A Qualitative Understanding of 'Work and Energy' Unit Lessons in a Middle School: an Investigation from a Constructivist Perspective

중학교 '일과 에너지' 단원 수업의 정성적 이해 - 구성주의적 관점에서의 고찰 -

In Korea, previous survey in science education mainly dealt with Quantitative variables. Qualitative ethnographic observation can bring deeper understanding of the context of school lesson and it's feature. The purpose of this study was to develop qualitative understanding about the learning experiences provided in middle school and students' responses to them through observation and interview and to investigate it from a constructivist perspective. Six lessons of the 9th grade were observed and recorded on the video tape. The topics of the lessons were potential energy, kinetic energy and conservation of mechanical energy. We had also unstructured interview with the teacher and three groups of students. The teacher's deductive explanation starting from scientific definition and quantitative problem solving using formula were the main features of the classroom lectures. The video - watching lesson was taking the role of a break rather than being seen as a useful tool for science learning and teaching by both students and the teacher. The teacher's perception about the lab experiment was not supported by the responses from the students. The teacher and students preferred problem-book to textbook for their teaching and learning. From a constructivist's perspective, however the teacher seemed to have intention of introducing daily life context, he couldn't unfold it to main context of the lessons. Students were so accustomed to passive learning that they did not express directly their complaint about their learning and did not participate in planing and controling their learning. The teacher and the students believed the scientific knowledge came from an exact experiment. There was a cooperation to seek right answer rather than a social process of making sense of knowledge. In conclusion, the observed science lessons of a middle school showed typical cross section of teacher - centered, passive learning environment, which is far from constructivist perspective.