「真正な実践」へと変換するための指導過程を構想することを試みた。その結果，研究者の「真正な学び」として，①熱力学的・動力学的な理論によって非晶質炭酸カルシウムの結晶化の基礎的な情報が明らかにされていること，②今までの多くの研究を参照した知識から導き出された仮説や方法が前提となっていること，③複数の実験結果を主張の根拠としていることの3 点が明らかとなった。これらの研究者の「真正な学び」を，理科教師が行う教材研究の文脈で重要となる，学習者の「学び」の過程に置き換えた場合，（a）今までの学習内容を整理し，生徒なりの仮説（実験方法・結果の予想を含む）を設定させること，（b）考察の際にいくつの妥当な根拠を用いることができたかを評価することという2 つの視点を導出した。The aim of this study is to take the reading of researchers’ academic papers in various fields of research as an element of teaching materials research, and to clarify the process of teaching materials development research involved in reading specialist papers in the specific research field of natural sciences, eliciting the researchers’ “authentic learning” from reading the papers, and translating the researchers’ study process into the learners’ “authentic practice”. For this purpose, an attempt was made to read a paper published by Koga et al. (1998) in the journal Thermochimica Acta, elicit the researchers’ “authentic learning” and, based on the perspective on materials development derived from this, plan the teaching process for transforming the researchers’ study process into learners’ “authentic practice”. As a result, the following three points were clarified as “authentic learning” of the researchers: (1) fundamental information on crystallization of noncrystalline calcium carbonate through thermodynamics and dynamics theory, (2) the fact that hypotheses and methods drawn from many previous studies are used as reference and sources of knowledge, (3) the fact that multiple experimental results are used as the grounds for the argument. Transferring the “authentic learning” of these researchers to the process of “learning” of students, the following two points elicited as important in the context of materials development conducted by science teachers: (a) students establishing their own hypotheses (including experimental methods and prediction of results) based on integration of content of learning so far, and (b) evaluating whether a number of valid grounds for argument are being used in discussion

A Study on Method to Refine the Consideration with Argumentation in Lower Secondary School Science

This study intended to devise a method of teaching science to encourage students to reconsider and refi ne the consideration with argumentation in lower secondary school students and to verify the effect of this method through teaching practice. In order to achieve it, a method of teaching was devised to aim refining the consideration based on the argumentation with viewpoint of fallacy. Then a lesson about “force and pressure” was conducted at a class of 40 first-grade lower secondary school students in order to verify the effect of the teaching method. The results clarified that the devised teaching method contributed to encourage students to reconsider and refi ne with the viewpoint of fallacy with respect to the students that derived the consideration from the elements such as “data” “argument.

Induction of phagocytic activity of M1 cells by an inhibitor of vacuolar FT-ATPase, bafilomycin A1

AbstractBafilomycin a1, a selective inhibitor of vacuolar H+-ATPase, time-and dose-dependently induced the differentiation of M1 cells, a murine myeloid leukemic cell line, into macrophage-like cells as revealed by the phagocytosis of polystyrene latex particles. This differentiation was inhibited not only by actinomycin D and cycloheximide but also by ST-638 (an inhibitor of tyrosine kinase). However, it was affected neither by K-252a (an inhibitor of C-kinase) nor by H-89 (an inhibitor of A-kinase), in contrast to the M1 cell differentiation induced by leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Okadaic acid inhibited both the bafilomycin A1-induced and LIF-induced differentiation of M1 cells

Study on Critical Thinking of South Korean High School Students in Science Learning

This study intended to clarify the realities of critical thinking of South Korean high school students in science learning. A 42-question survey was conducted on 156 1st-year South Korean high school students to achieve this end. The results indicated that, as well as having a strong curiosity about phenomena, students collect as much experimental data as possible, carefully ascertain cause and thoroughly examine and interpret results. The results also showed that students tend to focus on the collection of experimental data and its interpretation more so than the validity and reproducibility of the experiment and that there is an issue in that they lack a healthy skepticism for things. In addition, the causal relationship of “the deeper a student thinks about things and the more they ascertain the significance and essence, the more carefully they collect experimental data and examine its interpretation” was also clarified as a factor structure that influences the critical thinking of students. At the same time, the causal relationship of “the more inquisitive the student, the more they think about things with a healthy skepticism and without blindly accepting external information, focus on the validity and reproducibility of the experiment and reflect on their own ideas and actions” was also clarified

Practicing active learning teacher training to develop “Teachers as Continuous Learners”: A study on the case of self-paticipation training

The purpose of this study is to examine a case study of an active learning teacher training program that has been tried and tested with the aim of fostering “Teachers as Continueous Learners”, and to identify what is the important elements for the development of “Teachers as Continueous Learners”. The results of the Case 1, the voluntary training group scored significantly higher than the general group on "training approach," "emotional engagement," "behavioral engagement," and "learning bridging,". In Case 2, all of the participants in the training showed high motivation to participate in the next training. Categorical analysis of the reasons for their participation revealed the following categories: "Deepening of learning," "Significance of interaction," "Understanding of concrete conditions," "Empowerment," and "Recognition of the importance of AL externalization. Although the participants' motivation was expected to be high in the two workshops, it was suggested that the participants' satisfaction with the training and their willingness to participate in the next workshop may be enhanced by the fact that they were encouraged to interact with each other in small groups about specific instructions and to externalize AL and LB

p53 Expression in Pretreatment Specimen Predicts Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Including Anthracycline and Taxane in Patients with Primary Breast Cancer.

While clinical and pathologic responses are important prognostic parameters, biological markers from core needle biopsy (CNB) are needed to predict neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) response, to individualize treatment, and to achieve maximal efficacy. We retrospectively evaluated the cases of 183 patients with primary breast cancer who underwent surgery after NAC (anthracycline and taxane) at the National Cancer Center Hospital (NCCH). We analyzed EGFR, HER2, and p53 expression and common clinicopathological features from the CNB and surgical specimens of these patients. These biological markers were compared between sensitive patients (pathological complete response;pCR) and insensitive patients (clinical no change;cNC and clinical progressinve disease;cPD). In a comparison between the 9 (5%) sensitive patients and 30 (16%) insensitive patients, overexpression of p53 but not overexpression of either HER2 or EGFR was associated with a good response to NAC. p53 (p＝0.045) and histological grade 3 (p＝0.011) were important and significant predictors of the response to NAC. The correspondence rates for histological type, histological grade 3, ER, PgR, HER2, p53, and EGFR in insensitive patients between CNB and surgical specimens were 70%, 73%, 67%, 70%, 80%, 93%, and 73%. The pathologic response was significantly associated with p53 expression and histological grade 3. The correspondence rate of p53 expression between CNB and surgical specimens was higher than that of other factors. We conclude that the level of p53 expression in the CNB was an effective and reliable predictor of treatment response to NAC

Research on In-service Training for Teachers as Continuous Learners

本研究は，JSPS科学研究費補助金基盤研究(B)(一般）「「学び続ける教員」を支えるアクティブ・ラーニング型教員研修プログラムの開発」(JP16H03765) の助成を受けています。 本報告は，平成29年度日本教育大学協会研究集会で発表した内容を加筆・修正したものです