• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.901-921
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary teachers' views on the barriers in implementing inquiry-based instruction in science education. For this, semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with 22 elementary school teachers who have served for more than five years in the Gyeonggi province. The interview questions were developed through triangulation of Seidman's phase to achieve reliability in the interview data, then interview questions were modified and completed through an analytic induction method in pre-interviews. In-depth interviews were performed individually and all the interviews were recorded. The data of teachers' views on the barriers were categorized and analyzed into external and internal factors of teachers. The study found that the external factors referred by teachers included the following; the lack of a unit time, lack of materials and equipments, too many students in a class, problems in science curriculum management, difficulty in the assessment of students' inquiry activities, the students' learning, lack of opportunities for teaching inquiry activities, harmfulness of accidents, and so on. Internal factors included the following; lack of preparation for inquiry activities, lack of self-confidence, lack of patience, and so on. The various barriers presented and their causes were analyzed in detail, and possible efforts in activating inquiry activities in elementary science education were suggested.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.195-211
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• 2022

In this study, we explored the meaning of astronomical observation activities of five earth science teachers through in-depth interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted after providing a questionnaire based on Seidman's three-step process of interview. By analyzing the interview transcript, the educational implications inherent in astronomical observation activities were extracted. Teachers have constructed systematic basis of observation and astronomy in the observational astronomy and laboratory class during their course in the teacher education institute. After they became in-service teachers, practical know-hows of astronomical observation activities in schools were developed with the help of colleagues. By designing and executing astronomical observation activities for students, teachers notice positive changes in the cognitive domain, affective domain, and career perception of the students. Hence, teachers consider that astronomical observation activities have great educational effects. In addition, astronomical activities appear to be very rewarding and satisfying experiences to teachers, by providing opportunities for having pride as an earth science teacher. However, teachers tend to find difficulties in operating astronomical observation activities in fields, due to both internal and external obstacles. It is found that the removal of internal obstacles is more important for teachers to attempt or to continue astronomical observation activities. In this sense, it is necessary to support teachers by providing timely training courses with related content, as well as opportunities to share their experiences within a peer group such as teachers' research society.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.269-285
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• 2016

PCK(pedagogical content knowledge) has been frequently discussed in the field of subject matter education as well as education in general. Considering the fact that PCK characterizes teacher professionalism, and the distinction of mathematics education from neighboring disciplines, PCK is one of the core concepts in the discourse of mathematics education. This study focused on KCS(knowledge of content and students) among the areas of PCK. The purpose of this study to investigate the KCS of pre-service teachers attending a private university located in Seoul. An in-depth interview with 30 pre-service teachers was conducted in a semi-structured manner, using four questions dealing with common student errors, students' understanding of content, and student developmental sequences. The pre-service teachers gave mathematical answers while in others they gave priority to pedagogical considerations. The implication drawn from the interview data is that the teacher training program should fully reflect the complexity of mathematical concepts which appeared in school mathematics over several grade levels and content areas.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.289-301
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to investigate beginning secondary science teachers' teaching practices in terms of motivating and understanding students. Six first-year teachers participated in this study. Data were collected by classroom observations and structured interviews. Instructional materials used during the class were also collected to understand teaching practice. Lessons observed were video-tape recorded and the teachers were interviewed. Video- and audio-tape recording were transcribed. The framework, developed by Knowles Project Team of Michigan State University, was adopted and revised according to Korean classroom context and employed as an analytical tool for teaching practices. The beginning secondary science teachers intention ranged from 'Managing Work' to 'School Science.' No teachers revealed 'Reform Science Teaching' orientation. For the execution of science lessons, one teacher with 'Managing Work' orientation showed 'expert' level of execution, but the others executed at a 'novice' level. Beginning science teachers need to be guided and informed about 'Reform Science Teaching' for motivating and understanding students to develop professionally.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.39-49
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• 2024

