The Advanced Support Center for Science Teachers (ASCeST) was established in April, 2010 to support teachers in primary and secondary schools. The center provides teacher-training programs and organizes various workshops in order to solve today’s educational problems and meet the needs of school teachers. A strong emphasis is placed on teacher-training workshops for primary school teachers whose major was not science. The center is building networks of individual science educators and organizations, making a database of science education, and studying standard curriculum for career development of science teachers.
“Science-phobia” among schoolchildren is a serious problem in Japan. A report pointed out that it comes from the Science-phobia of school teachers. Therefore, establishing a support system for non-science-major teachers in primary schools is urgently needed. Also, development of advanced teaching materials for science-major teachers is important to further encourage schoolchildren with an aptitude for science.