中学校理科の探究活動として利用可能な簡易な実験教材とその活用法

理科における探究活動は，学習者が科学的に探究する能力や態度を養う上で重要であるが，その準備における教師の負担が大きく敬遠されがちである。この課題解決に向けて，本研究では，身近かつ簡単に入手できる材料だけで準備できるいくつかの実験教材を開発し，それらを用いた中学校理科の発展的な探究活動を実践した。参加した中学生は，仮説，観察・実験，その結果に基づく結論の導出に至る探究の過程を適切に実行することができた。今回開発した教材や探究活動は，費用対効果に優れ，科学的に探究する能力や態度を養う上で有用であることが明らかとなった。Research activities in science education are useful to enhance learners\u27 scientific inquiry abilities and attitudes. However, many teachers tend to omit such important activities in their classes because of their heavy burden in preparation. To solve this problem, we developed several simple experiments only with daily materials, and practiced advanced research activities for lower secondary students by using the teaching materials. The participants in the activities were able to perform reasonable scientific processes including hypotheses, observations, experiments and conclusions based on the obtained results. We found that the developed teaching materials and research activities are cost-effective and useful for students to improve their scientific inquiry abilities and attitudes

教員志望の大学院生の大学教育観と学修態度 : 学部学生との比較から

In order to understand about actual learning situations of pre-service teachers at graduate school level, their preference in university education and learning attitudes were investigated and compared with the previous result for undergraduate students. As a result, although the graduate students are similar in educational preference and learning attitudes to undergraduate ones, they have the following characteristics that are partially different from undergraduate ones: 1) They prefer studying hard their interesting topics to obtaining credits easily, 2) they are eager to research actively and to learn independently and continuously by themselves, and 3) they are keen to acquire as much knowledge as possible by careful reading and memorization. In the future, it is important to consider more effective and individually optimized teacher training and university education at graduate school level based on the survey results

ゼンコク ガクリョク ガクシュウ ジョウキョウ チョウサ オ モチイタ A ダイガク ガッコウ キョウイク ガクブ リカ キョウイク センシュウセイ ノ リカ ノ ガクリョク チョウサ

全国学力・学習状況調査の中学校理科の問題を用いて，Ａ大学学校教育学部理科専修生を対象に理科の学力調査を試行した。その結果，中学生が苦手な問題を依然苦手とし，特に地層に関する地学の問題や電気に関する物理の問題が苦手であるが，化学は比較的得意であること等が示唆された。また，記述して説明する能力が中学生よりも大きく向上している可能性が示唆された。この背景として，高校での履修科目や大学の教科専門教育が関係していると考えられる。今後の理科教育の改善を図るためには，理科教員志望学生の学力実態と理科教員養成の問題点や成果に関する情報を全国的に共有していくことが重要である。We conducted an evaluation of academic ability in science among undergraduates of scienceeducation course in a university for teacher training using problems of the national school achievement tests. Based on the results, we found the following trends in their academic abilities: The students and lowersecondary school students shared some common weaknesses, and especially the college students were poor at some earth science problems about strata and physics problems about electricity but proficient in chemistry. Moreover, they implied significantly higher achievement in descriptive expression than junior high school students. These academic characteristics can be rooted in their subjects of study at upper secondary school and their specialized studies of subjects in teacher education. It is important for improving science education to share information about academic characteristics of pre-service teachers and problems and results in teacher training with nationwide universities of teacher education

ゼンコク ガクリョク ガクシュウ ジョウキョウ チョウサ ノ モンダイ オ モチイタ キョウイン シボウ ダイガクセイ ノ リカ ノ ガクリョク チョウサ

We conducted an academic survey in science for 97 undergraduates of teacher training courses using 26 science problems of the national school achievement tests for 9th grade students at lower secondary school in Japan. Based on the results, we found the following trends in their academic abilities : The average correctness of the undergraduates is about 62％ and is only 10 points better than that of nationwide 9th graders. Although the undergraduates are good at Biology, they are poorer at Chemistry than nationwide 9th graders. From the correlation in the correctness for each problem between the undergraduates and 9th graders, both of them share some common weaknesses. For example, the pre−service teachers are still poor at understanding about electricity, buoyancy, dissolution of substances in water and recognizing strata spatially. In order to train undergraduates to teach science sufficiently in the near future, it is necessary to improve teacher training programs as undergraduates can overcome their weak points steadily

教員養成系大学生の大学教育観と学習態度の特徴

In order to understand about actual learning situations of pre-service teachers, we investigated preference in university education and learning attitudes for 108 undergraduate students at a national university of education (NUE) in 2017. As a result, we found that the NUE students prefer to acquire credits easily and surely, similar to the case of nationwide university students in 2012 and 2016. As a characteristic of the NUE students, most of them tend to determine their future careers before learning at university and to keep the independence of school life. The NUE students\u27 learning attitude is also approximately similar to that of nationwide university students. Although most of them try to study hard to get a good grade evaluation, there are few students who study by themselves in well-planned way and do a preparation and review of lessons other than compulsory assignments. As a characteristic of the NUE students\u27 learning attitudes, they are better at interactive learning in group work and discussions than nationwide university students, but they rarely do a preparation and review of lessons and ask teachers about learning. In the future, it is important to consider more effective university education and teacher training based on actual students\u27 preference and learning situations

