This report describes a workshop on the Dynamics of Machinery based on the fabrication of a gyro- bicycle in a summer school program for junior high school students. The workshop was conducted by engineering students who had completed "Creative Research", an engineering design course at the National Institute of Technology, Okinawa…

This study makes a comparison between what literature on Japanese Lesson Study suggests are key elements of a good mathematics lesson and what junior high school mathematics teachers in Japan value in planning their lessons. The teachers' strong consensus in their endorsements of these key elements explains why Japanese teachers strongly support…

Despite the rising interest in the practice of formative assessment (FA) in language classrooms, research has rarely examined the factors that contribute to differential use of FA. The present study adopts an explanatory sequential mixed-method design to examine differences in FA use among Japanese junior and senior high school EFL (English as a…

This study is a cross-national research in school leadership behaviors. Research subjects in this study include primary and secondary school teachers in Taiwan and northeastern Japan. By referring to "School leadership of the future," this study summarized that school leadership is working toward a team approach to instruction…

Japanese lesson study has attracted many international educators who have been impressed by its capacity to foster student learning and sustained professional growth of teachers. This paper reports a study on its cultural orientations that may explain why lesson study works seamlessly in Japan. Hofstede's dimensions of national culture are…

The purpose of this paper was to explore high-school (grades 10-12) technology teachers' attitudes toward nuclear energy and their implications to technology education. A questionnaire was developed to solicit 323 high-school technology teachers' responses in June 2013 and 132 (or 41%) valid questionnaires returned. Consequently, the following…

Promising improved student and teacher learning, Japanese lesson study has attracted many international educators to try to implement it in their own contexts. However, a simple transference model of implementation is likely to meet difficulties. Key determinants of any adaptation will be differences between existing conventions of pedagogy and of…

The present study aims to investigate teachers' readiness for promoting learner autonomy. It attempts to do so by exploring the perceived importance of and the use of strategies for promoting learner autonomy among Japanese high school teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL). The paper reports on the research findings from two studies, one…

This study investigates the relationship among Japanese high school teachers' beliefs, their practices, and socioeducational factors regarding communicative language teaching (CLT). A multimethods approach was used consisting of a survey, interviews, and class observations. A Teacher Beliefs Questionnaire was sent to 188 randomly selected Japanese…

This study aimed to explore Japanese high school teachers' views of pupil misbehaviour in order to contribute to the growing international literature on discipline in schools. A total of 141 Japanese high school teachers completed a questionnaire which explored their views regarding the factors accounting for pupil misbehaviour, the frequency of…

Considering the issue of World Englishes, the present study attempts to investigate whether Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) prefer assistant English teachers (AETs) with native-like pronunciation yet minor inappropriate grammar use or those with native-level grammar yet English recognizably accented by their native language, and to what extent…

In correspondence to an overall decline in the Japanese population, the number of young students in Japan has been dramatically decreasing to the extent that the Japanese government has predicted a situation in which as of 2009 admissions places in Japanese universities will be equal to the number of applicants. Currently, approximately fifty…

Previous international studies, in which the authors participated, have revealed that involvement of teachers in decision-making and responsibility-taking processes is crucial for their receptiveness towards implementation of current and future educational change. It is also evident that the role and responsibilities of school principals have…

Critical thinking has received much attention among educators yet remains largely undeveloped in traditional teacher-centered classrooms. A study was conducted to: (1) obtain a sense of what secondary school teachers believe critical thinking entails; (2) compare and contrast British Columbia (BC), Canada, and Japanese secondary teachers'…

What would you expect the differences to be between Japan and England in how pupils learn history in the post-14 phase? Perhaps your guess would be: Japanese school students learn a lot of historical facts and focus upon their own identity and English school students talk a lot more in lessons and are more concerned with justifying opinions using…