Relationship of Characteristics as a Learner to Perception of Pseudo-Science in Elementary School Students

학습자 특성에 따른 유사과학(Pseudo-Science)에 대한 초등학생들의 인식

The purpose of this study was to examine the perception of students about pseudo-science in consideration to their personality traits, cognitive style, and awareness of the nature of science, which might all have a great impact on their behavior and thinking. The subjects of this study were 129 sixth-grade school children in a small urban community in Gyeonggi province. The way they looked at pseudo-science was investigated after three kinds of traits were selected as variables, including personality traits, cognitive style, and awareness of the nature of science. Four different instruments were utilized, which respectively covered personality traits, cognitive style, awareness of the nature of science and perception of pseudo-science. The results of the study were as follows: First, the children with higher emotional stability and liveliness showed higher permeability towards pseudo-science, while made no significant difference on their view of pseudo-science. Second, their cognitive style made no significant difference to their outlook on pseudo-science. Third, as for link between awareness of the nature of science and pseudo-science, the students with a poor understanding of the nature of science were significantly different from those who had a better understanding of it in perception of pseudo-science(p<.05).