• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.183-195
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• 2019

In this study, we investigated the characteristics of the authentic inquiry components in the inquiry tasks of Science Inquiry Experiments textbooks developed under the 2015 Revised National Curriculum. After classifying inquiry tasks by core concepts, we analyzed the cases that students autonomously planned or performed the authentic inquiry components. The results of the study revealed that investigating multiple materials component most frequently appeared in all units. However, generating research question, selecting variables, observing multiple variables and transforming observations components appeared in a few tasks of history and everyday science units as they were often guided or structured in textbooks. Controlling simple or complex variables, observing intervening variables and considering methodological flaws components rarely appeared in all units as most of textbooks did not consider or indicate explicitly. Authentic inquiry components of everyday science unit tended to be handled in small group activities. On the bases of the results, the implications for the development of the inquiry tasks of Science Inquiry Experiments textbooks are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.47-63
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• 2023

In this study, we analyzed the PCK components in the materials units of the third and fourth grades of the Korean government-authorized teacher's guides for elementary school, developed in the 2015 revised national curriculum. The results showed that the PCK components were presented in a relatively balanced manner compared to the teacher's guides for middle school. Knowledge of the subject matter accounted for the highest proportion, and knowledge of instructional strategies in science accounted for a higher proportion than knowledge of the science curriculum. The knowledge of assessment in science showed the greatest deviation among publishers, and knowledge of students tended to show the lowest. By subcomponents, experiments and inquiries had a higher proportion than concepts and theories. The ratio of horizontal articulation was lower than that of vertical articulation or lesson objectives, and lesson objectives were presented in various ways, such as in core competencies and achievement standards for science. As questioning was emphasized, teaching strategies and questioning appeared at a similar rate. Motivation and interest, misconceptions were linked to teaching strategies and questioning. In some cases, assessment items and assessment criteria were presented at each level, and various PCK components were linked to these two components. Components with relatively large differences among publishers were supplementary or in-depth concepts, inquiry in textbooks, instruction sequence and method, subject-specific strategies, and assessment items. From the results, the implications for the development of teacher's guides were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2017

The result of TIMSS 2015 was announced at the end of 2016. In this research, we conducted test-curriculum matching analysis for 8th grade earth science and analyzed Korean students' percentage of correct answers and responses for TIMSS earth science test items. According to the results, Korean students showed high percentage of correct answers when the item topics are covered in the 2009 revised science curriculum, and Korean students revealed their weakness in constructed response items since the percentage for correct answers on constructed response items is half that of multiple choice items. Depending on the earth science topic, for 'solid earth' area, which includes earth's structure and physical features, as well as earth's processes and history, students showed high percentage of correct answers for multiple choice items. Students, however, showed low percentage of correct answers for items that require applying knowledge to everyday situations and connecting with other areas of science such as biology. For 'atmosphere and ocean' areas, which include earth's processes and cycles, students showed low percentage of scores for climate comparison between regions, features of global warming, etc. For the area of 'universe', students showed high percentage of scores for the earth's rotation and revolution, the moon's gravity, and so on because they have learned these topics since primary school. Discussed in the conclusion are ways to secure content connection between the primary and middle school earth science curriculums, ways to develop students' science-inquiry related competencies, and so on to improve middle school earth science curriculum as well as teaching and learning.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.166-181
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to examine the change and appropriateness of inquiry tendency in elementary science textbooks by national curriculum period by comparing previous researches that reported Romey's Involvement Index in the science textbook and other subject textbooks. The results of the study are as follows: First, for the text index (T), the value of science textbooks by curriculum tends to continue to decline overall. The value of science textbook based on the 3rd curriculum is judged to be extremely inquiry oriented and the value of the textbooks based on the 2007 and 2015 revised curriculum are the values judged as somewhat authoritative textbook and as a textbook at the appropriate level of inquiry, respectively. There is no significant difference compared to the T values of other subject textbooks since the 2007 revised curriculum; Second, the index of figures and diagrams in the text (FD) of science textbooks also continues to decline by curriculum periods. In particular, the FD value of science textbook of the 2015 revised period is judged to be a authoritative textbook, which is lower than the value of other subject textbooks; Third, in the case of the activity index (A), it gradually decreases from the third curriculum to the 2015 revised curriculum, but it is judged as textbooks suitable for inquiry. However, after the 7th curriculum, the value of A is generally lower than those of other subject textbooks; Fourth, for the index of the questions at the ends of chapters (Q), the value of Q is reported to be extremely limited compared to the aforementioned three indices(T, FD and A), which may be mainly due to differences in the composition of science textbooks by curriculum period.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.677-689
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to derive suggestions and implications to strengthen the science curriculum continuity of Korea through comparative analysis with focus on the continuity of science curriculum in six countries (Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Finland, the United States, Canada, Korea). Original and Korean translations of the national curriculums of each country gathered from NCIC comparatively analyzed the contents of the 'Moon' and 'Rock cycle' based on features of curriculum configuration, vertical, and lateral connectivity. As a result, it was found that the concepts of Big Ideas or Cross-cutting Concept was utilized internationally to strengthen the linkage between grades or subjects. In particular, dealing with the aspect of the system was important. In the comparison of countries for the content, Korea deals with the most frequency on the 'Moon' and 'Rock cycle'. The contents of the chapter about the moon were simply repeated from elementary to high school levels with some variation. Korean science curriculum holds different perspectives and contents about the Rock cycle compared to other countries. In conclusion, Korea's curriculum requires appropriate tools to strengthen curriculum linkage and by doing so, it will be able to take advantage of the systems approach. Moreover, it is important to constitute the curriculum based on a sufficient understanding of the learning development of students according to their grade levels for the effective application of the curriculum.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.27-48
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• 2018