The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of the teaching experience of middle school physical education teachers, listening to in-depth statements related to teaching experience based on the physical education teacher's teaching identity, and analyzing the meaningful content and meaning structure found therein. The study participants were four current middle school physical education teachers. The research method used Colaizzi's phenomenological method to analyze the meaning structure through in-depth interviews with research participants, group interviews, additional interviews, and field records. In order to solve the research questions, the interviews were conducted as semi-structured interviews, and the individual interviews were terminated when there were no more duplicate cases or similar phenomena related to teaching experience. As a result of the study, the meaning of experience was constructed based on narrative statements through interviews with research participants, and a collection of 2 items, 6 categories, and 12 themes were extracted by exploring concepts from the constructed meaning. The reasons for going into the teaching profession were categorized into 'motivation' and 'beliefs', and the meaning of teaching experience was categorized into 'mission', 'relationships', 'exhaustion', and 'overcoming'. In conclusion, although the research participants faced numerous difficulties, they experienced challenges and recovery by pursuing the joy and value of sharing within the school community.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1092-1109
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to analyze of the effects of instructional supervision emphasizing reflective thinking on science teaching of elementary teachers. The participants in this study were two teachers. This study was divided in former, middle, and later periods, and consisted of monitoring their own teaching, interviewing, journal writing, discussion with peer teachers and teacher training. Data included descriptions of nine science classes, nine interviews, seven journals and the journals of the researcher. Data analysis tools were the frameworks of the questions, feedback, teaching methods, elements of teaching behavior, and reflection levels. This study employed qualitative research, analysis of the frequency of data, and quoting of descriptions related to the result. The results of this study were as follows: First, teachers showed mainly technical reflection, but changed to show more practical reflection, and critical reflection in the later period of instructional supervision. Second, instructional supervision emphasizing reflective thinking on science teaching for elementary teachers meaningfully changed the question, feedback, teaching methods and teaching elements of teachers. From the results of this study, instructional supervision emphasizing reflective thinking on science teaching for elementary teachers can be considered an effective method in improving teaching elementary science, and instructional supervision used in this study made possible the higher level of reflection and appropriate teaching behavior.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.585-598
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the activity in the elementary school science teachers' study group help teachers improve their professionalism and what the motivation was for the continuous participation by analyzing the operation system of study group and the teachers' perception. For this study, the N Elementary Science Teachers' Study Group in Gyeong-gi province was chosen, which has been maintained for a long time. Data such as observation journals, contents of activities, and some documents from this study group were collected through the participant observation methodology, and the perceptions about the participating motivation, the personal satisfaction and the impact on the professionalism were investigated by interviewing 5 teachers who participating in this study group. The results of this study were as follows: First, voluntary participation activated the teachers' study group, so teachers who belong to the study group, had a great satisfaction in the activities of the study group. Second, the more teachers participated in study group, they thought their professionalism has been improved. Based on the result of this study, implications to improve the professionalism of teachers were suggested.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.841-854
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate the teaching methods of prediction, inference, and hypothesis. The major data source was gathered by in-depth interview of science teachers (about 50-80 minutes for each interview). The interviews were conducted using semi-structured interview protocol, which consisted of three major parts: (1) Teacher's definition of prediction, inferences, hypothesis, (2) Teaching methods of prediction, inferences, and hypothesis and (3)Reasons of teacher's inaccurate perceptions of prediction, inference, and hypothesis. All the interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. Topics in the questions were categorized. The results were as follows: Teachers recognized the importance of prediction, inferences, and hypothesis. But they didn't have an accurate conception and they have great difficulty in classifying and explaining the prediction, inferences, and hypothesis. To find out the teaching methods, researcher investigated the inquiry activities, teaching times, usage of terms, teachers' questions, and teaching difficulties. Reasons for having difficulty were lack of teaching competency, difficulties from the students, and problems in the present curriculum. Finally, we discovered that the reasons for teacher's inaccurate perceptions of prediction, inference, and hypothesis were two factors. One is internal factors, which include the lack of scientific inquiry process skills, burdens of science subject and lack of science education knowledge. The other is external factors, which include education system for evaluations and lack of teacher education. In conclusion, this study suggested establishing more elementary teacher education programs that include strengthened concepts of inquiry process skills and teaching methods.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.159-166
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• 2016

This study analyzed perceptions and difficulties in applying Flipped Learning with an interview method grounded on understanding and experience of Flipped Learning in science class. The interviewees selected were six teachers working in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Three teachers having over two years of experience in operating Flipped Learning in science were selected, one each from elementary, middle, and high school and another three teachers who had just started to operate Flipped Learning this year were chosen, one each from elementary, middle, and high school. According to the result of a 3-step interview conducted with the participating teachers, they indicated very high satisfaction with the implementation of Flipped Learning in elementary, middle, and high school science classes. They responded that Flipped Learning was particularly more helpful for inquiry activity. The teachers, however, felt burdened by the class preparation and had difficulty in organizing the class. To explore ways to get rid of the difficulties in Flipped Learning, this author discussed the textbook system where one could draw various implications for improving the current class.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.974-990
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to explore practical meanings of convergence education and to seek ways of implementing it in school science education. The study adopted focus group interview method in order to elicit science teachers' perceptions and practical knowledge related to various ways of integrating educational aims and contents from the perspectives of science education. Two focus group interviews were held with four science teachers with the themes of the concept and potential of convergence education, and the implementation and systemic support, respectively. The qualitative data was analyzed by deriving major themes comprising teachers' perception on convergence education: they are 1) related concepts and rationales, 2) contents, methods, and assessment, 3) the characteristics of the science subject that make it suitable for convergent education, 4) teacher perception and professionalism required for implementing convergent education, and finally 5) environmental conditions for putting the idea into practice. Based on this result, the study discusses conceptual and practical issues for implementing convergence education in ways that contribute to overcoming the problems of the traditional educational system and reorienting science education towards the future society.