• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.393-405
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of Semantic Network Program (SNP) instruction on learning achievement and motivation in high school biology classes. For this study, a SNP was designed by applying the recommendations in regard to student attention and satisfaction factors in Keller's ARCS theory. SNP instruction was conducted with an experimental group and a control group, each consisting of 62 high school biology class student. A pretest-posttest control group design was employed. The pre-test was used to analyze the learning achievement test, learning motivation test, and semantic forming test. For 4 weeks the experiment group was instructed using the developed SNP which centered on Keller's attention and satisfaction factors, and the control group was instructed via teacher-centered lectures based on the textbook. It was found that SNP instruction efficiently increased students' biology learning achievement (p<.001). It was also discovered that SNP instruction was effective in increasing Keller's motivation strategies on attention and satisfaction factors (p<.001). In addition, SNP instruction positively affected students' semantic formation (p<.001) and learning content retention (p>.05) in the heredity unit by aiding students in the area of active multimedia learning. An in depth interview with students in the class using SNP instruction showed that material learned via this method in biology had longer retention of problem-solving methods. Consequently, SNP instruction according to motivation strategies may high school biology teachers with meaningful teaching-learning methods strategies for the unit on heredity.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• 제29권6호
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• pp.693-711
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• 2009

One of the most important objectives in science education is to develop students' science literacy. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relevance between biology instructional objectives in the 7th curriculum taught in elementary and secondary schools. For this study, 7 major parts in each grade were analyzed including cell, the form and function of plants, the form and function of animals, genetics, diversity, evolution, ecology, and environment. The strand map of instructional objectives is completed that represents the relation between the objectives. The summary of the results from this study is as follows. First, the concept about cells is not fully covered in lower grades including elementary schools. While the concept of energy metabolism is repeatedly covered, there is no concept of energy covered in learning the concept of energy metabolism in elementary schools. Second, the textbooks in elementary and middle schools have main concepts about the form and function of plants while those in high schools don't. The concept related to the part of the form and function of animals is repeatedly involved in the curriculum throughout the elementary, middle, and high schools. Third, the concepts such as genetics and evolution are involved in higher grades since these concepts are abstract ones. The part of genetics and evolution as well as diversity has no connection between grades in schools, so the development of "notion between" is necessary to relate these concepts with each other. Fourth, the 4 parts of diversity, ecology and environment, evolution, and the form and function of plants are covered in limited grade levels. The results of the relevance of gene in lesson goals will play an important rein as the primary material in developing the connection between textbooks in which lesson goals are closely related to each other throughout all grade levels in elementary, middle and high schools.

• Journal of Science Education
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.47-62
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of classes using AlgeoMath on fifth grade elementary students' mathematical problem-solving skills and mathematical attitudes. For this purpose, the 'cuboid' section of the 5th grade elementary textbook based on AlgeoMath was reorganized. A total of 8 experimental classes were conducted using this teaching and learning material. And the quantitative data collected before and after the experimental lesson were statistically analyzed. In addition, by presenting instances of experimental lessons using AlgeoMath, we investigated the effectiveness and reality of classes using engineering in terms of mathematical problem-solving ability and attitude. The results of this study are as follows. First, in the mathematical problem-solving ability test, there was a significant difference between the experimental group and the comparison group at the significance level. In other words, lessons using AlgeoMath were found to be effective in increasing mathematical problem-solving skills. Second, in the mathematical attitude test, there was no significant difference between the experimental group and the comparison group at the significance level. However, the average score of the experimental group was found to be higher than that of the comparison group for all sub-elements of mathematical attitude.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.94-113
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the change in the classes of beginning science teachers through the collaborative mentoring program that induce reflective thinking practice. Participants in this study were three mentor-teachers, two teachers in doctor's or master's course, one university professor, and three mentee-teachers who have less than four years of teaching experience. We collected data such as video recordings of the mentee-teachers' classroom teaching and transcription, lesson plans, recording of one-on-one mentoring and transcription, mentor and mentee's journals, and RTOP classroom teaching observation reports. RTOP was used for the analysis of classroom teaching and mentee-teachers' recognition and changes in their classes were found out through journals and one-on-one mentoring interview materials. According to mentee-teachers' recognition and changes in their classes during the mentoring program, they themselves recognized their teacher-centered teaching style, misconception, and lack of content knowledge. Furthermore, there were changes in the mentee-teachers' classroom teaching through their reflective practice and improvement. As a result of this study, the interactions with mentor-teachers through collaborative mentoring program stimulated mentee-teacher's reflections on their teaching. Therefore, these reflections led to their reflective practice that showed progressive changes in their teaching behavioral activities. The extent of these changes varied according to the mentee-teachers' individual disposition toward reflection and the issue of whether mentee-teachers' reflective practice was in accordance with priorities in motivational ZDP or not. Also based on the results of this study, the teachers' reflection was not all accompanied by reflective practice even if the beginning science teachers made some partial changes in reflective practice through reflection. It means that it is hard to lead reflective practice for mentee-teachers through mentoring in a short period of time. Therefore, we consider that a systematic and long-term mentoring program is necessary for beginning science teachers.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.396-410
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• 2000

