This study aims to clarify the effect of presenting educational video utilizing synthetic speech at a high speed. In the experiment, 40 university students were shown video dealing with declarative knowledge in 4 conditions: actual speed (1x) synthetic speech, double speed (2x) synthetic speech, actual speed (1x) normal speech, and double speed (2x) normal speech. An analysis of the comprehension test results showed no significant difference in the learning effect according to presentation condition, suggesting that speed and speech factors may have no impact on the learning effect. An analysis of the interview results indicated that while learners found synthetic speech unnatural in terms of inflection and intonation when it was presented at actual speed, at high speed this unnatural impression was alleviated, and the speech became more acceptable to listeners.

The purpose of this study was to assess an Interactive Virtual Learning Environment of Space (IVLES) which was developed to cultivate mental rotation skills in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). In the IVLES, learners can manipulate virtual spheres of the sun, the earth, and the moon, and can observe not only actual phenomena, but also non-actual phenomena of the lunar phases. 16 participants assessed the effectiveness and interface design of IVLES and reported that it might be easy for learners to manipulate virtual objects in the IVLES in STEM classes in middle and high schools.

In the field of astronomy, it has proved challenging for students undergoing elementary school teacher training to understand the moon phasing mechanism. Therefore, in this study, we developed an astronomical VR learning system that supports active locomoting viewpoint through explorative learning in a virtual environment. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system, the degree of comprehension of students undergoing teacher training was evaluated. The results show that the proposed system is effective for students with low comprehension about the phases of the moon.

In this research, we focused on teaching skills using ICT of teacher training university students. They directly experienced to use ICT that they had not use in a class. We analyzed not only their recognition about teaching skills using ICT but also their understanding and motivation towards teaching with ICT, in terms of the difference of ICT direct experience between early and latter period of the classes. From the results, in the group who conducted the ICT direct experience in the 14th class, a few items improved after the final class. In addition, we found that their recognition about "C-3: in a way that is easy to understand, I teach children how to express their ideas and give presentations using computers and presentation software" that was the teachers' ICT instruction capabilities checklist item had a correlation to their recognition about "I can teach students using ICT considering the scenes of learning (simultaneous learning, individual learning and collaborative learning)." On the other hand, in the group who conducted the ICT direct experiences in the 4th class, their recognition about "B) ability to use ICT in class" and "C) ability to teach children how to use ICT" of the teachers' ICT instruction capabilities checklist categories were increased. In addition, we found that the categories had a correlation to "I understood the way of teach that students ICT using."

The goal of this study was to clarify effects of students' learning styles on their learning experience with lecture videos played at different playback speeds. We focused on the interactions between students' learning styles and video playback speed. In our experiment, participants' learning styles were categorized by Felder's Index of Learning Styles and 35 verbal students and 40 visual students learned about the network infrastructure with lecture videos played at original speed, 1.5× speed, and 2.0× speed. The comprehension test results indicated that the video playback speeds and the students' learning styles did not influence the comprehension test scores. The subject evaluation results indicated that there were significant interactions for their learning experience. Consequently, the possibility that students' learning experience could differ to their learning styles when they learn with hi-speed lecture videos was discussed.

The goal of this study is to clarify how students’ learning styles give effects to their learning experience and behaviors while visual contents presented at high speed. In our experiment, participants (10 visual learners and 9 verbal learners) categorized by Felder’s index of learning styles learned information science by watching the video content composed of 6 slides. The participants watched the content on the YouTube and used variable-speed playback functionality: 0.5×
1.0×
1.25×: 1.5×
2.0× and we recorded participants’ behaviors by using video cameras and measured how long they spent using the functionality. We applied ANOVA to the participants’ scores on the comprehension test, mean responses for the questionnaire, and the mean percentage of functionality-usage time duration. The comprehension test results indicated no signify discrepancies between visual learners and verbal learners. Questionnaire survey showed that verbal learners felt significantly less difficulty on the slide 2. The functionality usage time duration indicated that verbal learners spent significantly longer time duration watching the video content at 2.0× speed. Those findings suggest the possibility that verbal learners tend to use the hi-speed playback functionality longer than visual learners when they feel less difficulty on educational slides.

