• Journal of Science Education
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.389-404
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• 2013

This study aimed to explore elementary teachers' beliefs about science teaching, science learning and the nature of science and consistency among these beliefs. Data was collected by using an open questionnaire and semi-structured individual interview. Teachers' beliefs were classified as traditional beliefs and constructivist beliefs. Traditional beliefs were further divided into content knowledge-centered beliefs and procedural knowledge-centered beliefs. The result showed that a relatively large number of teachers among the total 30 teachers had traditional beliefs about science teaching, science learning, and the nature of science(respectively 60.0%, 66.7%, 83.3%). Most of traditional beliefs were identified as content knowledge-centered beliefs. The proportion of teachers with consistent beliefs for all three aspects was 40.0%, the proportion of those with consistent beliefs for two of them (those with related beliefs) was 53.3%, the proportion of those with different beliefs for them (those with divergent belief) was 6.7%. Most of the teachers with the consistent beliefs had the content knowledge-centered beliefs of traditional beliefs. Although constructivism has been widely emphasized in science education from the 1980's, the rate of the teachers with the consistent beliefs in constructivism was as low as 6.7%.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.360-376
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• 2001

This qualitative research investigated in-service science teachers' perceptions about cooperative learning and their perceived barriers in implementing cooperative learning in their classrooms. The underlying premise for cooperative learning is founded in constructivist epistemology. Cooperative learning (CL) is presented as an alternative frame to the current educational system which emphasizes content memorization and individual student performance through competition. An in-depth interview was conducted with 18 in-service science teachers who enrolled in the first-class teacher certification program during 2001 summer vacation. These secondary school teachers's interview data were analyzed and categorized into three areas: teachers' definition of cooperative learning, issues with implementing cooperative learning in classrooms, and teachers' and students' responses towards cooperative learning. Each of these areas are further subdivided into 10 themes: teachers' perceived meaning of cooperative learning, the importance of talk in learning, when to use cooperative learning, how to end a cooperative class, how to group students for cooperative learning, obstacles to implementing cooperative learning, students' reactions to cooperative learning, teachers' reasons for choosing (not choosing) student-centered approaches to learning/teaching, characteristics of teachers who use cooperative learning methods, and teachers' reasons for resisting cooperative learning. Detailed descriptions of the teachers' responses and discussion on each category are provided. For the development and implementation of CL in more classrooms, there should be changes and supports in the following five areas: (1) teachers have to examine their pedagogical beliefs toward constructivist perspectives, (2) teacher (re)education programs have to provide teachers with cooperative learning opportunities in methods courses, (3) students' understanding of their changed roles (4) supports in light of curriculum materials and instructional resources, (5) supports in terms of facilities and administrators. It's important to remember that cooperative learning is not a panacea for all instructional problems. It's only one way of teaching and learning, useful for specific kinds of teaching goals and especially relevant for classrooms with a wide mix of student academic skills. Suggestions for further research are also provided.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.500-520
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• 2010

The purposes of this case study were (1) to explore one experienced teacher's views on Earth Systems Education and (2) to describe and document the characteristics of the Earth Systems Education (ESE) curriculum provided by an exemplary middle school science teacher, Dr. J. All the essential pieces of evidence were collected from observations, interviews with the experienced teacher and his eighth grade students, informal conversations, document analysis, and field notes. The $NUD^*IST$ for MS Windows was used for an initial data reduction process and to narrow down the focus of an analysis. All transcriptions and written documents were reviewed carefully and repeatedly to find rich evidence through inductive and content analysis. The findings revealed that ESE provided a conceptual focus and theme for organizing his school curriculum. The curriculum offered opportunities for students to learn relevant local topics and to connect the classroom learning to the real world. The curriculum also played an important role in developing students' value and appreciation of Earth systems and concern for the local environment. His instructional strategies were very compatible with recommendations from a constructivist theory. His major teaching methodology and strategies were hands-on learning, authentic activities-based learning, cooperative learning, project-based learning (e.g., mini-projects), and science field trips. With respect to his views about benefits and difficulties associated with ESE, the most important benefit was that the curriculum provided authentic-based, hands-on activities and made connections between students and everyday life experiences. In addition, he believed that it was not difficult to teach using ESE. However, the lack of time devoted to field trips and a lack of suitable resource materials were obstacles to the implementation of the curriculum. Implications for science education and future research are suggested.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.501-510
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• 1997

Science teachers' beliefs about science and school science and their perceptions of the science laboratory learning environment were investigated with an assumption that science laboratory teaching would be affected by science teachers' beliefs. Likert-scale questionnaires of BASSSQ and SLEI were used in this study. The major findings were as follows: 1. Science teachers showed inconsistent beliefs about science and school science. Their responses reflected a patch-like view of postmodern epistemology and objectivism They also showed somewhat different views about science and school science. It was found that science teachers had strong objectivist views about science in some parts. but they had moderate constructivist views about school science in other parts; 2. The mean scores of student cohesiveness, integration. and rule clarity on the actual version in SLEl were relatively high, but those of open-endedness and physical environment were very low; 3. There was no association between teachers' beliefs about science and their perceptions of the science laboratory learning environment. But some associations were found between teachers' beliefs about school science and their perception on student cohesiveness, integration, and rule clarity of the actual science laboratory learning environment. Teachers' beliefs about school science had some statistically significant correlations with their perceptions on all scales of the preferred version of SLEI. We could not show a causal relationship between teachers' beliefs and their science laboratory learning environment through these results. But it can be suggested that teachers' beliefs about school science do have a role in constructing a desirable science laboratory learning environment, as we found that there were statistically significant correlations between them.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.77-95
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to analyze ego state types of teacher librarians by using egogram of the Transactional Analysis. It is the ideal ego state types for teachers that NP (Nurturing Parent), A (Adult) and FC (Free Child) are much higher than CP (Critical Parent) and AC (Adapted Child). But the teacher librarians are under higher CP and AC rather than A and FC. It means that the teacher librarians consider their values and belief as right things. Also it seams that they have not a conciliatory attitude but a hardened attitude that emphasize rules and standards. These ego state may be obstacle to their instructors role under the constructivist learning environment highlighting self directed learning of students. So, in the training course for the teacher librarians, informational and educational service course and development programs of education contents and instructional materials should be reinforced in order to strengthen their teaching competence and partnerships.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.387-407
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• 2021