In this study, the concept presentation form, the content coherence of sub-dimensional concepts and the number of concepts of the 6th and the 7th Korean curriculum were analyzed comparing the guide to developing the secondary biology curricula to develop biological literacy with BSCS. According to the result, the discrimination between concept levels in the frame of contents of the Korean curricula is insufficient, because each of concepts presented in the knowledge domain as upper level and sub-dimensional concept elements as lower level are simply arrayed. Considering too much concepts of ecosystem, genetics, reproduction and metabolism, there should be an effort to reform the biological curriculum to include concepts evenly, not in the biased state, to reflect all the 6 unifying principles by BSCS for developing students' biological literacy. Finally there should be an effort to reflect the characteristics of each subjects concretely among Science 10, Biology I and Biology IT in the 7th curriculum considering the result that essential concepts to develop biological literacy are presented more in some principles of Biology II than Biology I. Thinking the results of the present study, concrete discussions should be made to set up the standard reference about biological literacy and to present essential concepts for teaching and learning to develop it in the process of biology textbook development for meeting the 7th Korean curriculum and in the development of 8th Korean curriculum in advance.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.519-531
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• 2004

In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on performance assessment to evaluate students' abilities. Our nation has introduced a change in testing and assessment. Additional work on the efficacy, reliability, and comparability in order to develop the performance assessment item has been needed in the enforcement of the 7th National Science Curriculum. Also, criteria for professional and technical standards has been needed to be developed. The purpose of this study was to draw out various key concepts and to develop achievement standards, assessment standards and performance assessment items based on the 7th National Science Curriculum on the subject matter of reproduction(chapter 13) and biological accumulation(chapter 17). And also, this study examined the validity of completed performance assessment items based on classical test theory and polytomous item response theory. Twelve key concepts in chapter 13(reproduction) and four from chapter 17(biological accumulation) were abstracted. Twenty-six achievement standards in chapter 13(reproduction), and nine in chapter 17(biological accumulation) were developed. The achievement standards were determined in terms of knowledge(K), process skill(P) and attitude(A). Twenty-five assessment standards in chapter 13(reproduction) and nine in chapter 17(biological accumulation) were developed. Based on the developed achievement standards and assessment standards, twenty-two performance assessment items(seventeen open-ended questions, three essays, and two portfolios) with concrete grading criteria were developed. Eight open-ended items were applied to 240 10th graders to evaluate reliabilities of the test which consisted of four items per each chapter. The results would be suggested that the applied items were valid for performance assessment because item difficulties and item discriminations were proper. There was not much differences in item discrimination between interpretation from classical test theory and that from polytomous item response theory. However, there were some differences in item difficulties between the interpretations of two theories because the characteristics of examinees were reflected in classical test theory.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.317-346
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in teachers' recognition of science class and children for the gifted, and the process of changes in their practical knowledge after the experience of science class and conversation with colleague teachers. Two elementary teachers, teacher A and B, were selected as subject of investigation, who wanted to improve their science class. They experienced the process of self-examination during their class and from class conversations. Teacher A has 10 years of teaching experience. She has been in contact with gifted children and observed them since undergraduate. She entered the graduate school since she came to be interested in science class and children for the gifted. While teacher B has only three years of teaching experience and had a first contact with the gifted after graduate school. The results of this study are as follows. Teacher A didn't change recognition of gifted children class by class conversation in short term because she had a firm faith in good class teaching and was rich in class teaching knowledge. And, her practical knowledge was applied to the next class by changing teaching method or by supplementing her class contents in concerned part through class observation and class conversation with her colleagues. Teacher B was characterized as being lack of class confidence and concerned more about subject knowledge. She was forming a new practical knowledge along with new class teaching knowledge. Teacher B was in trouble with applying new practical knowledge to next class. From such findings, it was concluded that the process of changing or forming of practical knowledge depends on the beliefs, values, experiences, or knowledges of each teacher. A reflection on one' own class teaching could be a good way to form a practical knowledge and improve teaching speciality, when it was concerned with self-reflection of their own class, class observation, and communication with colleagues. Thus, the reflection practice could be applied to the teaching program of teachers for the gifted to form practical knowledge through trial class, self-reflection of class, and conversation with colleagues.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.17-28
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• 2023