Tangible User Interfaces are one of the ideas to develop a learning materials as an invisible computing system. First, we developed a tangible learning system for learning Solar System that allows the users themselves to manipulate astronomical models of the sun, earth, and moon, which exist as visible tangible bodies. Second, the tangible learning system was implemented in an elementary school science class and twenty 6th grade students from a public elementary school participated in this practical study. The results clearly showed that the comprehension test scores of students who scored high on mental rotation test increased greatly following the class using the tangible learning system.

<p>This study developed Tangible AR learning equipment to solve problems in astronomy education. This learning equipment allows students to learn the phases of the moon by operating an earth model and a moon model on a table. Further, the learner can observe virtual objects synchronized in a real environment. The learning equipment was evaluated for usefulness, and, as an example of practical utilization, it was evaluated from a collaborative learning point of view. Further, the usefulness and possible problems with the learning equipment were examined using protocol analysis for collaborative learning. The results showed that the learning equipment had the possibility of increasing interest in and understanding of the phases of the moon, which indicated that this equipment could increase learner motivation. In addition, it was found that the learning equipment was a useful tool for collaborative learning for those learners who do not like such learning. The results of the protocol analysis found that the synchronized overhead perspective of the earth through the monitor display could promote thinking, and it was useful for learner knowledge sharing as students could associate the objects in the real environment to those in the virtual environment using the TUI and AR. However, it was found that it was important to be careful not to generate a conceptual error from the angle of view of the wireless camera attached to the earth model. It was also found that there was a need for an instructional design that took advantage of the learning equipment features, and further research is needed to ensure that the instructional design can effectively promote the educational use of this learning equipment. Finally, it was concluded that to clarify the usefulness of the learning equipment, it should be used in a practice assessment by a group with the target learner characteristics.</p>

<p>The effectiveness of the high speeded visual contents for online education was examined in this paper. Three types of visual contents, which have the same content but different speed rates; 1.0x, 1.5x, and 2.0x, were showed to 75 subjects in the empiric test. The content covered declarative knowledge about information science in Japanese high school. Our main finding is that visual contents-speed rate doesn't influence the post-video test results. Meanwhile, questionnaire survey shows that more subjects didn't give a positive assessment about the visual contents played at 2.0x speed. Consequently, the possibility that 2.0x speed visuals can allow learners to study twice in a certain period of time is discussed.</p>

The purpose of this pilot study was to discuss a possibility of a tangible learning system for pre-service teacher training. For the purpose of this pilot study, the tangible learning system was implemented and demonstrated in a science teacher training class. Then, comprehension test scores before and after the class and a mental rotation test (MRT) score were compared. 23 college students were divided into three groups based on the pre- and post-comprehension test scores
HH (12 High-High students), LH (7 Low-High students), and LL (4 Low-Low students). According to the ANOVA on the MRT, the LH students received an average score on the post comprehension test, however the LL students scored lower due to their lack of spatial thinking ability. The results of our study imply that the tangible learning system is effective for college students to understand the phases of the Moon. Meanwhile, the results also imply that there are some students who do not have enough spatial thinking ability. These findings stress the importance of taking students' spatial ability into account especially in science teacher training.

We developed a card game teaching material called &quot;The irreplaceable Gift.&quot; The game was designed that makes it possible to experience the &quot;delayed consequences of social dilemmas,&quot; which was not possible in older games, and to enhance morals. We examined the effects of the game through a comparative experiment between the &quot;The irreplaceable Gift&quot; and a game without the element of delay. The results suggest that &quot;The irreplaceable Gift&quot; enables players to consider future generation at reflection time and to enhance &quot;morals.&quot;

A tablet device can help solve various problems such as shortening the time of preand post-learning activities and remedying the problem of unavailability of a personal computer room. Therefore, this research examines how a tablet device can be effectively used for various learning phases in a school trip. The results show that the use of a tablet device is helpful during the pre-learning phase of a "Famous-place Investigation" and in the use of data obtained in this phase and information sharing during the experiential activities. In addition, this study reveals that the use of a tablet device to present an augmented reality poster is effective.

