The authors are developing and using a fill-in workbook system that allows faculty members to ascertain the attitude of all students to classes including students who are not active, and to improve lectures through well-timed and appropriate actions. In this paper, in order to help teachers improve lessons and teaching materials, and to help…

Efforts have been made among scholars from Japan, South Korea, and China since the 1980s--on both private and state initiatives--to narrow the gaps in their historiographies and to cultivate mutual understanding. This article offers an extensive discussion of the author's history project, "A Student Project of Writing a Common History…

This report highlights findings from the "Happy Schools Project: Capacity Building for Learner Well-being in the Asia-Pacific (Phase II)" pilots in Japan, Lao PDR and Thailand from 2018-2020. The aim of the pilots was to promote happiness in schools through enhanced learner well-being, social emotional learning and holistic development…

The study of popular culture is now becoming an emerging research area within education. While many studies have confirmed that students' interest in anime has driven much of enrolment in Japanese language courses, the impact of using anime as a teaching tool has not been studied thoroughly in the teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL)…

While written exercises may serve students adequately on tests, the structures they emphasize can remain elusive or difficult for students to master in conversation. Students tend to interpret their difficulty in applying what they have learned as a lack of language ability, and they can quickly lose confidence when speaking. Producing a target…

Watch one of the Japan videos from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)--more specifically, mathematics video 3 on solving inequalities1--and you'll see that after giving his students a word problem to solve, the 8th grade math teacher strolls among the students' desks for almost 15 minutes, leaning over to see what…

Given California's role in the Pacific economy, its historic Asian heritage, and the strong and growing presence of Asian communities and businesses in the state, it is imperative that students statewide understand the history of Asia. Unfortunately, the California state curricular framework and standards in history and social science limit the…

According to the California Department of Education's Curriculum Framework, the secondary curriculum for grades nine through twelve is geared toward students who are beginning "to develop [an] abstract understanding of historical causality--the often complex patterns of relationships between historical events, their multiple antecedents, and…

This article recounts my search for a context-appropriate way of exploring gender and sexuality issues in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. The first half of the article explains why and how I sought a pedagogic strategy that would be educationally effective, institutionally viable, and culturally appropriate-in my case, for EFL…

The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science in Japan revised its standards for educational materials to be provided in schools and promulgated a new "Standard Educational Materials List" on March 17, 1991. This manual provides information about the new list first in Japanese and then in an English language version. The new list…

A framework for designing intelligent assistance in a discovery learning environment is proposed in this paper. The process of discovery learning is analyzed and the required functions for intelligent assistance are discussed. A flexible simulator that fits any type of discovery learning is necessary. The problem solvers that perform fundamental…

An overview is given of the state of teaching materials and aids used in schools in Japan. In section I, an outline is presented of the Japanese system of providing teaching materials. Several laws and regulations regarding the provision and use of textbooks are described, including: (1) school education law; (2) law concerning the organization…

Reports on a study trip by 13 U.S. social studies educators and publishers to Japan. Compares development, marketing, and selection of textbooks in the United States and Japan. Concludes that both nations should improve textbooks and textbook selection processes. (CFR)

Provides excerpts from a typical third-grade Japanese teachers' manual in order to shed light on why students in the Japanese educational system outperform their American counterparts in math. Excerpts address developing the course foundation, organizing the curriculum, ways to best help children grasp the subject matter, and extra activities and…

Describes a project to create a centralized database of digitized sound accessible from distributed personal computers for the study of foreign languages. The system is also comprised of the tools to manage and distribute the sounds, a combination constituting a unique attempt to provide a universal structure to describe, categorize, and listen to…