• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.551-559
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• 2005

The Q&A service of the official Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) webpage was installed in 2000 and have been actively used since then. In this paper, we analyze the questions asked through the Q&A service and the number of inquiries with the aid of statistical methods. We also study the contents of the questions. Specifically, we have created statistics of questions and inquiries that go monthly and yearly, and have developed categories to analyze the characteristics of questions in regards to their cognitive aspects. Each question is categorized into two elements based on their recognitive aspect: science knowledge or science study. Each element also has sub-categories that help readers understand the characteristics of the questions. For the analysis, we used a sample consisted of questions from July to December, 2004. Through this study, we achieved a better understanding of the questions asked by the Q&A service. We are planning to improve the quality of the Q&A service by extending the size of the FAQ(frequently asked questions). Throughout this study, we find that the number of questions are increasing with time, and the overall quality of the questions is improving. As we expect the number of people using our Q&A service to increase and the questions to get more difficult to answer, development of improved content is required.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.324-333
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• 2002

Recent studies have indicated that boys show better scientific achievements compared to those of girls. It is also a general conception that boys would be better than girls in terms of scientific creative performances and potential, although there have been few studies to support the general opinion. As the gifted education in Korea is progressing very rapidly, the importance of understanding the creative characteristics of gifted boys and girls has been increased. In the present study, we have compared and analyzed three different measures of creativity utilizing 135 gifted students (77 boys and 58 girls) to provide an empirical evidence for the different degrees of creative performances between gifted boys and girls. The instruments used to measure diverse aspects of creativity include the Torrance Test of Creativity (TTCT), the Test of Creative Problem-solving and Finding in Science (CPFS), and the Creative Behavioral Checklist in Science(CBCS). The results of the study indicate that girls, rather than boys, showed better creative performances, demonstrating moderately higher average scores on the three creative measures used in the study. The results are in contrast to people's general conception that boys would be more creative than girls. Implications of the study in connection with identification and educational practices for gifted education program have been discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.191-207
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• 2023

In this study, we comprehensively investigated the cases of science teachers who implemented NOS assessments in Science Inquiry Experiment. Two science teachers working at high schools located in Seoul who taught and assessed NOS in Science Inquiry Experiment according to the 2015 revised curriculum participated in the study. We collected lesson and assessment materials and observed NOS lessons and assessments. We also conducted interviews. Based on the collected data, we analyzed the processes of the teachers' NOS assessments. The analyses of the results revealed that the teachers constructed the assessments by themselves due to a lack of NOS assessment experience and related materials. They had difficulties in selecting an appropriate assessment method and constructing assessment questions and criteria. Both teachers found it difficult to assess an understanding of NOS because it concerns the subjective views of individual students. Therefore, they had difficulties in setting detailed assessment criteria, which also led to difficulties in the overall assessment process. There was a difference in the reflective level of the assessments between the two teachers. In the reflective activities of low levels, the assessments were not properly enacted because it was difficult to infer students' understanding. Orientation toward teaching NOS influenced the perceptions of NOS assessment and overall lessons, resulting in a difference in NOS assessments. Finally, the absolute evaluation of Science Inquiry Experiment also affected teachers' NOS assessments. Based on the above results, implications for effective NOS assessments in schools are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.719-730
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• 2004

The International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO) was established and its foundation were published by the Euro-Asian Astronomical Society (EAAS), in order to spread astronomical knowledge, promote international cooperation in astronomical education area, and recognize the importance of astronomy in far-reaching field of science and human culture. In 1996, the first IAO was held at the Special Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) of the Russian Academy of sciences (RAS) located in the north Caucasus of Russia. Since then, it has been held every year. Here, we will describe the present status of the International Astronomy Olympiad, its major results by year, related institutions, organizations, and the main regulations regarding its operation. In order to measure the levels of scientific knowledge and thinking abilities, we develop a rubric to analyze the characteristics of problems in the IAO with regards to cognitive aspects of scientific inquiry. These problems require high levels of content knowledge and scientific method knowledge. Also high order thinking abilities and high levels of convergent thinking skills, instead of divergent, are needed to solve these problems. Thus, the problems presented are set a high difficulty. Through this analysis, we can understand main purpose of the International Astronomy Olympiad and explore the future direction of the Korea Astronomy Olympiad.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.294-309
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• 2013