This study examined the effects of utilizing a digital microscope system with tabletop interface in an elementary school science class. The findings show that the equipment was more effective than optical microscopes for microscopic observation tasks such as finding, focusing, and sketching.

The popularity of tablet devices in the field of education is expected to greatly increase. It is reported that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is not appropriately used in school trips. Nevertheless, ICT can aid in solving problems such as shortening the time of pre- and post-learning, and use of a personal computer room. Therefore, this study investigated the use of a tablet device in independent training of a group during a school trip from a viewpoint of "interest" and "usefulness." Results revealed that for pre-learning, a tablet device is useful in improving the interest. Moreover, the data stored in the tablet device at the time of pre-learning was useful for experiential activities. Finally, the AR Poster, which can view and listen for tablet devices, is useful as a tool for presentation of post-learning.

Various fields of education have focused on augmented reality (AR), which can synthetically present virtual objects in real environments. This study examines the effects of utilizing AR learning equipment for synchronized model operation in astronomy education. The findings show that AR enhances the learning experience of students by synthetically presenting a Computer Graphic (CG) shadow on a Moon model as well as creating a CG Sun and background.

This study examined the learning effects of active manipulation in teaching practice using three types of multi-view astronomical teaching equipment. The results revealed that the comprehension test's average score improved equally after both active learning and passive learning, whereas the scores of an application test's average on the phases of the Moon considering direction and time improved more after active learning. The results of subjective assessment performed after learning demonstrated that students who learned passively were more eager to learn about the phases of the Moon than were students who learned actively. Further, the results suggested that the difference in the groups' understanding was related to their interest in the teaching equipment.

In this study, an AR textbook for astronomy education using a tablet device was developed and three of its content elements were evaluated. The results of all the subjective evaluation questions of the AR CG Model Content were assessed as positive. The free description results clarified the content's improvement needs.

My research is about testing a trial manufacture of AR educational materials for Astronomy and also an investigation for its effective information presentation. Our educational materials are basically "papers" with video contents and 3-D contents. As an instance, we picked particular topics such as changing season and waxing and waning of the moon in Astronomy. We took a survey for college students about the valuation of their subjectivity and used its result to analyze our educational materials including our three contents. As a result, it gave us great hint and suggestion to improve our program in terms of motivates students to interested in education as well as understanding for the contents.

The aim of this experiment was to focus on the usefulness of real model manipulation on tangible solar system. Targeting university students, comparative experiment was done using two different interfaces; astronomy model and astronomy card. As a result, the usage of astronomy model has gained high evaluation in terms of, interest of learner, concentration towards manipulation, motivation to learn, usefulness of the teaching material, and Imagination. Also for the learners who struggle to have good space perception, the usage of the astronomy model has supported them to use intuitive manipulation, and indicated its value, by interesting the learners, and raising the concentration of learners.

In this study, a virtual science field activity for elementary students was designed in which geological layers were developed in a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE). Twenty undergraduate university students evaluated the activity in a pilot study by completing a survey with questions in 4 categories
Usefulness, Self-awareness, Interface and Motivation. The results in the Usefulness and Motivation categories showed that the virtual field activity is an effective learning opportunity for most of the students. © 2011 IADIS.

In this study, we examined the effectiveness information presentation for statue appreciation using augmented reality teaching equipment. We clarified that the interest in statues can be improved by adding animation to computer graphics (CG) statues and presenting them at real size. On the other hand, we found that the interest in the information of a statue decreased as the interest in the statue increased. It is useful to present CG text to improve the interest in the information of the statue.

The multi-view interactive teaching equipment possesses tangible and actual presentation systems. The teaching equipment can be intuitively manipulated using models. Teaching practice using the multi-view interactive teaching equipment was conducted with high school students; here, the teaching equipment was evaluated from viewpoints of learning method and presentation order. The results of this test indicated that the students understood the learnt contents equally regardless of the learning method or the presentation order. Moreover, the understanding levels of students who learned actively improved for the application test. On the other hand, it was clarified that in order to improve interest, self-understanding, and concentration toward the teaching equipment, the actual presentation system needs to be introduced after the tangible system.

