• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.221-244
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• 2021

To examine the limitations of the the Blosser's (1973) 'Question Category System for Science', which is mainly applied to research in science education in Korea, we analyzed 30 hours of class conversation in a small group program (for first-year middle school students) with a researcher participating as a teacher. When classified according to Blosser's (1973) classification system, distinguishing between 'open and closed questions' was difficult. Questions with the same content were classified into different types depending on their context, whereas some questions could not be classified appropriately. Additionally, higher-level questions (open questions) were not more effective than lower-level questions (closed questions) in improving students' thinking ability or participation in class. The questionnaire's effect differed depending on the information provided by the teacher before questioning, and in many cases, previous question influenced the next questions. However, in the science education questionnaire research based on Blosser's (1973) classification, which is mainly conducted in Korea, each individual question is classified according to the cognitive level, disregarding the influence of context and prior and subsequent questions and the quality of instructions is evaluated by the frequency of higher level questioning. The results of this study indicate that the method of evaluating instruction quality based on the frequency of high-level questioning, which is currently conducted in domestic science education inquiry research, should be avoided.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.120-129
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to provide informations for developing next elementary school science textbooks and educational implications for a spot of science class through analyzing patterns of questions in the elementary school science textbooks under the 2007 revised curriculum. To get a meaningful results, the 2,446 questions extracted by operation definition from 3~6 grade science text books were analyzed by modified analysis frame work based on Blosser's classified system. The findings of this study were as follows: First, among 2,446 questions, the propositional pattern element had the highest rate, 49.2%, the appreciable pattern element had the lowest rate, 1.4%, of all pattern elements. Second, from the results of comparing patterns of questions in each grade's science textbook, as the grade went higher, the rate of the applicable and the divergent pattern element tended to increase, and that of the other elements tended to decrease. Third, as the results of comparing patterns of questions of 4 each field in elementary science textbooks, the energy field questions were the largest in number, followed by the substance field. The rate of the propositional pattern element was the highest of all question elements in common in each field. In the reproductive and the propositional pattern element, the energy and the substance field had a little higher rate than the other fields. On the other hand, in the applicable and the divergent pattern element, the earth and the life field had a little higher rate than the other fields.