Shirayuri Gakun Junior and Senior High School (Chioda-ku, Tokyo) offers science classes that include a variety of experiments in junior high schools and high schools. The goal is to develop the ability to connect knowledge and real things through experimentation, to think rationally based on results, and to express one’s own thoughts. In recent years, the number of science students has been on the rise, with 50% of graduates going to science universities and faculties this spring. In addition to introducing the high school 3 test lessons, we asked the teacher in charge about the science education policy.

Grows humanely through experiments collaborating with groups

I visited the school on October 22 to cover the chemistry experiments of high school students. The theme of today’s experiment is “Let’s make a real mirror!”. The Chemistry Room and the Biology Room are divided according to the number of students. All of them wear black smoke called tabliors so that they can submit themselves to the experiment without having to worry about contamination with chemicals on their uniforms.

This experiment is divided into two phases: “glass destruction of hydrogen fluoride”, and “silver mirror reaction by reducing the activity of glucose”. On this day, I made a slide glass with hydrofluoric acid using my favorite pictures and words and started experimenting with the “Silver Mirror Reaction”.

Students are divided into groups of 3 or 4 people, and a reducing solution containing glucose is mixed with silver nitrate, ammonia water, etc. and poured into a slide glass bat. When the bat shook, the students brought out images like silver animated characters and snowdrops invested in the redox activity, much to the delight of the students.

After that, the silver glass was finished by smearing lacquer spray on the side of the painted pictures and letters and melting the silver with a cotton swab moistened with nitric acid on the other side. During the experiment, the students enjoyed teaching each other what they did not understand and after the experiment they cleaned the table and left the laboratory.

Yuri Kozono, a chemistry teacher who suggested the experiment, said, “By drawing pictures and letters with hydrofluoric acid, students’ dialogue develops and at the same time completes your own mirror.” I feel more. Satisfied. “” Also, by experimenting in groups, it seems that students with a high interest in science will elevate other students into a world of fun. Is it a liquid that can seep into sewage even when cleaning laboratory equipment? Students examine one by one, and if they do not understand, they work on asking questions to the teacher. Depending on the situation, they feel concerned about their surroundings and environment and they grow as human beings.

On this day, Professor Eri Izawa, in charge of chemistry, who directed the experiment, said, “Given the situation of students in junior high school, I think we can now move forward with the experiment on our own.” “In junior high school, the teacher distributes the tools needed by the group and specifies the tools to be used for each task, but in high school, the teacher prepares the tools needed to a certain extent and the students work with the members. The group. From such an experience, I think I can gain something like the spirit to think about priorities and set-up.

Develop rational thinking and expression through experimentation

For years the school has been practicing science classes in junior high school and high school with an emphasis on experimentation. The school has laboratories in four areas: Biology, Geology, Chemistry, Physics and Science, and a large number of laboratory equipment, such as the number of microscopes each person can use. Junior High School says it will conduct about a hundred experiments in its third year.

Yoko Wakabayashi, the teacher in charge of science, says, “I want students to experience the joys of science through a lot of experimentation through junior high schools and high schools, and to learn by experiencing different phenomena.” Therefore, the types of experiments are not limited to chemical experiments like today, including the disintegration of pig hearts and eyeballs, the excavation of fossils from rough stones, and the construction of astronomical models using styrofoam. In addition, I have a passion for incorporating experiments into everyday life and making disposable body warmers and leaf vein specimens.

Professor Wakabayashi says one of the goals of the experiments is to “connect knowledge with reality”. “For example, students understand the positions of the stamens and pistols in the textbooks, but when they actually face the plants, they do not know where the stamens and pistols are, and the knowledge and the real thing are not connected. I want to connect with the real thing.

Also, in the experiment, the report is finally summarized. The purpose is to develop the ability to think logically based on results and to articulate one’s thoughts clearly in sentences. In junior high school, teachers write the purpose and method of the experiment, and students mainly write the results and considerations, but in high school the students who choose science are like the report submitted to the university, I suggest you to put together the purpose, principle, method, result, from the beginning.

First, as a result, thoughts and impressions could not be written, and some students wrote their thoughts as “this is beautiful” and used many onomatopoeic words such as “glitter”. Individually taught vocabulary correctly and the classroom method can clearly summarize the experiment so that people who do not know the experiment can read and understand it.

The number of students choosing science is increasing

The school has been divided into Liberal Arts since High School 2, but in recent years, the number of students choosing science has been increasing. Science used to be a quarter of the first grade, but now it’s about halfway through, and there are years when many students choose science. Looking at the destinations of 175 graduates this spring, 50% of students are going into science and engineering, including medicine, dentistry and medicine.

Many students choose science from the time they join, and many students want to get a medical job in the future, but “I like science experiments”, “researchers when doing experiments in class”. Some students say, “I want to be.”

Professor Wakabayashi says, “Many experiments can help you choose a career path.” “For example, in a university’s pharmacy department, we do biological experiments, but after experiencing anatomical experiments in junior high school, we find that we’re not good at biological experiments.

When I spoke to a high school student who chose science, he said, “The anatomy of the pig’s eyeball was the most striking. When I saw and touched the real eyeball, I realized that the real eyeball was much more complex than this shape. I became more active in passive learning and became more interested in science, so I chose science.

Similarly, the high school 2 students who chose the science course said, “By exchanging ideas in a group and writing thoughts together, we can incorporate the opinions of others, and have the ability to hear the opinions of many people on other subjects.” I talked about my changes.

Based on the growth of these students, Professor Wakabayashi says, “I want to continue the lessons that involve various experiments.” We have introduced new experiments, such as “genetic recombination experiments”, but in line with the trends of the time and advances in science and technology, we will continue to examine students’ interests in relation to up-to-date news, etc. I want to go

(Verse: Tomoko Hirai Photo: Support for Junior High School Exam)

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