• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.860-869
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to suggest an instructional direction for improving scientific inquiry problem-finding ability of the scientifically-gifted. For this purpose, this study has made an in-depth analysis of the scientific inquiry problems generated by the scientifically-gifted in Problem-Finding Activity in Ill-structured Inquiry Situation (PFAIIS) and Problem-Finding Activity in Well-structured Inquiry Situation (PFAWIS). The results of this study turned out to be as follows: First, most of the problems generated in PFAIIS and PFAWIS could be categorized into seven types (measurement, method, cause, possibility, what, comparison, relationship) according to the inquiry objectives, while the frequency of each type shown in each inquiry objective was a little different. Second, the frequency of scientific concepts stated in inquiry problem was more in PFAWIS than in PFAIIS. But the scientific concepts were shown more diversely in PFAIIS than in PFAWIS. Therefore, results of this study have the following educational implications. First, it is necessary to offer various opportunities of problem-finding activity under ill-structured scientific Inquiry situation. Second, it is needed to emphasize that a new inquiry problem can be found out even during general scientific experiment and frequently to discuss inquiry problems generated during an experiment. Third, it is needed to encourage the scientifically-gifted to generate a scientific inquiry problem based on at least more than seven types.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.171-187
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• 2007

The 166 elementary school students of this study were divided into four groups by gender and degree of structure in problem situations. Written instruments ascertained intelligence, conceptual knowledge, science process skills, divergent thinking, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, personality traits, and home environment. Results were that male students scored higher on problem finding in the ill-structured than in the moderately structured problem situation. In the ill-structured problem situation, personality traits, conceptual knowledge, and intrinsic motivation contributed to the scores of male students and home environment and conceptual knowledge contributed to the scores of female students. In the moderately structured problem situation, personality traits and intrinsic motivation contributed to the scores of all students, but science process skills contributed to the scores of female students only.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.765-774
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to suggest an instructional direction for improving scientific problem-finding ability. For this purpose, the present study made an in-depth analysis about activity on problem finding tasks of high school students in an ill-structured scientific problem situation. Subjects were divided into two groups (cooperative and individual) and two kinds of problem finding tasks were administered to two groups. Results indicated that a cooperative activity on problem finding happened to a series of steps exploring problem situation, expressing knowledge and experience, discussing provisional problems, creating various problems and selecting the best problem. Besides, a cooperative activity on problem finding depended heavily on prior knowledge and experience, and in the meantime, various scientific concepts turned out to naturally be expressed. As for the problems found out during a cooperative activity, their scores in creativity factors, including the degree of agreement in original problem selection came out to be on the whole, as excellent. In addition, the types of the problems found out in open problem situation showed that they were more various than those found out in closed problem situation. Subjects perceived that activity on problem finding had positive influence on scientific concept and science process skills. Findings of this study have the following educational implications: First, it is needed to prepare for educational environment that enables students to explore various knowledge and information. Second, the offering of various opportunities is needed to enlarge the scope of scientific knowledge and experience. Third, it is needed to prepare for a study atmosphere that lets students express their knowledge and experiences freely.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.179-185
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• 2008

purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between high school students' Problem Finding Ability (PFA) and chemistry problem solving ability. To achieve this purpose, the interrelationship between the results of PFA in ill-structured scientific problem situation and the scores of sham examination in chemistry I of College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was analyzed. The results of this study turned out to be as follows: There was correlation (r=.346) between the score of PFA test and that of sham examination in chemistry I of the CSAT. And a little correlation (r=.390) between PFA and students application ability which is one of the sub factors in sham examination of the CSAT. Especially, in the high achievers group there was high correlation (r=.446) between students fluency which is one of the sub factors in PFA, and application ability. This implies that the application ability of high achievers has something to do with their PFA for a variety of problems. As for the PFA between high achievers and low achievers, there was no significant difference (t=.830, p=.411).