New Perspectives in Science Education

In order to increase high school students' interest in science and deepen their understanding, it is thought that not only regular classes but also organizational efforts in collaboration with universities and boards of education are effective. Therefore, universities, high schools, and the Board of Education have collaborated to hold a course that aims to explore the appeal of science beyond regular classes, and I would like to report on this initiative. The target schools were two schools in Saitama Prefecture, and the study was conducted for half a day in August and December, respectively. Participants were informed and recruited from the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education and the participating schools, and the content was related to cooking science, which is the specialized field of university instructors, and included instrumental measurement and measurement of the various physicochemical changes that occur during cooking. The analysis included sensory evaluation. For example, in a course on puffed cooking, we used cupcakes as the subject matter and conducted experiments to clarify the effects of different amounts of added sugar on the finished product. We started the experiment by first thinking about what kind of differences would emerge, and encouraging participants to take an observational perspective during the experiment. Objective comparative verification was carried out by observing the air bubbles in the dough using a microscope, measuring the hardness of the baked dough using a hardness meter, and measuring the color of the dough using a colorimeter. High schools do not have these analytical instruments, so this is an example of how collaboration with a university has made measurements possible. After the experiment, they explained the mechanism behind the effect of sugar on differences in leavening properties, and shared knowledge about the denaturation of egg proteins, thermal expansion of air bubbles, and the Maillard reaction. The high school students who participated were very interested in the course, which had a different structure from their regular classes, and had a high level of satisfaction after taking the course. It has been suggested that the course, which was realized through collaboration between universities, high schools, and boards of education, is effective as a system that allows students to approach science beyond the framework of academic subjects while still being based on the high school curriculum.