• Journal of Science Education
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.258-270
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• 2009

Science textbook is the most frequently used teaching material in elementary schools of the United States and Korea. Elementary science textbooks of the United States and Korea are analyzed to find out the educational objectives and characteristics of contents shown in textbooks. About 100 pages each in the first grade and fourth grade science textbooks each nations are selected randomly for educational objective analysis. Life science contents of 1st to 6th grade are analyzed from elementary science textbooks of the United States and Korea. The analyzed textbooks in Korea are 'Wise life,' an integrated subject with social studies and science, and 'science.' The analyzed elementary science textbooks of the United States are Harcourt Science, which is one of the frequently used textbooks. The educational objective framework used includes science knowledge, scientific inquiry, scientific attitude, STS, and philosophy and history of science. The results show science textbooks of the United States emphasize scientific knowledge more than scientific inquiry. Korean science textbooks emphasize scientific inquiry more than scientific knowledge. Elementary science textbooks of the United States present some life science topics redundantly and expose more difficult topics than Korean.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.200-210
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• 2003

This study is focused to characteristics of earth region vocabularies used in 7th curricula science textbooks for 3rd to 6th grades of elementary school. The numbers of earth region vocabularies are generally increased from the lower to the higher grade textbooks, ‘science’ and ‘experiments and observation’. In ‘science’ textbooks, numbers and use frequencies of earth region vocabularies are predominant in astronomy and atmospheric science vocabularies. Meanwhile, in ‘experiment and observation’, domains related with astronomy have relatively more numbers of the vocabularies but domains related with geology have higher use frequencies of those vocabularies relative to domains related with another areas. ‘Strata’ and ‘fossil’ of geology vocabularies, ‘air temperature’ of atmospheric science vocabularies and ‘sun’ and ‘planet’ of astronomy vocabularies are commonly the highest frequent in the use for science textbooks and experiment and observation. In the both books, earth region vocabularies are derived from 70% to 80% words of Chinese, below 10% of pure Korean, and rest of other languages. Additionally, cases of pure Korean vocabularies unpacked from professional nomenclatures, ones without previous explanations and multiple vocabulary applications to same phenomena are observed in the both books. Synthesizing above results, it is suggested that the reconsideration of domains related with each area of earth science and vocabulary uses assigned to above cases is necessary, in possible.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.318-330
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to compare the biology contents of elementary schools science textbooks between Korea and Japan. To this end, the organization of subject matter and the type, process and context of inquiry activities were analyzed. The findings of this study were as follows: First, the sheer number of topics presented at each grade level was considerable and the contents of science textbooks were fixed in a set form in Korea. However, the organization and development of contents were made by considering the state of things and seasons in the case of Japan. Second, the amount of inquiry activities in Korea was higher, but the relationship between concepts and inquiry activities was lower than in Japan. Third, actually conducting (or 'doing') inquiry type activities was highest in Korea, on the other hand, 'experimenting' appeared to have a higher priority in Japan. Fourth, inquiry processes of activities in each country were very similar, in that the ratio of performing an inquiry was high, and perceiving a problem or designing an inquiry was low. Fifth, the results of analyzing the inquiry contexts of activities showed that the framework of evaluating inquiry activities based on curriculum objectives should be provided in the earlier stages of science textbook development.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.111-122
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• 2019

In this study, the characteristics of the reading materials in the chemistry domain of elementary school science and middle school science textbooks and chemistry I and II textbooks developed under the 2009 Revised National Science Curriculum were investigated. The criteria for classifying the reading materials were the types of theme, purpose, types of presentation, and students' activity. The inscriptions in the reading materials were also analyzed from the viewpoint of type, role, caption and index, and proximity type. The results indicated that more reading materials were included in the elementary science textbooks compared to middle school science, chemistry I, and/or chemistry II textbooks. The percentage of application in everyday life theme was high in the reading materials of elementary science textbooks, whereas the percentage of scientific knowledge theme was high in those of middle school science, chemistry I, and/or chemistry II textbooks. It was also found that the percentage of expanding concepts purpose was high in the reading materials of elementary science textbooks, whereas the percentage of supplementing concepts purpose was high in those of middle school science, chemistry I, and/or chemistry II textbooks. Several limitations in the use of inscriptions were found to exist; most inscriptions were photograph and/or illustration; most inscriptions were supplementing or elaborating texts; many inscriptions were presented without a caption or an index; there was a problem in the proximity of inscriptions to text.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.221-238
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to analyze the introduced contents and the nature of science on the history of science in elementary school science textbooks according to the 2009 revised curriculum. For this purpose, first of all, the frequency of contents of history of science in 8 kinds of science textbooks in elementary school is analyzed by grade cluster and content part. Analysis framework for analyzing the introduced contents on the history of science was characterized with three-dimensional combination of the context, the role and the types(Park, Lee, & Lee, 2011). Analysis framework for the nature of science on the history of science was developed by Leite(2002) and revised by Choi (2005) and Kim(2010) and complemented under one expert in science education. The results of this study are as follows: First, the frequency of contents of history of science in textbook is 26 and it were not equally distributed into science textbooks in elementary school as a result of the analysis by grade cluster and content part. Second, with three-dimensional combination framework only 13 kinds were used in all 48 different types through analyzing the textbooks. It implies that ways of introducing contents of history of science into textbooks were limited to certain types. Third, the nature elements of science were not equally distributed on the history of science in elementary school science textbooks. In conclusion, in order to understand the nature of science through the history of science and to foster scientific literacy ultimately, it implicates that it is need to present various kinds of the history of science for one theme in consideration about the grade cluster and content part. Also more multilateral approach is need to introduce equally distributed into textbooks to reflect the elements of the nature of science.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.580-595
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• 2007