In line with the entry into the digital-based intelligent information society, the science curriculum emphasizes the cultivation of scientific competencies, and computer-based test (CBT) is drawing attention for assessment of competencies. CBT has advantages to develop items that have high fidelity, and to establish a feedback system by accumulating results into the database. However, it is necessary to solve the problems of improving validity of assessment results, lowering measurement efficiency, and increasing management factors. To examine students' responses to the introduction of the new assessment tools in the process of transitioning from paper-based test (PBT) to CBT, in this study, we analyzed the results of the PBT and the CBT conducted in 2021 National Assessment of Educational Achievement (NAEA). In particular, we sought to find the effects on student achievement when only the mode of assessment was changed without change of items, and the effect on student achievement when the items were composed including technology enhanced features that take advantage of CBT. This study is derived through the analysis of the results of 7,137 third-grade middle school students taking one among the three kinds of assessments, which were the PBT or two kinds of CBT. After the assessment, the percentage of correct answers and the item discriminations were collected for each group, and expert opinions on characteristics of response were collected through the expert council involving 8 science teachers with experience in NAEA. According to the results, there was no significant difference between students' achievement results in the PBT and the CBT-M, which means simple mode conversion type of CBT, so it could be explained that the mode effect did not appear. However, it was confirmed that the percentage of correct answers for the construct response items was somewhat high in the CBT, and this result was analyzed to be related to the convenience of the response. On the other hand, there were the items with a difference of more than 10%p from the correct answer rate of similar items, among the items to which technology enhanced functions were applied following the introduction of CBT. According to the analysis of response rate of options, these results could be explained that the students' level of understanding could be more closely grasped through the innovative items developed through the technology enhanced function. Based on the results, we discussed some guidance to be considered when introducing CBT and developing items through CBT, and presented implications.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• 제10권6호
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• pp.223-241
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to plan a direction for the connection of the area of inquiry in daily life between infants and young children in Korea based on the analysis of the early learning standards for infants aged 0~2, and young children aged 3~4/5 in 17 different states in America. The problem of the study is as follows: What is the content area of cognitive development, science and mathematics of early learning standards regarding age? The data used in this study was collected from a total of 17 states in America in which 12 states classify infants and young children as aged 0~2 and 3~4/5 respectively and 5 states do not classify the age groups. The results obtained from the analysis of the given issues are as follows. First, in the case of the five states that showed the group aged 0~4/5, the contents related to the area of inquiry in daily life of the early learning standards were included in the mathematics and science and a part of these contents were also included in cognitive developments. In the case of the 12 states that classified the groups aged 0~2 and 3~4/5 respectively, the group aged 0~2 included cognitive developments and the group aged 3~4/5 includes mathematics and science. Second, the contents related to the area of inquiry in daily life of the early learning standards in the five states that showed the single group aged 0~4/5 include the contents in order of scientific idea, biology, physics, and the earth and space. In the 12 states that classify different age groups. Third, in the case of the states that separate age groups, the group aged 0~2 include the contents of number and operation, geometry and space while the group aged 3~4/5 include the contents of number and operations, geometry and space, and measurement. The implications of this study was that it is necessary to take into account the linking between development and characteristics of the subjects.

• Journal of Science Education
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• 제35권1호
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• pp.80-90
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to investigate manual skills of experimental apparatuses of pre-service elementary school teachers by examining and analyzing the process of experiments conducted by pre-teachers. For this study, 24 pre-service elementary school teachers were selected as the subjects and 4 experimental apparatuses were chosen through analyzing science textbooks from 3rd grade to 6th grade in elementary school. The selected experimental apparatuses were alcohol burner, dropper, microscope, instruments for making a prepared specimen. In addition, a task was carefully chosen to conduct an investigation in real settings and a series of evaluation standards was developed. While 3 subjects conducted experiments in separated and independent space at the same time, 3 collaborators observed the experiment process and recorded whether the subject met the evaluation standards or not, using O, X. The study suggests that pre-service elementary school teachers' manual skills of experimental apparatuses were under far below our projections. Particularly, in case of alcohol burner, the subjects showed lower ability to properly light the burners - which is to brush through the lampwick with fire - and to adjust the height of tripods according to the flame. Also, when it comes to dropper, they were not held the way they were supposed to be. In addition, when designing prepared specimen, the subjects used their hands instead of tweezers and often skipped the process of dripping water drop and wiping water with an oilpaper. Moreover, they did not know how to use a microscope properly so there were many times that they could not focus a microscope, failing to observe the objects. Educational implications are discussed.