• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.558-564
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• 2004

This research investigated the connection between science textbook contents in Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and those in Republic of Korea (ROK). Both text books in the field of earth science were analyzed and classified into 70 categories based on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Comparison was specifically made between the elementary and middle school text books of both countries; the result are as follows: First, the scope and the level of the textbooks' contents are quite different between DPRK and ROK. Text books in the South are much limited in concepts and terms than those in the North. In contrast, textbooks in DPRK are written mainly to explain concepts. Second, there are many common contents of the textbooks in DPRK and Republic of Korea. The level and scope of the contents in Republic of Korea are more inquisitive, quantitative and detailed than those in DPRK. Third, we found content connections in science textbooks between primary and secondary schools in both countries: 27 items (38.5%) are related in ROK and 19 items (27.1%) in DPRK.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.276-285
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• 2002

In this study the concepts for science learning of physics and earth science presented in the seventh grade science textbooks for the seventh national curriculum of Korea approved by the ministry of education were analyzed in terms of the concrete and formal concept level. The parts of textbook analyzed for science learning consist of three sections in physics such as light, force, and waves, and three sections in earth science such as the structure of the earth, the substance of crust, and the movement and composition of the ocean. The analyzed results showed that the number of scientific concepts were differed from 54 to 74 in physics and from 86 to 120 in earth science depending upon publishers. In general, the concepts for science learning in the physics were found to be more in the formal level than the concrete level. However, the concepts for science learning in earth science were found to be more in the concrete level than the formal level. The analyzed results suggest that the concepts of science learning should be considered the learner's cognitive level and the sections should be disposed depending on the degree of difficulty for writing the science textbook. Therefore, it seems to be important to review carefully whether the textbook meets the object of the seventh curriculum of Korea during the process of the investigation for the science textbook.

• New Physics: Sae Mulli
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• v.68 no.12
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• pp.1347-1355
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• 2018

This study aimed at investigating the physics curriculum implemented in science core schools. Thus, the researchers analyzed the science curriculum articulated in the annual reports of science core schools and interviewed some teachers in the schools to identify the features of the physics curriculum. The research findings were as follows: First, with respect to the teaching units by subjects, general science had the largest proportion, as much as 6.7 hours in average, and physics I and II were 4.2 and 4.4 hours, respectively, which were similar to other subjects such as chemistry, life science, and earth science. Second, most of schools opened the courses of physics I and II with two hours for two semesters. Fourteen schools taught physics I as an intensive unit whereas nine schools taught physics II intensively. In the case of specialized subjects, the most frequent one was independent research, and advanced physics was taught in 7 schools whereas physics experiments were done in 34 schools. Based on the findings, this study gives some implications about how to organize the physics curriculum in science core schools according to the 2015 revised science curriculum.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.480-497
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• 2021

This study intends to explore the content and organization characteristics of elementary school science textbooks in the astronomical domain from the perspective of understanding the astronomical spatial concept. This study analyzed the relevant unit of the achievement criteria in the 2015 revised science curriculum for the 'space' domain in elementary school science textbooks in comparison with that in secondary school textbooks according to the spatial concept analysis criteria by texts, illustrations, and inquiry activities. As a result, elementary school science textbooks were found to be organized around phenomena rather than concepts, targeting observable celestial bodies linked to real life in order to optimize the amount of learning content. However, the learning contents of astronomical observation related to observation and phenomena-centered real life should stimulate the curiosity and imagination of elementary school students and encourage their intellectual participation. Students need to be supported for understanding of the spatial concept to find an answer to the question of 'why'. The content organization for core concepts should be organized around the transferable spatial concept rather than simply focusing on presenting results by accurately describing the phenomena observed by students through scientific practice in order for students to answer various questions that arise in the course of scientific practice.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.87-103
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• 2024

The content system table of the subject-matter curriculum is considered important in the Korean national curriculum, textbook writing, and teaching and learning in the classroom. However, studies that comprehensively organize the issues concerning the format of the subject-matter curriculum content system have been scarce. This study scrutinized the evolution of the content system from its inception in The 6th Curriculum to the most recent 2022 Revised National Curriculum, focusing on science curricular. The following issues and suggestions were derived for the format of the subject content system. First, caution should be exercised in using terms such as "domain," "field," and "category," and it should be clarified whether these terms are intended simply for logical differentiation or to serve as a content organizer with a specific emphasis. Second, the nature of components such as "core ideas," which can serve as innovative content organizers, should be strictly defined. Third, while the introduction of three-dimensional content elements such as "knowledge and understanding," "process and skill," and "value and attitude" is viewed positively, it is suggested that a further delineation be made, elaborating how each can be utilized to form core competencies. Fourth, the construction of the subject-specific content system in national curriculum needs caution because whether it will resolve or exacerbate the 'disparity between general curriculum and subject-matter curriculums' is uncertain. Finally, as an apparent pendulum motion of the subject-matter content system is observed in national curriculum documents, efforts should be made to ensure that it does not result in meaningless repetition, but instead achieves meaningful dialectical progress.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.480-493
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• 2005