This study aimed to clarify the learning effect through an active manipulation of tangible solar system teaching equipment that was synchronized with a model manipulation. A teaching practice using the tangible solar system teaching equipment was carried out with high school students who had previously been taught using multi-view VR teaching equipment. As a result, an improvement in the understanding levels of students with low proficiency was observed. It is suggested that active manipulation of the teaching equipment may contribute to the improvement of students' levels of understanding.

The purpose of this research was to examine the teaching effect of using a "Multi-view VR Teaching Material of the Solar System". The teaching experiment was conducted with elementary and high school students. The result shows that the VR Teaching Material improved the interest and attitude of the elementary school students. In addition, it was shown that when the VR Teaching Material was used as an introduction, the level of understanding improved. Moreover, high school students obtained a similar learning effect, regardless of the use of the VR Teaching Material. In addition, we suggeste that the VR Teaching Material improves the level of understanding of elementary school students, and high school students with low learning capacity.

In this paper, samples of 3D video contents for e-learning were produced and were evaluated in terms of both "sense of three-dimensionality" and "ease of viewing." The results suggested that a scene which both the teacher and learning objects appeared together in the movies, where the camera-object distance was 1.0 m, enabled the production of 3D video instructional materials having a good "sense of three-dimensionality." In addition, the results demonstrated that the appearance on the screen of a teacher with the learning objects made instructional videos easier to view, as compared with the case where the teacher didn't appear.

An international Web-based Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) course has been implemented as a pilot study between the United States and Japan. Totally, 22 Japanese students participated in the authentic programming course as non-credit students via the Internet. Students from both countries could use the same learning management system, automatic test submission system, and application server. 10 Japanese students who completed the course answered a six-category questionnaire prepared to investigate the level of motivation, difficulty of contents, communication media, proctors, sense of presence, and learning mode. As a result, they exhibited strong motivation to study abroad and dependence on the proctors who supported their learning on site. However, two issues were recorded: First, since Japanese students were non-credit participants in the course, other incentives to motivate their participation were found necessary. Second, some initial network communication trouble to access the Application Server frustrated the Japanese students. These represent but a few of relevant issues pertaining to cross cultural instructional systems.

In this paper, distance classes were practiced in order to realize a collaborative class which included discussions between middle schools of Japan and South Korea. For the sake of these classes, three venues which were two points for each students and the chair man/translator's point were connected using DVTS which enabled high quality video/audio transmission. In these classes, after the exchange type class the collaborative class was executed through the discussion about using the electric power energy and dreaming electric power generation as the theme "Let's think about the future energy beyond the sea". Then the collaborative class, the network traffic, the quality of transmitted movie, the environment for assisting communication and the transmission delay were evaluated. Consequently, the following results were obtained. Firstly, distance class was practiced using the high quality movie and the translation chat system, the Web-GIS material between middle schools of Japan and South Korea. About the subjective evaluation, this class work was obtained high score of the availability by learners and teachers, observation students. Then between Fukuoka and Nagasaki, stable connection was enabled but the network band width was not acquired enough between Fukuoka and Gwangju. About picture quality evaluation for the face-to-face type, the value of PQR was from 2.4 to 3.4 between Fukuoka and Nagasaki, and the value of PQR was from 9.1 to 13.5 between Fukuoka and Gwangju. Additionally, the translation chat system and the Web-GIS material were effective for this class. Lastly, influence of the transmission delay was without particular distinction because of using the translator and the arrangement of speaking.

In this study, we developed a new type of distance learning resources for school teachers who were distance learners of graduate school for in-service training. We set up "inference tasks" in process of WBL. In this task, learners are presented a practical case that is the solution of a problem in a certain school (e.g., a photo of learning material developed by one teacher with some intentions), and are requested to reason about the meaning or effect of the case and to present a short report about it. Those inference tasks were expected to be effective in reflecting learners' various experience on learning process and in keeping learners' highly-motivated learning. We call this type of resources "a prior-inference task of resources". Test courses were generally evaluated as useful by on-campus school teachers. However, it was also suggested that an inference activity was more effective in the case of presenting simple information than that of complicated one.