The present study was conducted on the assumptions that both progressivist and constructivist education emphasized the subjective knowledge of learners and confronted similar problems when the derived educational principles from the two perspectives were adopted and applied to mathematics research and practice. We argue that progressivism and constructivism should have clarified the meaning, purpose, and direction of 'emphasizing subjective knowledge' in application to the particular educational field. For the issue, we reflected Dewey's theory on the application of past progressivism, and aligned with it, we took a critical view of the educational applications of current constructivism. As a result, first, the meaning of emphasizing subjective knowledge is that each of the students constructs a unique mathematical reality based on his or her experience of situations and cognitive structures, and emphasizes our understanding of this subjective knowledge as researchers/observers. Second, the purpose of emphasizing subjective knowledge is not to emphasize subjective knowledge itself. Rather, it concerns the meaningful learning of objective knowledge: internalization of objective knowledge and objectification of subjective knowledge. Third, the application of the emphasis on subjective knowledge does not specify certain teaching/learning methods as appropriate, but orients us toward a genuine learner-centered reform from below. The introspections, we wish, will provide new momentum for discussion to establish constructivism as a coherent theory in mathematics classrooms.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.143-157
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• 2022

The aim of this study is to design Spudsville, an immersive game environment in Minecraft that can effectively help learners acquire the English language. To create a successful learning experience using Minecraft, the researchers adopted the Agile Model and the Design Thinking approach. The researchers first conducted an analysis through an extensive literature review in order to assess the learners' needs. Afterwards, they designed and developed a Minecraft world based on the data collected during the analysis phase. The researchers learned that implementing constructivist and behaviorist approaches has benefits, even though applying a cognitivist-learning model to Spudsville could have provided the researchers with more insight on how learner processes information. Making these adjustments could improve Spudsville's effectiveness and could potentially help the ways in which gamified learning aids with language acquisition.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.665-676
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• 2015

In this case study, we analyzed the processes of STEAM lessons conducted by preservice secondary science teachers. Three preservice science teachers at a college of education in Seoul participated in this study. After the workshop for STEAM education, they planned and practiced STEAM lessons. All of the teaching-learning materials were collected before lessons, and their lessons were observed and videotaped. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted before and after their lessons. The processes of STEAM lessons were analyzed while focusing on PCK and PDC. Their difficulties, needs, and views on STEAM education were also studied. It was found that they have taken much efforts to reflect the objectives and characteristics of STEAM education, and prepared teaching-learning materials by searching on the internet and arranging creative contents. Their great difficulty was to determine topics for STEAM lessons. While one preservice teacher satisfied with her lesson perceived STEAM education positively, the others perceived that it would be very difficult to practice STEAM lessons in school. For their STEAM lessons to be successful, the workshop needs to include some specific information on grades, proper topics for each grade, ways of making materials, and tips for effective STEAM lessons. In addition, it will be effective if the workshop is carried out after their study on constructivist learning theory and if they experience successful STEAM lessons.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.53-68
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• 2012

This paper investigated the conceptual schemes four children constructed as they related division number sentences to various types of fraction: Proper fractions, improper fractions, and mixed numbers in both contextual and abstract symbolic forms. Methods followed those of the constructivist teaching experiment. Four fifth-grade students from an inner city school in the southwest United States were interviewed eight times: Pre-test clinical interview, six teaching / semi-structured interviews, and a final post-test clinical interview. Results showed that for equal sharing situations, children conceptualized division in two ways: For mixed numbers, division generated a whole number portion of quotient and a fractional portion of quotient. This provided the conceptual basis to see improper fractions as quotients. For proper fractions, they tended to see the quotient as an instance of the multiplicative structure: $a{\times}b=c$ ; $a{\div}c=\frac{1}{b}$ ; $b{\div}c=\frac{1}{a}$. Results suggest that first, facility in recall of multiplication and division fact families and understanding the multiplicative structure must be emphasized before learning fraction division. Second, to facilitate understanding of the multiplicative structure children must be fluent in representing division in the form of number sentences for equal sharing word problems. If not, their reliance on long division hampers their use of syntax and their understanding of divisor and dividend and their relation to the concepts of numerator and denominator.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.98-110
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• 2005

This study aims to explore the usefulness and the way of practical use of dilemma episodes in science teacher education by the responses of teachers on the given dilemma episodes and connected discussions. The research based on the idea of constructivist teacher education, the assumption that dilemmas can provide teachers with an open investigation context, an understanding of nature of science education. The dilemmas episodes in Wallace and Louden(2002) were introduced and discussed in order during graduate course to 11 elementary teachers. Perception on the reality and importance of given dilemmas differed by topics, but many of them were very similar to their experiences, brought active discussion on the issues. Some could not arouse sympathy because of cultural differences. The teachers recognized the dilemma episodes provided thoughtful reflection on their own teaching, opportunity of sharing experience and knowledge with peers, overall view for science education. Most of them gave positive opinion on the use of dilemma episodes in teacher education. Upon these teachers' responses and exploratory research experiences, some practical suggestion were made for science teacher educators.