In this study, we developed an efficient in-service teachers training program, which could help the professional development of science gifted teachers. The characteristic feature of this in-service training program was to put great emphasis on interaction between fellow teachers. With this program, teachers could share their experiences and informations about gifted education. The program consisted of 4 interaction modules: 'the module of interaction at the pre-planning', 'the module of interaction in the small group', 'the module of interaction at the plan of application', 'the module of interaction at the practical exercise'. In this study, we analyzed the interaction between science gifted education teachers in 'the module of interaction at the pre-planning'. We analyzed the interaction between science gifted education teachers in 'the module of interaction at the pre-planning'. Each teachers got 17.2 correction opinions from peer teachers. They accepted 79.2% opinions among them and refused the other opinions (20.8% opinions). In the analysis of 'program process', the interactions for the improvement about 'the acquirements of knowledge and function' step were 41.9% and the interactions for the improvement about 'plan and exploration' step were 30.5%. In the analysis of 'program domain', the interactions about 'method of teaching and learning' were 41.9%. The interactions about 'program step' were 28.6% and the interactions about 'learning contentsh were 24.8%. With these results, we discussed the features of interaction between science gifted education teachers and proposed the improvement of in-service training program for elementary science gifted teachers.

The purpose of this study were to know the effects of making science newspaper activity on the science inquiry process ability of elementary school students and to analyse the writing context about their articles. The 33 sixth grader were participated in this program and they made 3 or 4 make a group, 9 groups made their own science newspaper. The results are as follow: first, there were statistically significantly differences(p<.01) on the basic science inquiry process abilities especially measurement and reasoning on making science newspaper activity. But there were no significantly differences on the integrative science inquiry process abilities; second, according to their articles on science newspaper, in personal context, they used many terms such as ecosystem, producer, consumer, decomposer, balance, but it was not personalized. And in social context, They pointed the cause and solution for the pollution and destruction in ecosystem, but it was superficial. Lastly in physical context, They used well their science concepts from class and format in newspaper in making science newspaper.

In this study, we analyzed the proportions of STS content, components, topics, and types of the activities of STS content in the elementary science textbooks developed under the 2007 Revised National Curriculum. The analyses of the results revealed that the percentage of STS content included was 15.9% by the number of pages, and 13.5% by the lesson hour. By the components of the STS content, the proportion of 'application of science', 'science-technology and our life' and 'social problems and issues' were large. Most STS topics were related to the 'effects of technological developments' and 'environmental issue', and the topics of 'family and population' and 'human engineering' were few. By the types of the activities, reading was the most, and investigation and writing were also found. Compared with those of the science textbooks developed under the 7th National Curriculum, the variety of components of the STS content increased, but the proportion of STS content and the variety of activities of STS content decreased in the science textbooks developed under the 2007 Revised National Curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to find some suggestions for reorganization of contents about particle concept of matter in Korean science curriculum. For the purpose of this study, authors analyzed features of Korean science curriculum and compared science curricula of Korea, USA, UK, Japan and Finland. From the result of this study, authors find some features and important suggestions about reorganization of contents about particle in science curriculum. First, the sequence of contents about particle concepts in 2009 Revised National Curriculum was similar to that in the 6th National Science Curriculum. And the feature of 2009 Revised National Curriculum showed the articulation of contents about particle concept. If contents about particle concept is increased in elementary science curriculum, the total articulation would be increased. Second, the presenting sequence of atomic structure-first and laws about atom-later should be changed to laws about atomic-first and atomic structure-later. This presenting sequence is grounded by science curricula of other countries, history of science and developmental psychology. And science curriculum of Korea was required specific extended concept statement like science curricula of USA or UK. Also, Korean science curriculum could benchmark Finnish science curriculum if we want to develop some integrated learning activities such as those in STS or STEAM program.

The purpose of this study was to acquire a better of how creativity center is perceived among students, teachers and parents by administering a questionnaire. A total of 320 people participated in this survey. We developed the questionnaire which as categorized by four specific areas: 1) people's overall perceptions of creativity education; 2) the way of using the creativity center 3) programing of creativity center 4) space composition of the creativity center. The summary of survey results included; firstly, people had paid attention to creativity education and creativity education; secondly, they want to make use of creativity center with informal learning and extra-curriculum; thirdly, they prefer to participate in many experience activities such as camp or experiments; lastly, they more need creativity experience program and utilization of DIY education. In conclusion, students, teachers and parents recognized creativity center is needed. Therefore, more intensive research and follow-up study on building creativity center should be highly considered.

Science festivals have occupied a very important axle in informal science education that enables students to experience the amazement of scientific experiments to think over scientific principals beyond the formal education in the classrooms. Among the concerned person, the most benefit-taken group may be the assistant who help the participants experience the activities in the festival. In order to find out the ways to make the student assistant's participation into a meaningful education experience, we analyzed the types of the activities in the science festival as well as the characteristics of the interaction between the student-assistants and the participating students are studied. The research findings are as follows: First, most activities in the science festival had related to the scientific concepts or principals; however, the understanding of the concepts and principals didn't highly affect the procedure of the activities. In many cases the students operated and made results without checking the related concepts or principals. Second, the student-assistants showed the consistency of operation in guiding their activities. They were explaining mainly the process of the experiments without giving a chance to think of related concepts or principles. We suggest that teacher should consider the student-assistants' learning in the festival as well as that of the participants.

