• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.517-528
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• 2024

This paper reports the results of a recent acoustic survey conducted with the objective of providing on the acoustic conditions of school classrooms in Korea. The measurements included both occupied speech and noise levels during 27 active classes and unoccupied data on the acoustical conditions, and sound insulation performance in 16 classrooms in 4 schools. The effects various parameters on the speech and noise levels in occupied classrooms has been examined. The impact of room acoustic design on speech and noise levels in active classrooms has been also investigated. The speech and noise levels of the elementary school are approximately 4 dBA to 5 dBA higher than those of the other three schools (junior high, high, and special), likely due to the nature of activities involved in group work and the age of the students. A notable 19 dBA difference is observed between the quietest and noisiest classroom activities and the classrooms in which students were observed working in groups with discussion had the highest noise levels. Both occupied and unoccupied data have enabled the establishment of a comprehensive picture of the acoustic conditions in classrooms and have highlighted the necessity of introducing acoustic standards for improving the acoustic environment in Korean schools.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.295-304
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• 2023

Background: Adolescents are relatively more sensitive than adults to exposure to indoor pollutants. The indoor air quality in classrooms where students spend time together must therefore be managed at a safe level because it can affect the health of students. Objectives: In this study, three types of green-wall models were applied to classrooms where students spend a long time in a limited space, and the resulting effects on reducing PM were evaluated. Methods: In the middle school classrooms which were selected as the experimental subjects, IoT-based indoor air quality monitoring equipment was installed for real-time monitoring. Three types of plant models (passive, active, and active+light) were installed in each classroom to evaluate the effects on improving indoor air quality. Results: The concentration of PM in the classroom is influenced by outdoor air quality, but repeated increases and decreases in concentration were observed due to the influence of students' activities. There was a PM reduction effect by applying the green-wall model. There was a difference in PM reduction efficiency depending on the type of green-wall model, and the reduction efficiency of the active model was higher than the passive model. Conclusions: The active green-wall model can be used as an efficient method of improving indoor air quality. Additionally, more research is needed to increase the efficiency of improving indoor air quality by setting conditions that can stimulate the growth of each type of plant.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.113-123
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• 2023

This paper describes the acoustical conditions of elementary school and high school classrooms as well as university classrooms in Korea and suggests a need for Korean acoustic standards and guidelines for classroom design. Current standards and guidelines of classroom acoustics in several countries were briefly introduced to understand their acoustical performance criteria for background noise levels and reverberation times, and noise isolation design requirements in various types of classrooms. The results of several acoustic survey of domestic classrooms in elementary school, high school, and university were described and compared to provide information of the acoustic characteristics of Korean school classrooms. The survey includes occupied and unoccupied data on the acoustical conditions, noise levels, and noise isolation performance in the classrooms. Acoustical parameter values for achieving 'good' speech intelligibility in active university classrooms were also presented.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.41-52
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• 2004

Recently, park usage for environmental education has gained popularity in Seoul. Therefore this study was performed by analyzing the status and problems of nature classrooms in neighborhood parks and citizen's parks that are located in residential areas in Seoul, and then by suggesting improved methods and user programs. The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1) 18 out of 281 neighborhood parks and citizen's parks have nature classrooms in Seoul. Facilities of nature classroom are comprised of direction signs, plant name card, pond, pavilion, pergola, bench, green house, waste baskets, lighting, drinking fountain and others. However, they have many problems in terms of quality. Nature classrooms were classified into three types according to their location in each park. Among the three types, the most popular type was the one that is a part of a park A Total of 479 species of plant (155 species in tree, 324 species in herb) were planted in nature classrooms. There are many kinds of environmental education user programs, but these are not connected with the nature classrooms. Most nature education programs in nature classrooms were self-guided. 2) The Problems that appeared were the featureless place composition, a lack of programs related to nature classrooms, access restriction to certain natured areas, and so on. 3) Finally, this study suggests some solutions to the problems of nature classrooms in urban parks. The solutions include full access to the parks, the creation of diverse theme, and setting up interesting panel and leaflets in order to encourage more active self-guided education.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.35-47
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to investigate various kinds of discipline problems in middle school classrooms, and the differences in severity and frequency of the classroom discipline problems between male and female students' classrooms in middle schools. This study shows that the discipline problems in the middle school classrooms include using a cellular phone, chattering, sleeping, chewing gum, reading comic books, asking useless questions, challenging a teacher, fighting, calling names, skipping class, throwing trash in the classroom, breaking classroom equipment, creating disorder, losing materials, playing with a ball in the classroom, gambling, and so on. Generally, male students recognized the severity of the classroom discipline problems more than the female students. However, it is shown that the frequency of discipline problems in male students' classrooms is higher than that in female students' classrooms. From the results of this study, male students have more active discipline problems (playing with a ball in the classroom, throwing trash in the classroom, coming to class late, gambling, cutting in line, and so on). On the other hand, female students have more passive discipline problems (making a noise by using a cellular phone, asking useless questions, sending messages to a classmate, studying other subjects, scattering, and so on).