本研究では,空間概念の形成に関わる視点移動能力の育成に着目し,インターネット上に配信できる授業補完型のWBLコースの設計と開発を行うことを目的とした.まず,インターネット上での学習を支援するため,学習管理システム(LMS)を設置した.次に,事例外挿法と仮想的視点移動の類型を基に,Web3Dを用いて空間概念の形成を支援するWBLコースの設計を行い,コンテンツを開発した.開発したWBLコースは「相対運動の学習」であった.「相対運動の学習」コースに含まれる,直線相対運動と回転相対運動に関するコンテンツは,現象をいくつかの視点から観測することが可能なものとした.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of international virtual learning classes. For the purpose, the class implemented using multipoint communication system which was constructed high quality video transfer systems on a cross-border infrastructure (gigabit bandwidth) between Japan to South Korea. In order to reveal the effects of the class, a questionnaire was composed of five categories
Consciousness to Foreign Countries, Nationality, Acquisition of View Point, Motivation, Recognition to the partner country. The results of 2×2 mixed two-way ANOVA showed differences of characteristics of two countries and changes of student's attitude. The results revealed that an international virtual learning class has a possibility to develop and enhance student's awareness of humanity and the world. Future implementation will depend on growth and sustenance of the international relationship for a prolonged period.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of international virtual learning classes. For the purpose, the class implemented using multipoint communication system which was constructed high quality video transfer systems on a cross-border infrastructure (gigabit bandwidth) between Japan to South Korea. In order to reveal the effects of the class, a questionnaire was composed of five categories; Consciousness to Foreign Countries, Nationality, Acquisition of View Point, Motivation, Recognition to the partner country. The results of 2x2 mixed two.-way ANOVA showed differences of characteristics of two countries and changes of student's attitude. The results revealed that an international virtual learning class has a possibility to develop and enhance student's awareness of humanity and the world. Future implementation will depend on growth and sustenance of the international relationship for a prolonged period.

This article discusses the value of cellular phones use in science education. 74 elementary school students participated in this research. They were connected to the plant information search system for cellular phones which was constructed by National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) of Japan. They retrieved plant information using cellular phones via the Internet. The results were as follows: (1) pupils learned about plants in the field, and retained the knowledge for at least a week, (2) the score of 'interest' increased, (3) the score of 'motivation' also increased. It is believed that cellular phones could be one of the most effective tools for fieldwork in science classes because students could access information immediately in the field.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of international virtual learning classes. For the purpose, the class implemented using multipoint communication system which was constructed high quality video transfer systems on a cross-border infrastructure (gigabit bandwidth) between Japan to South Korea. In order to reveal the effects of the class, a questionnaire was composed of five categories; Consciousness to Foreign Countries, Nationality, Acquisition of View Point, Motivation, Recognition to the partner country. The results of 2x2 mixed two.-way ANOVA showed differences of characteristics of two countries and changes of student's attitude. The results revealed that an international virtual learning class has a possibility to develop and enhance student's awareness of humanity and the world. Future implementation will depend on growth and sustenance of the international relationship for a prolonged period.

This article discusses the value of cellular phones use in science education. 74 elementary school students participated in this research. They were connected to the plant information search system for cellular phones which was constructed by National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) of Japan. They retrieved plant information using cellular phones via the Internet. The results were as follows: (1) pupils learned about plants in the field, and retained the knowledge for at least a week, (2) the score of 'interest' increased, (3) the score of 'motivation' also increased. It is believed that cellular phones could be one of the most effective tools for fieldwork in science classes because students could access information immediately in the field.

The relation between backchannel utterance and idea-generation has hardly been studied. Based on preliminary investigations, we formulated a hypothesis that a listener's backchannel utterances facilitate a speaker's idea-generation. This study experimentally manipulated the frequency of backchannel utterances by listeners during speakers' idea-generation for think-aloud tasks. 16 Japanese female undergraduates participated. Analysis indicated that frequent backchannel utterances increased not only the number of ideas generated but also the speaking time for the tasks.

The relation between backchannel utterance and idea-generation has hardly been studied. Based on preliminary investigations, we formulated a hypothesis that a listener's backchannel utterances facilitate a speaker's idea-generation. This study experimentally manipulated the frequency of backchannel utterances by listeners during speakers' idea-generation for think-aloud tasks. 16 Japanese female undergraduates participated. Analysis indicated that frequent backchannel utterances increased not only the number of ideas generated but also the speaking time for the tasks.

