• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.658-672
• /
• 2022

The unique teaching and learning difficulties of speed-related units in elementary school science are mainly due to the student's lack of mathematical thinking ability and procedural knowledge on speed measurement, and curriculums and textbooks must be constructed with these in mind. To identify the implications of composing a new science curriculum and relevant textbooks, this study reviewed the structure and contents of the speed-related units of three curriculums from the 2007 revised curriculum to the 2015 revised curriculum and the resulting textbooks and examined their relevance in light of the literature. Results showed that the current content carries the risk of making students calculate only the speed of an object through a mechanical algorithm by memorization rather than grasp the multifaceted relation between traveled distance, duration time, and speed. Findings also highlighted the need to reorganize the curriculum and textbooks to offer students the opportunity to learn the meaning of speed step-by-step by visualizing materials such as double number lines and dealing with simple numbers that are easy to calculate and understand intuitively. In addition, this paper discussed the urgency of improving inquiry performance such as process skills by observing and measuring an actual object's movement, displaying it as a graph, and interpreting it rather than conducting data interpretation through investigation. Lastly, although the current curriculum and textbooks emphasize the connection with daily life in their application aspects, they also deal with dynamics-related content somewhat differently from kinematics, which is the main learning content of the unit. Hence, it is necessary to reorganize the contents focusing on cases related to speed so that students can grasp the concept of speed and use it in their everyday lives. With regard to the new curriculum and textbooks, this study proposes that students be provided the opportunity to systematically and deeply study core topics rather than exclude content that is difficult to learn and challenging to teach so that students realize the value of science and enjoy learning it.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.689-697
• /
• 2019

This paper critically examines the current status of software education and its contents in the 2015 revised curriculum and explores the criteria for content selection. For this purpose the principles of selection of educational contents in general curriculum composition were reviewed. In addition this study explored the criteria for selecting contents of software education from an educational philosophy. In particular Oakeshott's practical knowledge was examined as a philosophical basis for the selection of software educational contents. It emphasized that the contents of software education should be composed of practical experiences rather than knowledge and activities. Based on these discussions five proposals were made as criteria for selecting contents for software education. First consistency with the purpose of the curriculum second reflection of the level of learners third creation and product of creative knowledge fourth reflection of future sociocultural demands and fifth, growth as a digital democratic citizen.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.31-50
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to analyze duplicated contents of 'Food and Nutrition unit' of Home Economics and other subject textbooks for the middle school students. In order to achieve the purpose, the textbooks of "Home Economics I II", "Science I II III", "Ethics I II", "Physical education", and "Health education" were analyzed. The results of the analyses were as follows. According to the analyses of the common contents with other subjects related to the 'Food and Nutrition unit' in the "Home Economics I II" textbooks for the middle school students under the 2009 revised curriculum, the high percentages of the common contents were found in "Science" curriculum and "Health education" curriculum, followed by "Physical education" and "Ethics". It was observed that the Home Economics curriculum provided not only the theoretical basis about the dietary issues that the youth faces but also a plan to address those issues, as "Home Economics" textbooks were focused on 'dietary problems of the youth', 'balanced diet', 'green diet', and 'Korean-style diet'. The "Science" curriculum focused on scientific theories and principles, as the "Physical Education"and the "Health education" focused on health. In contrast, it was revealed that the "Ethics" curriculum considered 'Koreans' identity' and 'environment'. Overall as for the strength of 'Food and Nutrition unit' of "Home Economics"compared to those of other subjects, comprehensive contents for dietary life had been dealt with according to the development of the adolescent in "Home Economics", while other subjects focused on specific contents or examples concerned with 'Food and Nutrition unit'. In this regard, the dietary education for the middle school students will be more effectively conducted by "Home Economics", as compared with other subjects.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.11-18
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze the questions generated by elementary school pre-service teachers when reading the teacher's guide for the refraction of light, and to analyze the difficulties in understanding the concept and in making instructional plans. A total of 592 meaningful questions were generated by 283 elementary school pre-service teachers after reading the teacher's guide of 'light and lens' unit in the 6th grade of the 2015 revised curriculum. Of these, 306 questions are for understanding the concept of physics and 286 are pedagogical questions. As a result of the analysis, in terms of understanding the concept of physics, the elementary school pre-service teachers encounter difficulties in understanding the concept of the 'cause' of the phenomenon suggested in the textbook, such as the cause of refraction, the reason for scattering light, and the cause of the image change depending on the focal length of the convex lens. In terms of instructional planning, it was followed by questions about how to explain concepts, questions about not being able to explain concepts to elementary school students and having to teach only phenomena, specific explanation methods for specific concepts, and experimental methods. Although the teacher's guide contains various explanations and supplementary materials to help teachers understand the concept, it can be seen that there are many elementary pre-service teachers who cannot answer questions about some concepts even after reading the guide. For concepts with a high frequency of questions, it is necessary to prepare a tutorial that is more understandable. In the instructional plan, there were many questions about teaching methods and experimental methods, so it is necessary to provide more examples and specific experimental methods for explaining concepts in the teacher's guide.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.618-629
• /
• 2023

Although society has become increasingly diverse, on a few studies analyzed elementary science textbooks in terms of race or disability. Therefore, this study analyzed character illustrations presented in elementary science textbooks in terms of multiculturalism and disability. It identified 14 approved elementary science textbooks for the 2015 revised curriculum, which are used during the first and second semesters in the third grade. First, analysis of the race of character illustrations in elementary science textbooks indicated that 8.2% of them are multicultural, which is higher than the actual proportion of foreigners living in Korea. In addition, most of them were white illustrations, whereas Asian foreign illustrations made up the least, which suggests a different distribution in the Korean context. The study observed significant differences in distribution according to publishers. Second, the gender distribution of multicultural character illustrations differed by 59.0% and 41.0% for men and women, respectively, and the gender variation between publishers was relatively large in which a few publishers accounted for 80% of male multicultural figures. The third pertained to the function of illustrations, that is, the distribution of illustrations of Koreans and multicultural figures was similar in terms of the order of illustrations with explanatory functions followed by exemplary, decorative, and supplementary functions. Finally, from the perspective of diversity in disability, the proportion of illustrations with disability was 2.0%, which was less than the actual proportion in Korea. The study discussed the need to consider the situation and diversity of Korea in terms of race and d isability.

