Curriculum Development of Junior High School Science to Promote Systematic understanding of Concept of Energy

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25885004
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Education on school subjects and activities
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University of Education
• Principal Investigator: MORI Kenichiro 北海道教育大学, 教育学研究科(研究院), 准教授 (70710755)
• Research Collaborator: KAYANO Akihide 島根大学, 教育学部, 教授
• Project Period (FY): 2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: エネルギー / 概念 / 中学校理科 / 教科書

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research is to compare all textbooks currently used in Japan for junior high school science, and to investigate how the term “energy” is used. More specifically, the aim is to investigate what course units “energy” is covered in, at what frequency, and in what sort of expressions. In junior high school science, it has previously been thought that the term “energy” is used primarily for learning in the fields of physics and chemistry, but this study found that the term is frequently used for learning in the fields of biology.
The main expressions used in common in various units were found to be: “extract energy” and “consume energy.” In other words, if a lesson plan is created to develop understanding of the expressions “extract energy” and “consume energy,” then it should be possible to understand the content of each unit by relating the content of different units using the concept of energy.

Free Research Field

理科教育学