Between August 22 and 25 of 2016 I taught a four day summer session for Saitama Municipal Omiya Kita High School’s Research Team Development Program. The program is a central pillar to the school’s work at developing its science education. The school was named a Supper Science High School starting in April of 2016.

Theme selection

The 140 first and second grade students worked in groups to select research themes, plan and conduct experiments, and finally to review their data. First grade students all selected research questions related to paper airplanes. For example, some groups of students tested the speed how launching their paper airplanes at different angles would affect the flight of the paper airplane. Second grade students selected one of four lab-based themes. For example, two groups of students used borax and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to make materials that could be shaped into bouncing balls. They then tested how different formulas affected the ability of the ball to bounce and hold its shape.

Opportunities for growth

The simple experiments that students conduced were selected so that students could have a variety of opportunities to use English in different ways.