• Journal of Science Education
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.331-344
• /
• 2020

This study aims to find meaningful implications for the development of Korean elementary school math education courses and textbooks by comparing and analyzing the number and arithmetic areas of Korean and Canadian math textbooks in fifth and sixth grades. To this end, the textbook composition system of Korean and Canadian elementary schools was compared and analyzed, and the number and timing of introduction of math textbooks and math textbooks by grade, and the number in fifth and sixth grade and the learning contents of math textbooks were compared and analyzed. The following conclusions were obtained from this study: First, it is necessary to organize a textbook that can solve the problem in an integrated way by introducing the learned mathematical concepts and computations naturally in the context of problems closely related to real life, regardless of the type of private calculation or mathematics area. Second, it is necessary to organize questions using materials such as real photography and mathematics, science, technology, engineering, art, etc. and to organize textbooks that make people feel the necessity and usefulness of mathematics. Third, sufficient learning of the principles of mathematics through the use of various actual teaching aids and mathematical models, and the construction of textbooks focusing on problem-solving strategies using engineering tools are needed. Fourth, in-depth discussions are needed on the timing of learning guidance for fractions and minority learning or how to organize and develop learning content.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.501-514
• /
• 2018

This study aimed to develop a program that can be linked to gardening education activities in elementary students' curriculums and creative experience learning courses, and to apply the developed program to 6th graders in an elementary school located in Seoul. Research was conducted in a large category called biophilia, which named the instinct of human nature and nature throughout the research. The curriculum revised in 2015 was selected for the purpose of the garden education program based on the objectives and contents of the unit, and for the purpose of the class. In the process of developing and implementing the program, experience properties and elements were divided into direct and indirect experience of nature, including shapes and forms found in nature, air, water, plants, weather, animals, and natural materials. The results showed that the biophilic horticultural education program was effective in promoting students' multi senses. In the case of the experimental group, all the multi-sensory areas showed statistically significant differences, especially in the area of environmental literacy, environmental effect and emotional balance including plant cultivation knowledge. There was a relatively smaller difference in the dietary effect area than other areas because of no directional dietary program was included in the developed program. As a result, first, it is expected that the data can be utilized on site as a program or place of activity for students in upper grades. Second, it will be necessary to develop a more diverse program using other biophilic elements that were not covered in this study in order to maximize the effects of biophilic education.

• Journal of Science Education
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.273-285
• /
• 2023

Measurement in elementary school mathematics is one of the mathematical concepts that is directly used in real life. This study is based on the fact that mathematics textbooks for 3-4 and 5-6 graders were developed as the government designed and authorized textbooks and the general measurement instruction process is condensed and presented considering the limitation of the textbook's space for the capacity and weight. Its contents were analyzed. The results are as follows. The contents of authorized textbooks and government designed textbook are different in detail but similar overall in comparative activities, recognition, and situation of the need for the introduction of standard unit and estimation activities. Through this, it is proposed that efforts are needed to reform national textbook policies and develop textbooks that can highlight the meaning of each measurement activity and focus on students' activities.

• Journal of Science Education
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.151-164
• /
• 2022

The 2015 revised science curriculum textbook of 6th graders describes 'day and night' as an astronomical phenomenon observed on a daily basis. Textbooks use only visual materials from a space-based perspective to explain the causes of day and night. This study aims to investigate what changes in spatial representations of 5th graders when additional visual materials of the Earth-based perspective were presented to them. It also shows that the Space and the Earth-based perspectives appear to be interconnected. The following are found in this study. First, when students were presented with a visual material of an Earth-based perspective, their spatial representations of both the Earth and the Space-based perspectives changed. Second, the visual material of an Earth-based perspective confirmed the possibility that students' spatial representation types could be different in many ways. Third, the effect on the spatial representation of each perspective is different depending on gender and the level of spatial representation.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.66 no.2
• /
• pp.124-135
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study was to analyze the chemisry education contents of South Korea and North Korea for understanding chemistry education of North Korea. Chemistry education in South and North Korea was investigated in terms of learning period and learning quantaty. Especially, what content North Korea learned prior to South Korea and what contents learned more were analyzed. The subjects of this study were South Korean 2015 revised National Science Curriculum and North Korean science textbooks in Kim Jong-un era. The North Korean textbooks analyzed are 'Nature' for North Korean elementary school 3, 'Natural Science' for North Korean middle school 1 and 2, and 'Chemistry' for North Korean high school 1 and 2. The analysis results are as follows. First, the content elements to be learned in advance in North Korean textbooks were density, oxidation and reduction, battery, and atomic weight. Second, the content elements additionally learned in North Korean textbooks include separation of mixtures, fuels, oxidation and reduction, metals, organic and inorganic substances, metals and non-metal oxides and hydroxides, inorganic substances used as fertilizers, nutritional substances, and salt reaction and utilization, atomic orbitals, hybridization of orbitals, coordination bonds and complexes. As a future research task, a qualitative analysis of the elements of North Korean chemistry, the activities of textbooks, and an experimental analysis were proposed.