To respond to the announcement of the revised version of science curriculum early this year, it has been necessary to develop new science textbooks which can be appropriate and effective to achieve the goals of the revised curriculum. The system of new textbooks needs to embrace the concerns of cognitive development in scientific knowledge, skills, and attitudes as well as social and cultural demands in the rapidly changing society. To develop an innovative framework of science textbooks, we examined previous studies on textbook analysis in Korea and analyzed science textbooks in the United States, Singapore, and Japan. We analyzed various ways of introducing and developing conceptual knowledge, leading scientific inquiry skills and process, enhancing scientific attitudes toward science, technology, society and the environment in those science textbooks. In the process of framing the structures of textbooks, we focused on ways of increasing educational effects of visualized texts, leaners' interest, user-friendly procedure, scientific inquiry, effectiveness of hands-on activities, scientific reading and writing skills, and usage of workbook. Based on those aspects and analyses of textbooks, we attempted to propose a feasible framework of Grade $3{\sim}4$ Science textbook which can effectively respond to the educational changes and demands in the local and global society.

• Hwankyungkyoyuk
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.115-124
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• 2002

The purpose of this research is to analyze the contents related to environmental education(EE) in the elementary school textbooks for the following areas: well-balanced EE, and development of EE curriculum/teachers' guide in elementary school level. For the purpose of this analysis, elementary school teachers, education administrators and EE specialists were involved. Eleven content areas of EE, namely: natural environment, artificial environment, population, industrialization, natural resources, pollution, environmental conservation, environment sanitation, environment ethics, environmentally sound and sustainable development(ESSD), and daily li(e as a consumer, were analyzed. The results of the analysis are as follows: 1. There are total 1,140 contents related to EE in the elementary school textbooks of 7th Korea National Curriculum. 2. The textbooks of grade 6 contain the most number of EE contents, while the least number is in the textbooks of grade 3. 3. The subject that includes EE contents equally in its textbooks is social studies, and the subjects that relate a lot to EE are Korean language, science, and social studies respectively. 4. The content areas that are included a lot in textbooks are' natural environment', 'pollution', and' environmental conservation' respectively, while the contents of 'population','industrialization', 'ESSD' are included to a lesser degree. The content area most frequently mentioned in the textbooks is 'pollution', and the number of the contents are increasing along with the grade level. 5. Generally, the content areas of 'population', 'industrialization', and 'natural resources' are reflected in the textbooks to a lesser degree than others. 'Industrialization' is not included in the textbooks of grade 2, while 'population' is not included in ones of grade 4. According to the result, more concern about balanced EE in content areas is needed at the elementary school level. Similar studies tot K and secondary school levels are needed. The developmental study of EE guide book and teacher training for teaching EE using the book are also recommended.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.449-463
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• 2020

This study was to analysis teaching strategies, types of inquiry activities and the relationship between science concepts and inquiry activities presented in science textbooks. As a result of the study, first, the inquiry-based teaching strategies presented in science textbooks were experiment, simulation, demonstration, and field study. Second, there were 53 inquiry activities presented in 8 units related to the earth science area of science textbooks, and the types of inquiry activities were experimental observation (EO) 18, mock activity (SA) 20, investigation discussion and presentation (IP). It was analyzed as 12, data interpretation (ID) 2, and express (EX) 1 piece. Third, the relationship between inquiry activities and science concepts presented in science textbooks was analyzed. As a result of the analysis, out of a total of 42 inquiry activities, 21 inquiry activities corresponded to EA (explicit activities), in which the result of inquiry activities was directly and explicitly linked to science concepts. And IA (implicit activities), which is an implicit inquiry activity in which science concepts must be inferred using the results of inquiry activities, were analyzed as 21. In particular, IA (implicit activities), which is an implicit inquiry activity, can be said to be the result of reflecting the characteristics of earth science areas where many simulated activities (SA) are used. This is considered to be a matter to be considered in the process of developing various elementary science textbooks in the future.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.390-403
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• 2009

We have examined the perception of teachers and students in elementary schools toward the frontier science and analyzed corresponding contents in science textbooks in Korea and the U. S. in order to promote a good guidance for the frontier science education. We prepared separate questionnaires for teachers and children, respectively, and analyzed the responses obtained from 244 teachers and 1,000 students in five elementary schools. For the analysis of how to introduce the frontier science, we investigated textbooks such as Science, Society and Practical Arts of Korean elementary school, and an American science textbook published by Scott Foresman. This study revealed that teachers are well aware of the importance of the frontier science, however, they are inactive in conducting the subject in class rooms because of their insufficient scientific knowledge and poor environment for teaching. It has been found that children had strong interest in the frontier science, however, opportunities to learn the topic are not properly provided. The frontier science m the American science textbook turned out to be more systematically introduced than that in Korean ones.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2010

This study was carried out to analyze terms in primary science textbooks. The results of the research are as follows. 1. The higher-grade science textbooks use more types of categories and less definitions for terms. Only 14% of definitions for terms are showed in textbooks, and no more than 0.4~0.6 definitions shows the shortage of definitions for terms in one class content. 2. The definitions by contract, which forms 68%, was the highest in elementary science textbooks. And the dictionary definitions, which are 62%, was the highest in experiment-observation textbooks. 3. The most used type of definitions is the way which is used for a case or a indicating methods, and its rate is increasing steadily. And its rate was 76% of the whole of terms. 4. Terms used in energy field are few as compared with terms of other fields. Each field has completely different ways of defining terms and presenting content in textbooks to other fields.