The purposes of this study are to derive suggestions and implications to improve the continuity of Korean Science & Practical Arts (Technology Home Economics) curricula through international comparative analysis with focus on the science curricula or standards in five countries (Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, the United States, Korea). Original documents of the national curriculums or standards of each country collected from NCIC comparatively analyzed the big concepts of the 'system' and 'energy' based on features of related components of curriculum contents, vertical, and lateral connectivity. The results indicated that the big concepts of systems and energy were used internationally to consider the curriculum continuity. In most countries, the big concept of system was used as a framework to integrate science with technology or other contents. In particular, it was also utilized to strengthen vertical and lateral connectivity in earth science and space science contents area. In the comparison of countries for the system as the big concept, New Zealand focused interrelationship between system and human activities, systems' interaction, levels and features of system concept for the linkage between grades and subjects on the basis of level. In the case of Canada and Singapore, science and technology are combined to strengthen contents' connection. However, the revised 2015 curriculum has a lack of continuity and sequence because the concepts of system and energy were concentrated on a specific grade and contents' area. The curriculum was not developed systematically for multiple grades according to their levels. In conclusion, Korean science curriculum requires sufficient understanding of students' learning and research on learning progressions and curriculum continuity. In addition, it is very important to constitute the curriculum based on the vertical and lateral connectivity in order to improve science education and to foster students' key competencies and abilities.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.94-118
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore the multi-faceted understanding and issues of science subject matter competencies from the trends of competency-based curriculum discourse, and to examine the relationship between general core competencies and science subject matter competencies. First, we examined the theoretical background of competency-based curriculum focusing on behaviorism, humanism, and its comprehensive synthesis. After that, we reviewed OECD's competency-related projects (DeSeCo; OECD Education 2030), US Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Korea's 2015 Revised National Curriculum from the viewpoint of competency-based curriculum. After that, we summarized and systematically analyzed a list of competencies, 105 general core competencies and 45 science subject matter competencies proposed by 15 important documents from home and abroad. The results of this study are as follows: First, the issues of the proper number, appropriate dimension, and how individual competencies should be unique and independent were pointed, in terms of defining and categorizing competencies. Second, it was suggested that the competency items are presented in various dimensions such as personal-micro dimension, community meso-dimension, and social-macro dimension. Meso-dimension was placed on both general core competencies and subject matter competencies. Third, in the relationship between general core competencies and subject matter competencies, the former emphasizes macro-dimension, and the latter emphasizes micro-dimension, revealing an existing gap, and where the two can meet each other is the meso-dimension. These discussions are thought to provide insight into the understanding of competencies in the national curriculum, including the 2015 Revised National Curriculum.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.208-214
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• 2016