This study addressed the awareness of social issues related to science of future elementary school teachers. Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident was used by concrete issue connected with SSI for this study. Twelve second-year students attending a university of education participated in the study, who were taking a class of science teacher preparation at that time that consists of the content of the elementary science education courses. The study revealed that all the pre-service elementary teachers recognized Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident and received such information through various medias. In particular, they were receiving more information about the Nuclear Power Plant Accident through the internet than any other media by using the internet a lot, and also gained additional information through the internet. However, despite the fact that they recognized Nuclear Power Plant Accident, they neither had much information about it nor had been interested in SSI such as the Nuclear Power Plant Accident. Moreover, they had been basically uneducated about SSI. Despite of having no interest in SSI such as Nuclear Power Plant Accident, the study revealed that the pre-service elementary teachers recognized that scientific problems such as Nuclear Power Plant Accident may affect a society closely. In addition, they together sympathized with the point that SSI education should be applied on the current education courses by identifying the problem in application. As the study revealed above, the application of SSI education to the formal education courses as well as more lively research on that subject is very important and urgent for boosting interest in science subjects and enlightening the nature of science that is one of the objectives of science education.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.751-758
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to develop an inquiry analysis framework based on the features of earth science inquiry methodology and to analyze inquiry activities in the 8th grade 'Earth History and Diastrophism' unit by using this framework. The framework classified earth science methods as logical inference, hermeneutic, and historical methods, each of which was subdivided in consideration of its subordinate methods and characteristics. The analysis revealed that the logical inference method reflected in the unit as the 'abductive method' (70%) was used more frequently than the 'inductive' (23%) and 'deductive' (22%) methods. The hermeneutic method was found in terms of the 'forestructures of understanding' (92%), 'circular reasoning' (9%). and 'historical nature of human understanding' (17%). The historical method also used as the 'constructing proper taxonomy' (53%), 'adhering to the modem principle of uniformitarianism' (47%), and 'relic interpretation' (41%) were identified with ratios more fester than those for the 'place substituting for time in stage theorizing' (3%) and 'evaluating independent lines of inquiry for convergence' (3%).

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.679-691
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• 2017

Despite the growing importance of socio-scientific issues (SSI), little work has focused on teachers' pedagogical knowledge, and few studies have examined how in-service teachers use and apply SSI-related instructional methods and strategies. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to explore how science teachers with lots of SSI teaching experience determined teaching orientation, selected and revised instructional methods, and devised assessments in science classroom. We used a case study approach aimed at a deep description of these teachers' teaching experiences and employed semi-structured and in-depth interviews with five experienced teachers. Our findings indicate that teaching orientation and learning objectives seemed to influence the selection and modification of instructional strategies and methods. In addition, students' learning experiences or classroom environment were considered and modified in light of achieving these learning objectives. However, introducing SSI into the classroom assessment is not seriously considered by most teachers. This study can provide teachers with useful information when designing and developing SSI classes, taking into account various aspects of the PCK such as learning orientation, instructional methods, learner expereince and curriculum standards.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.127-140
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• 2020

This study investigated the influence of an explicit and reflective modeling instruction on the metamodeling knowledge of fourth-graders. Two fourth-grade classes in an elementary school in Seoul were selected and each class was assigned to an experimental group and a control group, respectively. The experimental group was engaged in explicit and reflective modeling instruction, whereas the control group was engaged in implicit modeling instruction. The two groups were surveyed before and after instruction on the basis of five metamodeling knowledge categories: definition, purpose, design/construction, changeability, and multiplicity. The experimental group showed positive changes in model's meaning, examples, purpose, changeability as well as multiplicity. In contrast, fewer students in the control group understood the meaning of the model and modeling. They also showed limited changes in their understandings with regards to the modeling instruction, and could not expand their understanding of the nature of model and modeling. The findings indicate that an explicit and reflective modeling instruction has positive influence on elementary students' metamodeling knowledge.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.45-61
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to explore students' epistemic goals and considerations in designing an experiment task and to investigate how a shift in the students' epistemology affected their argumentation. Four 7th grade students were selected as a focus group. According to the results, when they designed their own experiment, their epistemic goal was 'scientific sense-making' and their epistemic considerations - the perception of the nature of the knowledge product was 'this experiment should explain how something happened', the perception of the justification was 'we need to use our interpretation of the data' and the perception of the audience was 'constructor' - contributed to designing their experiment actively. When students tried to select one argument, their epistemic goal shifted to 'winning a debate', showing 'my experiment is better than the others' with the perception of the audience, 'competitor'. Consequently, students only deprecated the limits of different experiment so that they did not explore the meaning of each experiment design deeply. Eventually, student A's experiment design was selected due to time restrictions. When they elaborated upon their result, their epistemic goal shifted to 'scientific sensemaking', reviewing 'how this experiment design is scientifically valid' through scientific justification - we need justification to make members accept it - acting as 'cooperator'. Consequently, all members engaged in a productive argumentation that led to the development of the group result. This study lays the foundation for future work on understanding students' epistemic goals and considerations to prompt productive argumentation in science classrooms.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.708-717
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• 2013

The new paradigm of the 21st Century science education explores a wide range of possibilities that can foster students' interest toward science and creative convergence thinking. In this study, through the analysis of programs that were developed in 'STEAM leader school' and 'STEAM teacher association for research' supported by the 'Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology,' we analyzed the linking frequency with each of STEAM education's fields and teachers' perception for the convergence strategy of technology and engineering. The results of this study show that linking frequency of technology and engineering is lower than the field of arts and mathematics in elementary school, but higher in middle and high school. 'Introduction technology contents in lives' in technology and 'crafts activity' in engineering are the most used teaching and learning strategy in STEAM education. But, although 'crafts activity' is engineering's major way of learning, many teachers understand and use it as a technological teaching learning strategy. It is important to understand that each of STEAM education's field has a unique nature and educational implications, for the effective settlement of STEAM education, we need to consider teaching and learning strategy in various way.