In this study, a Web Based-Learning system to complement lectures for teacher professional development was developed and evaluated by five points of view. The WBL courses using prior inference task were developed by Mashiko (2001) to exploit the lectures. The system including the courses had three function modes, (1) administrator mode, (2) learners mode and (3) instructor mode, are integrated using RDBMS. The learners estimated usefulness and practicability of the system for professional development of teachers especially the interaction in the online asynchronous forum with the face pictures of learners was valued.

In this study, a new type of Web Based Learning (WBL) courses for professional development of teachers was developed. We set up "inference tasks" as the core of our WBL courses. These tasks were expected to be effective in reflecting learners 'various experience on learning process and in keeping learners' highly-motivated learning. The developed test courses were generally evaluated as useful by subjects. However, it was also suggested that inference activity was more effective in the case of presenting simple information than that of complicated one.

In this study, a Web Based-Learning system to complement lectures for teacher professional development was developed and evaluated by five points of view. The WBL courses using prior inference task were developed by Mashiko (2001) to exploit the lectures. The system including the courses had three function modes, (1) administrator mode, (2) learners mode and (3) instructor mode, are integrated using RDBMS. The learners estimated usefulness and practicability of the system for professional development of teachers especially the interaction in the online asynchronous forum with the face pictures of learners was valued.

In this study, a new type of Web Based Learning (WBL) courses for professional development of teachers was developed. We set up "inference tasks" as the core of our WBL courses. These tasks were expected to be effective in reflecting learners 'various experience on learning process and in keeping learners' highly-motivated learning. The developed test courses were generally evaluated as useful by subjects. However, it was also suggested that inference activity was more effective in the case of presenting simple information than that of complicated one.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between the integration/nonintegration of cencept maps and learners' comprehension.Learner's comprehension was measured by the number of links on the learner's concept map and the "hamming distance"from the learner's map to a master map.For the purpose of this research, concept maps were categorized into integrative maps or the non-integrative maps.The maps were further subcategorized into the following four categories besed on the changes/non-changes in integration:(a)an integrative group which maintained integrated maps throughout the learning process, (b)a group which changed from non-integrative maps to integrative maps, (c)a group which changed from integrative maps to non-integrative maps, and (d)a non-integrative group.The results showed the following;(1)changes in integration of the concept map were observed through an increased number of links among the keywords discovered by the learner in class, and (2)changes in integration of the concept map were observed through achievement in class.Concept mapping is therefore a useful tool to assess learner's conceptual changes in class by usingt the parameter of integration and non-integration of concept map.

This paper describes a method for representing the learner's conceptual changes before and after science instruction. A concept map, as suggested by Novak, was used in this research to probe a learner's concept. To denote conceptual change, concept maps were divided into clusters of similarly linked patterns, and then the clusters were separated into before and after instruction. As a result of the analysis, five clusters were identified and the conceptual changes of each learner shown by moving from one cluster to another. Then, to define the characteristics of the five clusters, concept maps were compared from two points of view. First, each map of five clusters was compared with the master map, and second, three modules which were meaningful units in the master map were used to probe the characteristics of the five clusters. The results show that this method can be used to analyze learners' conceptual change. Therefore, the method suggested in this paper is useful for summative evaluation and for instructional design.

This paper verifies the effects of learning materials presented in either the concept map form, one of graphical representation, or the text form on experiments. The learning content used the things that have inclusive or orderly relationship with the keywords. In the experiment, instructional materials were presented on computer display to 10 learners and their recognition test scores were compared. In addition, the more effective concept map form was compared with the text form on recall tests to confirm the previous results. The results show that the concept map is more effective form than the text form, because it makes the learners' comprehension of the whole structure of the materials easier. But in this form, higher key words in the hierarchical structures of learning materials represented on the lower side of the map provided little effect, because of the learner's increased cognitive load. This study suggests, therefore, that the concept map form will support the learners' comprehension of the presentation of instructional materials in the classroom if it represents the higher key words on the upper side of the map.