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Developmental research on early education in science through English taught by non-native speakers to Japanese students in preparation for globalization
Citation
Kato, T., Yeo, J. A. C., Kobayashi, I., Nomura, J., Horne, B., Oi, K., …Nakazawa, J. (2014). Developmental research on early education in science through English taught by non-native speakers to Japanese students in preparation for globalization. In Y.-J. Lee, N. T.-L. Lim, K. S. Tan, H. E. Chu, P. Y. Lim, Y. H. Lim, & I. Tan (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Science Education Conference 2014 (pp. 851-874). National Institute of Education (Singapore).
Author
Kato, Tetsuya
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Yeo, Jennifer Ai Choo
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Kobayashi, Izumi
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Nomura, Jun
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Horne, Beverley
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Oi, Kyoko
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Yoneda, Chie
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Hayashi, Hideko
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Iizuka, Masaaki
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Yamashita, Shuichi
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Kinoshita, Ryu
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Sugita, Katsuo
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Nakazawa, Jun
Abstract
Although science education in Japan was evaluated highly in TIMSS and PISA, education for gifted students to foster the next-generation of scientists was considered to be important. An additional issue in Japan was the urgent need for prompt action to meet the needs of a globalized society. Students learn English for a total of six years in junior-high and high school, but they lack sufficient chances to use it in practical situations. In this research, we developed programs for early education in science through English and carried out university-level scientific experiments through English only, under the assumption of the effectiveness of simultaneous learning of both science and English for non-native speakers as part of gifted and talented education. Seven lessons were developed. In the design of the lessons, we included the highly-regarded Content-and-Language-Integrated-Learning (CLIL) approaches. Furthermore, (1) video clips for preparation of individual lessons were uploaded onto a website, (2) many international students were involved in supporting the participants, and (3) some procedures were intentionally carried out in order to encourage students' use of thinking and communication skills. In total 18 lessons were organized in the academic years 2011 to 2014. From the questionnaire and reflection sheets submitted by the student participants in the final lesson, science experiments with English communication were shown to be effective in increasing the participants' desire to learn both science and English, although the range of levels of linguistic skills among the participants was found to be wide. The necessity of cooperative development with science and language educators was discussed.
Date Issued
November 2014
Description
This paper was presented at the International Science Education Conference 2014 held in Singapore from 25 – 27 Nov 2014