• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.473-486
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• 2001

The study aimed to evaluate an activity-oriented extracurricular science program as informal science education through the assessment of opinions of student participants and lead-students and lead-teachers who organized the program. An 'Exciting Science Fair' was designed by science teachers and students and provided for 857 students for two days in early 1998. Students chose a course of science activities designed by different levels of student knowledge and interests. During their own science activity courses, the participating students were grouped as pair of two students and guided and facilitated by lead-students. A survey instrument was developed by researchers and asked respondents' opinions of 121 participating students, 72 lead-students, and 19 lead-teachers to the significance of program goals, degree of goal achievement, and program planning and management system before and after the program. It was found that most student participants, lead-students and lead-teachers satisfied with the efficiency of the program. However, it was recommended that the program should place more emphases on engaging student participants in science activities, strengthening scientific inquiry through activities, and increasing science content related to student daily life. It was also suggested that advertizement of the program be publicized in advance through media, an effect teaching-learning strategy for lead-students be developed, and collaboration among lead-students and lead-teachers be improved.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.693-703
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• 2018

One of the important competencies in knowledge and information society is the competency of Knowledge information processing. This is closely related to science education and described as one of the core competencies in the 2015 national curriculum revision. Even with a general agreement of the educational necessity of this competency, its practice in class depends mostly on teachers' will. Therefore, we surveyed science teachers' perceptions and classroom condition about the competency of Knowledge information processing, and we analyzed the questionnaires of 64 middle and high school teachers in Seoul and interviewed three teachers. As a result, all teachers shared the importance of Knowledge information processing competency and explained it in terms of social paradigm and goal of the subject. However, there were not many cases of actual practice in class. The teachers answered that time for Knowledge information processing competency is not enough in class and they also lack of PCK on this competency. About half of the teachers had experiences in teacher training about Knowledge information processing competency but most of their experiences are related to information utilization literacy. The importance of Knowledge information processing competency was very high in three factors (collection, analyzation, and utilization), among which information analysis was the highest. Middle school teachers showed higher scores in most questions even though the differences were not significant, and high school teachers showed higher scores in the importance of information sources at a significant level. In order to cultivate competencies, it is necessary to expand the meaning of science inquiry so as to cover this competency and to consider ways of linking with other subjects and develop methods of teaching and learning.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.627-653
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• 2010

The present study proposes and examines a new type of multiple-choice math test. In this format, the options are the intermediate derivatives of the math problem solution process rather than the final answers. This idea originates from the studies on the effect of worked-out examples. In these studies, it has been shown that students learn better when they were presented with worked-out examples than when presented with final answers by themselves. In line with these findings, we introduced the intermediate derivatives of the solution process as the options of multiple-choice items so that the test-taker will have a chance to examine the solution process. The test was implemented as a computerized test in which students can solve problems in a short answer format, and then pick a multiple-choice option which appears when requested. The experimental group had multiple-choice options which were intermediate derivatives of the solution process, and the control group had the final answers as the options as in most multiple-choice tests. The participants were 6th graders in elementary school. The posttest results revealed that the average score of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. The results suggest that tests that use intermediate derivatives of the problem solution process as options can be used as learning tools in the classrooms. Finally, directions for further studies were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.3
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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 The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.911-931
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to analyze pre-service teachers' reflective discussion on their practical work-based teaching by focusing on the components of instruction and the connectivity of discussion. Eight after-class discussions were recorded and transcribed, and finally analyzed in terms of theoretically driven categories such as aims, teacher knowledge and learner response which also respectively reflect the actual flow of planning, implementation and evaluation of the teaching practice. The result showed that in their discussion about students, conceptual understanding and scientific skill components were most emphasized, while teaching method and strategy were most frequently addressed in the discussion about teacher knowledge. But this also revealed problems in their discussions such as the lack of discussion about inquiry and student interest, difficulties in clarifying theoretical terms and the lack of discussion about instructional models and theories. Meanwhile, pre-service teachers' discussions were limited in terms of connectivity between the components of instruction, meaning that their discussion tended to deal with each component separately rather than occurred in connection with each other. Furthermore, when connections were made during the discussion, only few components of instruction appeared. Based on this result, the paper suggests the need to develop tools to facilitate effective reflection in ways that incorporate various components of instruction and enhance connectivity between the components and between the instructions.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.58-71
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to categorize preconceived notions by elementary science gifted students about the reason why only one side of the moon is visible and develop an instructional module to correct these notions scientifically. The effectiveness of these modules will then be tested. The participants of this study were 15 (5th and 6th grade students) from Gwangju Metropolitan City and Chonnam Province who passed a gifted student assessment test developed by J university. The student's notions about the reason only one side of the moon is visible were assessed through questionnaires, interviews, and reenactments. Instructional modules to minimize these notions were developed and then improved upon by class reenactments. And then these modules were used to teach a real class with cameras recording the students. Protocols were analyzed using this footage, and emphasis was placed on how the developed class module changed student's misconceptions. The instructional module developed in this study was: student conception assessment writing materials exploration activity stage 1 (moon's orbit) exploration activity stage 2 (moon's rotation) - exploration activity stage 3 (moon's orbit and rotation) - exploration activity stage 4 (verbalizing the moon's orbit and rotation) - exploration activity stage 5 (thinking about moon movement considering earth's rotation - exploration activity stage 6 (relating the earth and moon's movement) and verifying student conception change. An important conclusion of this study was that all 15 students had misconceptions that could be divided into categories A, B, and C. Category A could be separated with more specifics into A-1 and A-2, and C into C-1 and C-2. After the instructional module was utilized, the student categories show positive change in the following stages: Category A at exploration activity stage 1 and 2, Category B at exploration activity stage 3, Category C-1 at exploration activity stage 4 and 5, and Category C-2 at exploration activity stage 6. Category C-1 students immediately changed to Category C-2 after going through a few stages, and their misconceptions were finally corrected after going through exploration activity stage 6. The misconceptions of students in all categories were corrected scientifically after completing stage 6 education. This study proposes that a combined education of reenactments, exploration materials development, and exploration activities by stages will effectively correct misconceptions about the Earth and moon's movement.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.430-453
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to explore how an elementary school teacher developed PCK by utilizing her knowledge domains in teaching practice, regarding the specific science topic of 'animals:' A case study approach was adopted with the participation of a 1st grade teacher, in a poor urban neighborhood elementary school in NYC. Data was collected through interview and the participant observation method in order to investigate: a) the teacher's existing knowledge base in terms of subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and contextual knowledge; b) how she develops PCK during classroom practice, centering on the relationship between knowledge domains. The findings illustrate the ways in which the three knowledge domains are closely related and developed as PCK through the whole teaching process. In particular, the findings indicate that the teacher's contextual knowledge plays a critical role in shaping and developing PCK. Before instruction, her contextual knowledge regarding the administrative policies and the school test system in the district enabled her to make decisions and plans about teaching science. During classroom teaching, her knowledge of students' sociocultural backgrounds and living conditions in the urban setting helped her to identify specific teaching strategies and resources suitable to the students' needs and interests. The study results imply that science instruction can be more feasible in meeting the demands of particular groups of students if teachers make an effort to become knowledgeable about their own teaching context and utilize it in developing their PCK.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.9-14
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• 2020

