• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.1567-1579
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• 2012

This study carried a survey to investigate teacher's cognition on preference and actuality about science laboratory and class environment targeting 262 science teachers. The results of this study are as follow: First, the actuality cognition of science teachers on science laboratory and class environment was lower than preference (p<.05). Second, there were no differences between preference and actuality regardless of gender (p<.05). However, the cognition on all of subordinates of preference appeared higher in females than males (p<.05). Third, at all levels of schools, preference is higher than actuality for science laboratory and teaching environment (p<.05). In case of preference, all of the subordinates indicated the difference between elementary and high school teachers (p<.05). On the other hand, in actuality there was a difference between elementary and middle school teachers in 'science laboratory facilities condition' domain only (p<.05). Fourth, the preference was higher than actuality in all school locations (p<.05). And in case of preference, there was no difference in all subordinates regardless of school sites. Whereas the cognition of small-medium city teachers was lower than metropolitan in actuality on the three domains of 'science laboratory facilities condition,' 'teaching condition and service support,' and 'staff policy and practice' (p<.05). As a result, this study informs that upgrading is necessary to achieve inquiry activity in science class in overall teaching environment including science classroom and laboratory.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.98-110
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• 2005

This study aims to explore the usefulness and the way of practical use of dilemma episodes in science teacher education by the responses of teachers on the given dilemma episodes and connected discussions. The research based on the idea of constructivist teacher education, the assumption that dilemmas can provide teachers with an open investigation context, an understanding of nature of science education. The dilemmas episodes in Wallace and Louden(2002) were introduced and discussed in order during graduate course to 11 elementary teachers. Perception on the reality and importance of given dilemmas differed by topics, but many of them were very similar to their experiences, brought active discussion on the issues. Some could not arouse sympathy because of cultural differences. The teachers recognized the dilemma episodes provided thoughtful reflection on their own teaching, opportunity of sharing experience and knowledge with peers, overall view for science education. Most of them gave positive opinion on the use of dilemma episodes in teacher education. Upon these teachers' responses and exploratory research experiences, some practical suggestion were made for science teacher educators.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.111-125
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• 2022

This study aims to investigate the effects of the ENACT project on promoting pre-service science teachers (PSTs)' views on the social responsibility of scientists and engineers. The ENACT project was designed to cultivate the social responsibility by integrating the theoretical framework of socioscientific issues (SSIs) education with problem-based inquiry approaches for the resolution of the issues. Thirty-two PSTs voluntarily participated in the project and completed the five stages over three months. Data was collected through a questionnaire to measure PSTs' view of the social responsibility of scientists and engineers (VSRoSE) and focus-group interviews. Results indicate that the PSTs presented statistically significant changes in their views of the social responsibility after the ENACT project. The mean scores of the five sub-dimensions of VSRoSE significantly increased. The interviews also supported that the PSTs had opportunities to seriously consider the social responsibility of scientists and engineers through epistemological exploration of science and technology (Cycle I), and problem-solving and action-taking (Cycle II). In particular, they agreed more on such responsibilities as consideration of societal needs and demands, pursuit of the common good, civic engagement and services using their expertise, communications with the public regarding potential risks, and participation in policy decision-making related to science and technology advances. Educational implications for SSI education and teacher education were suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.144-158
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• 2012

In this study, science teachers' and students' perceptions were searched on lectures and experiment of law of definite proportion in middle school science classes. For this study, the three teachers' lessons were observed and recorded, following interviews related to teachers' perceptions on the lessons and experiments. Also, We analyzed students' science scores, cognitive levels, science attitude, experimental reports, etc. According to the results, the three teachers had different focuses in the lectures. Chemistry teachers accentuated calculation of proportions and application rather than basic conceptions. But the students could not understand basic conceptions properly. The teachers spend long time to explain experimental procedures by assuming a low performance level of students in experimental classes. And the teachers had negative perceptions about error of results. The students could not understand the experiment results well, tried to manipulate data artificially, and had negative perceptions about error of results like the teachers. We suggested that these problems might be solved by changing teachers' perceptions on school science lectures and experiments.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.253-262
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• 2007

This study is an investigation regarding the understanding of the nature of science among pre-service science teachers majoring in science education. We interviewed 22 senior students in science education who finished their internship courses. Students were interviewed individually for approximately 20 minutes each. Data from semi-structured interview were audio-recorded and transcribed for the analysis. Findings indicated that participants held more complete understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge than the nature of scientific enterprise. Their understandings of the nature of scientific method was that hypothetical-deductive method is more scientific than descriptive-narrative method and there is a single stepwise scientific method to solve problems. These results showed that they have a narrow view of the nature of science. Thus, teacher education programs need to integrate the understanding of the nature of science throughout.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.195-207
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• 2024