理科専修学部学生における「学修キャリアノート」の利用実態

鳴門教育大学学校教育学部では，学生自身で自己の学修履歴を記録･省察する学びのポートフォリオ教材「学修キャリアノート」を導入している。本研究では，「学修キャリアノート」の今後の在り方を検討するための基礎資料を得ることを目的に，理科専修の学部学生を対象に，同ノートの利用状況についてアンケート調査を試行した。結果として，被検学生の多くは，「学修キャリアノート」を記録および見返す頻度が年1回以下で，このノートの必要性や有用性を実感していないことが明らかとなった。また，4年次生は2年次生に比べて，同ノートに対しより否定的である傾向が見られた。今回の調査結果から，「学修キャリアノート」本来の目的と学生の利用実態の間には，大きな隔たりがある可能性が示唆された。今後は，「学修キャリアノート」を学生にとってより使いやすく実効性のある教材へと改善していくことが必要である。The Faculty of Education, Naruto University of Education has introduced a portfolio for learning, “Gakushu-career-note”, for undergraduates to record and reflect their learning careers. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey on the actual usage of the portfolio among undergraduates majoring science to obtain basic information for further improvement of the material. As a result, we found that many of the students record and review the portfolio once a year or less, and they do not recognize its necessity and usefulness. In addition, the 4th-grade students tend to be more negative in using the portfolio compared to the 2nd-grade ones. The results of this survey suggest that there may be a large gap between the original purpose of the portfolio and the actual usage among students. In the future, it is necessary to improve the present “Gakushu-career-note” to be easier and more effective for students

小型プラスチック容器を用いたメダカの孵卵と発生過程の観察

小学校第５学年理科の「動物の誕生」の単元では，魚の卵の成長について学習するが，メダカ の飼育や孵卵の煩雑さから，卵の観察指導を敬遠する教師も多い。本研究では，孵卵と発生段階の異なる胚の同時観察が簡単で，廃棄せず繰り返し利用可能な孵卵器を開発することを目指して，ネイルアートに用いられる身近な各種小型プラスチックケースを利用してメダカの孵卵を行い，その発生過程を観察した。その結果，今回用いた各容器でほぼ全てのメダカの卵が孵化し，受精卵から孵化までの各発生過程を明瞭に観察できることが明らかとなった。これらの容器は，シャーレなどの従来の孵卵器に代わる簡便な孵卵器として有用である。このような容器が学校現場で活用されれば，教師の準備負担が軽減され，児童が魚の卵の成長についてより効果的に学習できるようになると期待される。In the learning unit of “Birth of Animals” at the fifth grade of elementary school, students learn about the growth of fish eggs. Because of difficulties in breeding killifishes (Japanese medaka), many teachers are likely to avoid instructing the observation of killifish eggs. In this study, we incubated killifish eggs and observed its growth process using various daily small plastic cases used for nail art, aiming to develop a nondisposable incubator for incubating and observing living embryos at different developmental stages at the same time easily and repeatedly. As a result, we were able to hatch eggs certainly with each container and to observe its growth process clearly. The present cases can be useful as simple incubators instead of conventional petri dishes. Such containers are expected to reduce teachers\u27 preparation costs and to help each student to study the growth of fish eggs more effectively

Early specification of ascidian larval motor neurons

AbstractIn the tadpole larvae of the ascidian Halocynthia roretzi, six motor neurons, Moto-A, -B, and -C (a pair of each), are localized proximal to the caudal neural tube and show distinct morphology and innervation patterns. To gain insights into early mechanisms underlying differentiation of individual motor neurons, we have isolated an ascidian homologue of Islet, a LIM type homeobox gene. Earliest expression of Islet was detected in a pair of bilateral blastomeres on the dorsal edge of the late gastrula. At the neurula stage, this expression began to disappear and more posterior cells started to express Islet. Compared to expression of a series of motor neuron genes, it was confirmed that early Islet-positive blastomeres are the common precursors of Moto-A and -B, and late Islet-positive cells in the posterior neural tube are the precursors of Moto-C. Overexpression of Islet induced ectopic expression of motor neuron markers, suggesting that Islet is capable of regulating motor neuron differentiation. Since early expression of Islet colocalizes with that of HrBMPb, the ascidian homologue of BMP2/4, we tested a role of BMP in specification of the motor neuron fate. Overexpression of HrBMPb led to expansion of Lim and Islet expression toward the central area of the neural plate, and microinjection of mRNA coding for a dominant-negative BMP receptor weakened the expression of these genes. Our results suggest that determination of the ascidian motor neuron fate takes place at late gastrula stage and local BMP signaling may play a role in this step

モザンビーク キョウワコク ノ ショウガッコウ リカ ノ ガクシュウ ナイヨウ ノ トクチョウ

We analyzed the scientific leaning contents at primary education in Mozambique, comparing to Japanese primary science education. We categorized the learning units about science in the curriculum guideline for Mozambique\u27s primary education in 2017 into seven content domains, "scientific methodology", "physics (energy)", "chemistry (substance/particle)", "biology (life)", "earth science (earth)", "technology and industry" and "healthy and safety life" according to their learning topics. We also tabulated the number of class hours allocated to each unit. As a result, the class hours for teaching "healthy and safety life" with "technology and industry" are found to account for about two third of all class hours, while learning topics about "physics (energy)", "chemistry (substance/particle)" and "earth science (earth)" of Mozambique are quite less than those of Japan. The present primary science curriculum of Mozambique is found to be biased qualitatively and quantitatively towards teaching knowledge necessary for daily life rather than learning correct scientific concepts