Miyagi University of Education, or MUE (宮城教育大学, Miyagi Kyōiku Daigaku), is a national university at Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1873, and it was chartered as a university in 1965. It is accredited by the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) as a public co-educational institute and is ranked in Japan's first tier of leading schools.With four academic divisions, MUE offers degrees in Education and in the disciplines of Language and Social Science, Science, Math and Life, and Art and Physical Education. Their Development and Education division covers Pre-School, Children and Culture, Pedagogy, and Educational Psychology. There are academic tracks for Elementary, Secondary, and Special Needs Education.Many graduates become principals at schools throughout Japan.
Two types of Cladonema pacificum (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) can be distinguished based on whether their medusae spawn after a dark-light transition ("light type") or a light-dark transition ("dark type"). To clarify how these two types are related, we characterized C. pacificum from different sites in the Tohoku region of Japan. Essentially, only dark-type medusae were captured in the Pacific Ocean side, whereas light- and dark-type medusae were found sympatrically at some sampling points in Mutsu Bay and in the Sea of Japan side. We observed that the spawning times of the sympatric light and dark types differed in the field, suggesting that the gametes of the two types rarely encounter each other. A comparison of the DNA sequences of mitochondrial COI and nuclear ITS1 of the analyzed individuals suggests that the two types belong to separate clades. In crossbreeding experiments, offspring of the light and dark types (F1 hybrids) developed into planula larvae and metamorphosed into polyps, which then produced medusae with normal morphology. The F1 hybrid medusae had characteristics that were intermediate between the two types in terms of their spawning in response to both dark-light and light-dark cues, but with less sensitivity than the parent medusae. When F1 hybrids were used as one or both parents, planula larvae failed to metamorphose into normal polyps. These results indicate that the light and dark types of C. pacificum exhibit both prezygotic and postzygotic isolation, accompanied by distinct DNA sequences; thus, they can be considered as undergoing speciation or as already distinct species.
Ensuring children's safety and preventing accidents are fundamental challenges in early childhood education. Previous studies have shown that professional experience shapes visual attention: novices focus primarily on individual children, whereas experienced caregivers distribute their attention across children and their environment. However, knowledge regarding prospective childcare professionals' development of these skills is scarce. Moreover, prior research has focused mainly on factor structures and mean differences, with limited attention to structural relationships among sub-components of risk sensitivity. This study examined the developmental structure of risk sensitivity among Japanese childcare students using Sequential Relation Analysis and the Successive Scalogram Analysis package. A questionnaire assessed students' abilities to detect risks and observe childcare situations. In addition, the study explored sequential and equivalence relationships among the sub-components of risk sensitivity. Results showed that noticing subtle changes in children forms a foundation for recognizing broader environmental and situational influences. Furthermore, several sequential relationships among observational abilities and risk detection abilities were identified. These findings provide insights into the structure of risk sensitivity and suggest the need for tailored educational strategies in childcare training programs.
Mathematical word problem-solving remains a significant challenge for early primary students due to the abstract nature of linguistic information and cognitive load constraints. This study investigates the effectiveness of the Sketching Technique in enhancing the mathematical achievement of Year 2 students, with a specific focus on word-problem solving involving basic arithmetic operations. A quasi-experimental research design was employed involving 60 Year 2 students from a primary school in the Northeast District of Penang. The participants were divided into a treatment group (n=30) that used the Sketching Technique and a control group (n=30) that followed conventional teaching methods. The research instrument was an achievement test consisting of 10 word-problem questions, with a total score of 10 marks. The test's internal consistency reliability was acceptable (Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 = 0.81). Data were collected using pre-test and post-test instruments and analyzed using paired and independent-samples t-tests. Findings revealed a significant improvement in the treatment group, with the mean score increasing markedly from 2.33 on the pre-test to 9.53 on the post-test. Conversely, the control group showed minimal improvement, with mean scores rising from 2.30 to only 2.90. Statistical analysis confirmed a significant difference between the two groups, with the treatment group demonstrating more consistent performance as evidenced by a reduction in standard deviation from 1.73 to 0.51. Furthermore, the effect size (Cohen's d) was calculated to be 5.65, indicating very large practical significance of the intervention. These results suggest that integrating visual-based pedagogical innovations is crucial for improving numeracy outcomes and fostering critical thinking in early primary education.