The development of modem technology made people more aware of the importance of science education, which was followed by research on textbooks based on the new curriculum. This study compared physics textbooks that were published after the new curriculum started in 2000 and 2002 in Korea and Japan, respectively, and aimed to become a reference for further improvement of science curriculum and textbook reform. The results were as follows : 1. The number of teaching topics in Korean science textbook is greater than those in Japan. 2. In detail, the field of physics appeared to be relatively more important in Korea's textbooks, while it was the field of biology that was given more weight in textbooks in Japan. 3. The textbooks in Korea and Japan covered in more detail the concepts of 'power and energy' and 'electricity and magnetism', respectively. 4. The textbooks in Korea introduced the contents of magnetism initially, whereas their counterparts in Japan, the contents of light. As a whole, the contents of the science textbooks in Korea and Japan were very similar. However, more detailed concepts were included in Korea's textbooks, and therefore, Korea's textbooks seemed to have richer contents than Japan.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.928-937
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to analyze inquiry activities in high school chemistry II textbooks on the revised 2009 curriculum. It also compared them to the textbooks based on the 7th curriculum, which were published by the same companies. The results in this study turned out to be as follows: First, the number of the activities and rate of inquiry activities per total pages were quite different from each publisher, and all of them decreased. Second, there were too many activities for specific inquiry process elements. Third, the types of inquiry activities differ slightly between each publisher. Experimenting and thinking were the most used while practicing was the least. Fourth, in the inquiry context, activities in scientific context were prevalent and activities in usual context were the second most common. Comparing to the text book on the 7th curriculum, the use of technical-social context increased, however, the technical-social context as well as the natural-environmental context were not used enough, as they constitute less than 10% of the activities. From these results, chemistry teachers should introduce a variety inquiry activities in chemistry curriculum for resolving those problems. Also, textbook developer should accommodate the results of research about science textbooks.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.809-831
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• 2011

Sea Surface Temperature (SST) is one of the most important oceanic variables to understand rapidly-changing climate, so that accurate and error-free SST images should be presented in school science textbooks. However, satelliteobserved SST images in the high-school textbooks presented some errors caused by various reasons. This study analyzed 36 satellite images for SST presented in 24 kinds of high-school textbooks (earth science I and II textbooks on the basis of the 7th National Curriculum) for 17 items. This study investigated errors in image processing such as cloud removal, land masking, color bar, geological and time information, and some erroneous expressions related to the fundamental information of satellites. Twenty five pre-service teachers filled out a survey about several problematic satellite images, and their responses were analyzed. As a result, most of the pre-service teachers did not recognize the errors associated with image processing and tended to comprehend the SST errors as real oceanographic phenomena such as sea ice, river outflow, or cold current. Therefore, satellite SST images in the textbooks should be accurately presented by including detailed items suggested in this study.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.560-570
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• 2002

This study was focused on whether secondary science teachers have consistent, integrative scheme on the definition of atmospheric pressure and phenomena caused by air pressure. We had made questionnaire and let 94 science teachers answer. We sorted the responses according to their major, school and compared them with the description in textbooks. The result can be summarized into three findings. First of all, teachers whose major is chemistry have strong tendency to understand that atmospheric pressure is caused by molecular motion though it, in textbooks, is defined as the pressure by weight of air mass. The half of respondents believed that decreasing of atmospheric pressure in high altitude is due to molecular motions, while most textbook says decrease in the weight of air mass. Secondly, many science textbooks show that air mass expands, rises, becomes less dense and the pressure of atmosphere becomes low when it receives heat. So, most of respondents explained low pressure is formed by lower density. Thirdly, they answered that they just teach the phenomena of air pressure by using the textbooks which mainly deal with the present state rather than a principle. In conclusion, the science textbooks should present the exact description and consolidated structures of those concepts to prevent students from having misconceptions on air pressure. In addition, training program for science teachers would be necessary to reconsider and explore the natural phenomena in various viewpoints.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.88-97
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to investigate explanations of science textbooks and science teachers' conceptions related to freezing point depression phenomenon. Seven kinds of middle school science textbooks and five kinds of high school chemistryII textbooks were analyzed for the purpose. The teachers' conceptions were searched by a questionnaire developed in this study. The subjects were 146 science teachers. The explanation types of science textbooks were divided into two; 'Description of the phenomenon' and 'Vapor pressure lowering'. The explanations in most of middle school science textbooks and high school chemistryII textbooks belong to 'Description of the phenomenon' and there was no explanation of the reason. The graphs related to depression of freezing point were diverse, too. Most of the science teachers also did not have scientific conception. The percentage of the teachers who thought that the cause of freezing point depression was blocking of solute in solution was high. But the teacher could not find meaningful relation the 'Blocking of solute' explanation represented for elevation of boiling point with depression of freezing point. It is insisted that entropy concept is need to explain depression of freezing point phenomenon in this study.