The purpose of this study was to explore high school science teachers' perceptions and practices regarding the implementation of achievement standards-based assessment (ASA) in their science teaching. To achieve this, semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 20 science teachers who had implemented ASA. The participating teachers were asked to share their opinions on ASA implementation, the effects of ASA on changes in their teaching, and students' reactions to ASA. The results were as follows. Most of the teachers recognized that the initial intention behind ASA implementation began to be realized in schools only after course rankings were no longer required to be indicated. Some teachers felt that ASA allowed them to focus on students' progress, rather than evaluating them by achievement scores. It also helped some teachers identify students who were experiencing learning difficulties and offer appropriate support. In addition, some teachers acknowledged being able to reorganize their science lessons according to the essential goals of science subjects in the curriculum and provide more detailed feedback on students' achievements. However, some teachers expressed difficulties in setting an appropriate level of achievement for their lessons or in evaluating students' progress using qualitative methods. Lastly, the teachers expressed concerns about the remarkably lower motivation of some students for learning science after the indication of course ranking was no longer required.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.697-727
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• 2009

The purposes of this study are to investigate Korean science teachers' perception on the science gifted education in Korea, and to investigate if there are differences on their perception among the science teachers whose institutes are different. Their institutes are divided into three groups, which are the formal schools for the gifted in science such as Science High-School, gifted education centers attached to district education authority, and general secondary schools. For the study, 266 science teachers were sampled from the schools in Busan Metro-city, Ulsan Metro-city, and Kyoungnam Province, and then questionnaire developed by the authors were administered to them. The research results are as follows. Firstly, teachers who were going to participate in special education for the gifted in science answered affirmatively, and they thought it seemed worthwhile. On the other hand teachers who were not going to participate in it, answered negatively, mentioning shortage in specialty or extra work overload. Secondly, only the Korean Educational Development Institute was too much preferred by science teachers for teacher training institute for the gifted education in science. Therefore, it is needed to extend the teacher training institutes for the gifted education in science throughout the country. Thirdly, the perception of science teachers on the constitution of a class for the gifted in science is very different among the teachers of formal schools for the gifted in science and the teachers who teach science part time when it is needed in the district institutes for the gifted education. Finally, the perception on the aims of special education for the gifted in science is very different between the teachers who teach the gifted in science and the teachers who do not teach them.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.72-86
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to examine what epistemological beliefs pre-service teachers have about science depending on the situation, and to explore in-depth changes in epistemological beliefs through disciplinary reading. For this purpose, 77 essays written by pre-service elementary school teachers after reading Feynman's 'the meaning of it all' were analyzed using an inductive analysis method. As a result of the study, the epistemological beliefs of pre-service teachers were divided into two situations: 'science in subject learning' and 'science in daily life', and the epistemological beliefs formed in the 'science handled by scientists' situation were analyzed after reading the book. Each situation was divided into sub-categories of 'Impression of Knowledge', 'Source of Knowledge', 'Justification of Knowledge', 'Variability of Knowledge', 'Structure of Knowledge', and 'Value of Knowledge Acquisition' to reveal differences in sophisticated beliefs and naive belief levels. As a result, it was derived that Feynman's science lecture influenced pre-service teachers in terms of establishing new perspectives and recontextualizing existing epistemological beliefs. This study is meaningful in that pre-service teachers' scientific epistemological beliefs may vary depending on the situation, and that the scope and depth of epistemological beliefs may be expanded to include scientists' beliefs in science through disciplinary reading.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.460-479
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• 2021

The crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in education systems worldwide, including in Korea. Due to COVID-19's social distancing policies, the education system was suddenly switched to distance learning, resulting in many problems in primary schools without preparation. The purpose of this study was to investigate a teacher's awareness of science education techniques, responses to issues in science classes, including inquiry activities, advantages and disadvantages, and roles after experiencing distance learning. Survey and focus interviews were conducted for primary school teachers who had previously participated in distance learning, such as online content classes and real-time interactive classes. The study findings showed three conclusions: 1) Primary school teachers conducted one-way and interactive lectures in online classes. It is vital to improve a teacher's digital literacy to improve other teaching methods such as investigation and discussion in online classes. 2) Primary school teachers acknowledged the challenges of field feedback, inquiry item preparations, and safety in inquiry activities of science classes, by providing individual experimental packages and videos and using online discussion and feedback among teacher - student and student - student interactions. 3) Primary school teachers recognized that various types of classes using IT devices and individualized learning were possible as advantages of distance learning. As for disadvantages, it was acknowledged that inquiry activities, cooperative learning, immediate feedback, and interaction among students were challenging. Furthermore, learning gaps were wider in distance learning.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.103-112
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to investigate secondary science teacher's concepts of good science teaching. To do these, I have developed a questionnaire composed of 32 good teachings on education content, instructional method, instructional environment and atmosphere and assessment categories. 136 secondary science teachers have participated in the questionnaire and were requested to show agreement. Additionally, they were requested to describe the best science teachings that they have experienced. Results are as follows: First, the best science teaching that science teachers thought is a teaching that is in full accord with students' level in education content category, a teaching with an energetic interaction in instructional method category, a teaching in a trustful atmosphere in instructional environment and atmosphere category, a teaching in which students could learn something through a teaching-related assessment in assessment category. Second, secondary science teachers thought that a self-directed learning, a differentiated instruction and a teaching with diverse materials are not important factors in good science teaching. Third, there is a difference between good teaching that secondary science teachers have conceived and good teaching that they have experienced. It shows that science teachers did not precisely understand what good science teaching is. Additionally, I discussed the need of finding a case on good science teachings and a support of an interaction-focused teaching.