Modern science education was started in early Meiji era. It is said that the purpose of science education at the compulsory education level had changed qualitatively in middle Meiji Era. Public laws and published text- books were used to study this change, but it was not still clear what happened in the real science classrooms. We discovered students' science notebooks at middle Meiji Era in various regions on Japan. These notebooks are primary resources to reflect on science classes in middle Meiji Era. We analyzed these notebooks and found that teachers were using inventive approaches to promote students' understanding of science concepts.