Development and Application of Social Studies Digital Contents for Inquiry Based Learning: A Case of “NONTA’s Classroom” and “Higashi-Hiroshima City Library Collaboration Seminar”

The purpose of this study is to develop digital contents that support inquiry based learning and to propose application examples of “local community studies” conducted in Japanese primary social studies education. For this reason, we set up a development project team by researchers and university students majoring in social studies education and developed digital contents over a year. In this project, we formulated five “design principles” for development. The contents were envisioned in consideration of the format, cooperation with social studies textbooks and supplementary readers for community studies, correspondence with the course of study, and the fairness of the areas handled. Finally, the digital contents which name is “NONTA’s Classroom” was developed and 10 keywords were released on the website. Along with the release, in cooperation with Higashi-Hiroshima City Library, we invited local elementary school students to use the digital contents and learn and verified the application and improvement of digital content. As a result of this research, 1)we conceived the design and concrete contents and structure of digital content that supports inquiry based learning and developed it. Also, 2)we specified an example of how to apply and confirmed its effectiveness

価値内在化に伴う教化の克服をめざした市民性教育論 : 欧州評議会「民主的文化のためのコンピテンシー参照枠」を手がかりに

This paper aims to examine teaching the values required for democratic citizenship while avoiding indoctrination by analyzing the case of “The reference framework of competence for democratic culture". The background of this paper is the long debate about how to teach democratic values democratically in the social studies educational field. This is related to the issue of value neutrality and independence. As a result of the analysis, the Council of Europe attempted to realize value education that avoids unconscious indoctrination by making learners explicitly aware of values and then critically examining them. This approach has the potential to become a powerful alternative approach in Japanese social studies education

Offline analysis of the chemical composition and hygroscopicity of sub-micrometer aerosol at an Asian outflow receptor site and comparison with online measurements

Filter-based offline analysis of atmospheric aerosol hygroscopicity coupled to composition analysis provides information complementary to that obtained from online analysis. However, its application itself and comparison to online analysis have remained limited to date. In this study, daily submicrometer aerosol particles (PM0.95, 50 % cutoff diameter 0.95 µm) were collected onto quartz fiber filters on Okinawa Island, a receptor of East Asian outflow, in the autumn of 2015. The chemical composition of water-soluble matter (WSM) in PM0.95, PM0.95 itself, and their respective hygroscopicities were characterized through the offline use of an aerosol mass spectrometer and a hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer. Thereafter, results were compared with those obtained from online analyses. Sulfate dominated the WSM mass (59 %), followed by water-soluble organic matter (WSOM, 20 %) and ammonium (13 %). WSOM accounted for most (91 %) of the mass of extracted organic matter (EOM) and the atomic O-to-C ratios (O : C) of WSOM and EOM were high (mean ± standard deviation were 0.84 ± 0.08 and 0.78 ± 0.08, respectively), both of which indicate highly aged characteristics of the observed aerosol. The hygroscopic growth curves showed clear hysteresis for most samples. At 85 % relative humidity (RH), the calculated hygroscopicity parameter κ values of the WSM (κWSM), WSOM, EOM, andPM0.95 (κPM0.95 ) were 0.50 ± 0.03, 0.22 ± 0.12, 0.20 ± 0.11, and 0.47 ± 0.03, respectively. An analysis using the thermodynamic Extended Aerosol Inorganics Model (E-AIM) shows, on average, that inorganic salts and WSOM contributed 88 % and 12 %, respectively, of the κWSM (or κPM0.95 ). High similarities were found between offline and online analysis for chemical compositions that are related to particle hygroscopicity (the mass fractions and O : C of organics and the degree of neutralization) and also for aerosol hygroscopicity. As possible factors governing the variation in κWSM, the influences of WSOM abundance and the neutralization of inorganic salts were assessed. At high RH (70 %–90 %), the hygroscopicity of WSM and PM0.95 was affected considerably by the presence of organic components; at low RH (20 %–50 %), the degree of neutralization could be important.This study not only characterized aerosol hygroscopicity at the receptor site of East Asian outflow but also shows that offline hygroscopicity analysis is an appropriate method, at least for aerosols of the studied type. The results encourage further applications to other environments and to more in-depth hygroscopicity analysis, in particular for organic fractions

Real-Time Monitoring of Calcineurin Activity in Living Cells: Evidence for Two Distinct Ca(2+)-dependent Pathways in Fission Yeast

In fission yeast, calcineurin dephosphorylates and activates the Prz1 transcription factor. Here, we identified the calcineurin-dependent response element (CDRE) in the promoter region of prz1(+) gene and monitored the calcineurin activity in living cells using a destabilized luciferase reporter gene fused to three tandem repeats of CDRE. Elevated extracellular CaCl(2) caused an increase in calcineurin activity with an initial peak and then approached a sustained constant level in a concentration-dependent manner. In CaCl(2)-sensitive mutants such as Δpmc1, the response was markedly enhanced, reflecting its high intracellular Ca(2+). Agents expected to induce Ca(2+) influx showed distinct patterns of the CDRE-reporter activity, suggesting different mechanisms of calcineurin activation. Knockout of yam8(+) or cch1(+) encoding putative subunits of a Ca(2+) channel abolished the activation of calcineurin upon exposure to various stimuli, including high extracellular NaCl and cell wall–damaging agents. However, knockout of yam8(+) or cch1(+) did not affect the activation of calcineurin upon stimulation by elevated extracellular Ca(2+). The Pck2 protein kinase C-Pmk1 mitogen-activate protein kinase pathway was required for the stimulation of calcineurin via Yam8/Cch1-mediated Ca(2+) influx, but it was not required for the stimulation by elevated extracellular Ca(2+), suggesting two distinct pathways for calcineurin activation