This study examined whether the integrated education science and resource e-book developed for students with disabilities were properly implemented in terms of universal design for learning. For analysis, "Teaching and learning materials for inclusive education of students with disabilities: grade 3~6 sciences", which were instructional adaptation, were selected for students with disabilities who are unable to learn the contents of general textbooks for the 3rd to 6th grade of the elementary school science course in the 2015 revised curriculum. The science grades are composed of 40 units, including basic science inquiry, matter, life, kinetic and energy, earth and universe. The content analysis standard was based on detailed items of 9 definitions according to the 3 principles of UDL presented in CAST (2018). As a result of the study, the strategy network was the largest among the UDL principles. As for the domain of the science curriculum, the kinetic and energy was the most common. As UDL detailed items, informations presentation suitable for learners was most frequent in cognitive network. Various ways of searching for data, was most frequent in strategies network. Diverse materials optimized difficulty of contents was most frequent in affective network.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.457-464
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• 2019

This study aims to explore meta-modeling knowledge of gifted students through the modeling. To do this, five gifted students were asked to do modeling related to candle burning, and all the processes of modeling were observed and then individual interviews were conducted. As a result of the study, two students were classified as first level and three students were classified as second level. The students of the first level did not have any model generation or model-based prediction activities, and observation was the most meaningful activity. On the other hand, the students of the second level performed all four modeling processes. However, the generation of the model and the prediction using the model were relatively strong. The data they gained from the experiments was perceived as just confirming the absolute model. No student was found in Level 3 or Level 4. The results of this study show that gifted students remain at the progression level of recognizing the model as an objective reality, and in order to cultivate a true scientist, it is necessary to educate the gifted students to recognize the subjectivity of the model.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.127-148
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• 2023

In this study, we used an analysis of the literature on socio-scientific issues (SSI) classes to examine domestic SSI class research and to determine the characteristics of SSI class research for each subject. A search for papers related to SSI classes published in Korea Citation Index-listed journals and candidate journals of the Korea Research Foundation found 95 relevant papers, which were then categorized according to participants and topics. Studies with both pre-service and experienced teachers attempted to investigate SSI-related perceptions. Studies of pre-service teachers tended to examine the level and development pattern of argumentation or to analyze decision-making characteristics and informal reasoning. Studies of experienced teachers tended to analyze instructional expertise in SSI teaching activities, focusing on teachers with substantial SSI teaching experience. Middle and high school students-related studies examined student decision-making and reasoning processes in SSI learning activities, developed SSI class programs, and analyzed educational effects. Examining the characteristics of SSI classes for elementary school students was difficult because few such studies have been published. However, the characteristics that elementary school students show in SSI learning situations could be inferred. A plan to revitalize SSI classes in the elementary science education field from the perspective of teacher education and class research is suggested.