The purpose of this study was to assess pro-environmental behavior of elementary school students by school year and gender and to investigate the relationships of their emotional affinity toward and intellectual curiosity about life, and experiences about nature and life with the pro-environmental behavior. A total of 436 elementary students participated in the study: 189 3rd grade; 247 6th grade students, and 233 boys; 203 girls. The variables were measured by using a self-report questionnaire with 5-point Likert scale items. The results showed the levels of pro-environmental behavior of the 3rd grade students and the girls were higher than that of the 6th grade and the boys, respectively. Their pro-environmental behavior was significantly related with all measured variables. However, it was found that the direct predictors of their pro-environmental behavior were the intellectual curiosity and the indirect experience, while the emotional affinity and the direct experience did not have a direct impact on the behavior. The predictive power of the intellectual curiosity and the indirect experience for their pro-environmental behavior was higher in 3rd grade than 6th grade. While the indirect experience was a stronger predictor of the boys' pro-environmental behavior than the intellectual curiosity, the curiosity was a stronger predictor of the girls.

A creative science writing program was developed, and applied to 2nd grade elementary students. Two 2nd grade elementary school classes in Seoul district were selected for the current study. A Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design was applied. The experimental group adopted the creative science writing program and the control group maintained traditional lectures for 12 classes. TTCT(Torrance Test of Creative Thinking) figural test and a scientific attitude test were conducted on both groups. According to the analysis, TTCT score of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p<.01). Among several subscales of TTCT, elaboration and resistance to premature closure was especially improved. Also, scientific attitude scale of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p<.01). Among subscales of scientific attitude, the creative science writing program was effective on improving students' open-mindedness, critical mindedness, cooperation, voluntariness, and endurance. Gender was not a factor in the improvement of both students' creativity and scientific attitude.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the creative problem solving and scientific attitude through the science-based STEAM program for the elementary gifted students. For the purpose of this study, a teaching plan and worksheet for students based on STEAM was developed and applied. The objects of this study were the fourth grade of both an experimental class (18 students) and a comparative class (20 students) at the gifted class located in Gyeonggi Province. The results of this study were as follows: First, the change in students' science creative problem solving in the experimental group applying science-based STEAM program has statistically meaningful difference (p<.05). Second, the scientific attitude score of the experimental class improved, but it has no meaningful difference statistically. Third, according to the analysis of questionnaire for evaluating the program, experimental class students had a positive recognition in respect of the STEAM program and got higher satisfaction about the lesson. Therefore, science-based STEAM program applied in this study might be useful to improve the creative problem solving, and can be expected the scientific attitude' improving and better be widely applied to gifted education.

This research explores the scientific reasoning of pre-service elementary teachers in experimental design. The article focuses on pre-service teachers' responses to the questions in the worksheets which involve making their knowledge claims on extinguishing of a burning candle in a closed container, evaluating anomalous data, and designing experiment to test their ideas. Their responses are interpreted in terms of categories developed by Tytler and Peterson(2003, 2004). The interrelationship between conceptual knowledge and scientific reasoning is explored using the data. It is argued that coordination of ideas and evidence must be emphasized in the scientific investigations rather than fair test.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of utilization of creative techniques in elementary science class on science learning motivation and science academic achievement. To verify this study, the subjects of this study were sixth-grade students selected from four classes of an elementary school located in U Metropolitan city. First, the experimental group showed a significant improvement in their science learning motivation compared to the comparative group. Second, the experimental group showed a significant improvement in their science academic achievement compared to the comparative group.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the elementary pre-service teachers' conceptions of 'color of gases' focusing on the survey from freshmen at a National University of Education. For the study, the views about 'color of gases' were surveyed from the pre-service teachers. And the responses were analyzed based on the patterns. The results from the study are as follows: First, the conceptions about 'color of gases' were divided into 2 top-level, 5 mid-level and 7 sub-level categories. Second, the number of students who answered 'certain gas has color' was significantly greater than those who answered 'every gas has no color'. However, only a small number of students who answered former understand the scientific meaning of color and the color of gases correctly. Third, out of 5 misconception categories, greater number of students answered with 'inaccurate scientific knowledge (Ma1)', so the category was classified again into five detailed sub-categories. Fourth, most of the students, who answered 'every gas has no color', stated "they have not seen any color gases through their lives" based on their own experience. Fifth, the distribution percentage for scientific conceptions vs misconceptions was not related with the students' gender but highly related with students' academic area and their science courses taken at high school. Sixth, the pre-service teachers have various types of misconceptions regarding the 'color of gases' and when they have to explain visibility of gases to other people they tend to pass on their misconceptions. Based on the results from the study, some educational guidelines were suggested.