With the rising interest in intelligence information technology built on artificial intelligence and big data technologies, all countries in the world including advanced countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and so on, have launched national investment programs in preparation for the fourth industrial revolution centered on the software industry. Our country belatedly recognized the importance of software and initiated the 2015 revised educational curriculum for elementary and secondary informatics subjects. This paper thoroughly analyzes the new educational curriculum for information science in high schools and, then, suggests improvements in the areas of information ethics and multimedia. The analysis of the information science curriculum is applied to over twenty science high schools and schools for gifted children, which are expected to play a leading role in scientific research in our country. In the future artificial intelligence era, in which our dependence on information technology will be further increased, information ethics education for talented students who will play the leading role in making and utilizing artificial intelligence systems should be strongly emphasized, and the focus of their education should be different from that of the existing system. Also, it is necessary that multimedia education centered on digital principles and compression techniques for images, sound, videos, etc., which are commonly used in real life, should be included in the 2015 revised educational curriculum. In this way, the goal of the 2015 revised educational curriculum can be achieved, which is to encourage innovation and the efficient resolution of problems in real life and diverse academic fields based on the fundamental concepts, principles and technology of computer science.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.217-226
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• 2020

The purpose of this research is to draw suggestions on the settling of the 2015 revised curriculum and the direction of science curriculum improvement by identifying the current status of science general elective courses for high school sophomores, and examining teachers' perception. To this end, with 12 city and provincial education offices' cooperation, we analyzed the status of science elective subjects that freshmen took in 2018 by school year, school type and region. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine science teachers of the focus group to discuss ways to improve curriculum operation and implementation of science general elective courses, and ways to raise the selection rate. The number of science general elective courses for high school students in 12 municipal and provincial education offices was confirmed to be 163,710 for Physics I, 216,754 for Chemistry I, 290,736 for Bioscience I, and 200,861 for Earth Science I. By school type, autonomous high schools have the highest completion rate, while specialized schools and vocational schools have very low rates. Units completed per semester for general elective courses were mostly three units (61.5%) and two units (28.7%). High school science teachers suggested reconstruction of three-unit elective courses that can be completed in one semester, content development focused on competences rather than knowledge, and the need for a teacher community to improve teachers' teaching competences. Based on the results of the research, ways to operate high school science elective curriculum in preparation for the high school credit system were suggested.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.267-282
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• 2022

This study aims to analyze the continuity and sequence between the intelligent life curriculum for grades 1-2 and the science curriculum for grades 3-4 with a focus on knowledge and inquiry process skills. The results demonstrate that contents related to science in the intelligent life curriculum consisted of only 10 out of 32 elements. Five elements were related to the science curriculum for grades 3-4 and limited to the 'life sciences' area. Particularly, the intelligent life curriculum did not address topics related to 'matter' and 'motion and energy'. Developmental connection was established in the 'life sciences' area and dramatic changes were noted for the topics related to 'earth and space' area. In terms of inquiry process skills, the levels of observation, measurement, inference, and communication naturally increased, whereas a developmental connection was noted between the intelligent life and science curricula. Classification can be viewed as a developmental link; however, viewing the classification as scientific from the epistemic perspectives was insufficient. In the case of expectation, a gap was observed in both curricula due to the absence of expectation activities in the intelligent life curricula. The study discussed the implications for securing the connection between the intelligent life and science curricula on the basis of these results.