Practical work, including laboratory work, has been part of science education for more than a century, and is considered an essential component of science teaching. This paper uses historical insights to demonstrate that there is a pressing need to critically examine the role of laboratory work in science teaching. The author performed a historical case study of laboratory work in Japan from the 1880s to the 1930s. Given that the West, particularly the United Kingdom and United States, has influenced Japanese education since Japan began to modernize in the late 19th century, this study refers to the history of those nations with respect to laboratory work, and compares their educational system to that of Japan. The author concludes that practical work (including laboratory work) should be considered a means to an end -not an end in itself -with teachers sufficiently educated/trained in both science and pedagogy, functioning as facilitators who provide students with learning support. Without enthusiastic and knowledgeable teachers, the benefits of quality facilities and an established system cannot be fully realized. Thus, in conducting practical work, emphasis ought to be placed on its purpose and what students can learn from the experience -not on merely the actions they perform in conducting such work.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the historical development of science teacher education in pre-service and in-service education in Japan with a focus on the systemic changes and teachers' professional learning culture. The characteristics of science teacher education generally are elucidated through an analysis of the system and professional culture across time in Japan. There is a conflict regarding the integration and balance between pedagogical and content knowledge across the world. The author identified this problem as a historical and socio-cultural aporia regarding the ideal model of secondary school science teachers. In the study's conclusion, the author argues, based on the historical and international perspectives, that we should not ignore science teachers' traditionally accumulated wisdom and expertise, and that it is critical to identify the role that the professional learning community plays role in aiding prospective teachers to become expert science teachers.
Historically, science at the secondary education level has been taught through separate sciences. However, there has been some conflict between the separate sciences and balanced science. In this research, the triangulation of cultures in historical context approach between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan was used to analyze the nature and the development of general science as humanized science study in the first half of the twentieth century. Through this examination, historical and fundamental question emerged: what can we learn from the history of general science in the three countries? This case study of general science can prompt us to reconsider why science is taught, which of its forms are best suited to producing citizens well-informed about science, and how to humanize science without comprising the academic respectability required by professional communities.
IntroductionHistorically science education, (in Japan known as "rika" in Japanese (Ogawa 2015)), at the secondary (or post-compulsory) level has primarily been taught through the separate sciences. This approach was favored because some aspects of secondary education are directly related to institutions of higher education which provide professional courses. Accordingly, secondary science (particularly in senior high or upper secondary schools) is frequently a prerequisite for continuing one's education. Secondary science teachers are generally specialists, who have sometimes been characterized and criticized as "divisive and insular" (Young and Glanfield 1998), however, conflicts have arisen between specialists and generalists who advocate separate and balanced sciences, respectively. General science is a form of balanced science that emerged as an introductory subject in secondary schools during the twentieth century in the United States and the United Kingdom (primarily England and Wales), as well as in Japan, where it was dubbed "ippan rika". In this paper, the term "general science" directly means the nature of the subject in secondary schools. On the other hand, the general science "movement" is used as the developmental process and background of organizing the subject. This paper examines the nature and the development of general science in the three counties by employing a comparative historical (Briggs 1972)
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