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.161-172
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to compare students' perception shaped by two different university classrooms: Traditional Classroom and ALC(Active learning classroom). We conducted survey of 71 university students who were taught by an identical instructor using same pedagogy. The survey questionnaires asked respondents about their perceptions on teaching and learning and physical environments relations, teaching proficiency, social context, student satisfaction and immersion. The data was analyzed using Student's T-test. The results showed that ALC group, compared to the traditional classroom group, demonstrated statistically higher awareness on teaching and learning and physical environments relations, teaching proficiency, and instructor-student unofficial relations. Based on these findings, implications and limitations of this study were discussed.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.181-190
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• 2019

In high school classrooms, it is reported that ventilation is often insufficient, increasing health risks among students. Therefore, indoor air quality in school classrooms is very important in terms of students' health and learning abilities. In this study, the effect of window opening, which is a control mechanism for air control in summer high school classrooms, on the change in air and indoor environment of the classroom was analyzed and physical conditions of indoor and air environment were observed during the classroom course, and satisfaction of the students and teachers was assessed with questionnaires. It was found that change rate of $CO_2$ concentration in classroom was effectively reduced by carrying out activity of opening the window by active environment control activity of occupants at break time, intermission time and cleaning time. And optimal window opening by students was presented to prevent unpleasantness and degradation of indoor air quality and the effects were analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Educational Facilities
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.43-54
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to survey teachers' perception of classroom space utilization through analyzing the physical environment of elementary school classrooms (56 classrooms in 10 schools). Most of the teachers arranged desks in the two person parallel type (sectional layout : standard type) for their classes. Although the number was small, some classrooms used the T type, H type, U type, group type, and the teachers of such cases used these layouts for children's play activities or group learning. Some teachers changed the desk layout depending on the contents of learning or for different atmosphere of class, but about 40% of the teachers used the same classroom layout without any change during a semester. When the teachers' perception of classroom space utilization was examined according to the type and change of desk layout, the quantity and characteristics of posts, the position of posting spaces, and the size of activity spaces in the classroom, most of the teachers tended to be conventional without any characteristic, and only 16% of them were relatively active in utilizing classroom spaces. In addition, teachers of a relatively small class were more active in utilizing classroom spaces. In particular, perception was very low to utilize the classroom as a space for children's life or play activities or various types of learning. These findings suggest that it is necessary to improve teachers' perception of classroom space utilization in the future.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.26-40
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• 2005

Based on the Vygotskian perspective that a learner's thinking is constituted in his or her talk and the assumption that student talk in the classroom may occur in more than one way, this study examined discursive practices of students in Korean high school science classrooms. Data came from $11^{th}$ grade earth science classrooms where the Group Investigation (GI) method was implemented. Data source included verbatim transcripts developed from video recordings of class sessions in which students presented their science projects to the whole class and exchanged questions and answers during the presentations. The analysis of the videotape transcripts revealed five different modes of student talk, including 1) retrieving information, 2) reformulating information, 3) building on one's own experience, 4) elaborating current understanding, and 5) negotiating meanings with others. Considering that each of the five modes had different value for learning science, it was recommended that the teacher should engage students in more active modes of discourse and guide them into more sophisticated understanding of science.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.245-259
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate English teachers' perceptions about doing their own action research to find out the benefits of involvement in action research. I believe that teachers should engage in curriculum research and development because it relates to their own classrooms and because a primary aim for teacher education program is to give teachers ways of exploring their own classrooms. I focused on 17 graduate students who had undertaken action research during the fall semester of 2007 and administered a questionnaire about their perceptions of doing action research. The results revealed that their perceptions of doing action research fell into the following two categories, positive and negative aspects. For positive aspects, they experienced a sense of personal and professional growth and they underwent identity transformation from passive, etic-oriented, and uncritical to active, emic-oriented, and critical teachers. However, many of them expressed that major obstacles to doing action research were time constraints and lack of skills or training in conducting action research. Thus, it is suggested that both pre- and in-service teachers should consider conducting a language teaching diary study, doing collaborative action research, and acquiring all the necessary skills for conducting action research.