• Journal of Science Education
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.69-89
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to examine personal characteristics of two elementary students who developed individual interest in science. 201 students of two elementary schools in Seoul participated in questionnaire survey engaged in to investigate students' interest in science, engagements and preference in science-related-activities three times a year. This case study was conducted with seven students who showed typical types of interest in science. Students wrote a photo-journal for 12 weeks. They were interviewed every other week by a researcher. We analyzed two students who developed individual interest. It turns out that RF participated in doing experiments at home, and disassembling and assembling things. Participation of activities was a process of solving curiosity. When he was unable to solve problems, he searches the internet or books. Sometimes he would ask for help from his teacher. JW engaged in activities: drawing, doing experiments at home, and going to informal education center. She communicated with others by using online-offline media. Curious questions were solved by herself. The two students have a tendency to solve problems by themselves. Also, positive science-related activities were going on at home and in school. This study not only give insights and understanding of students who developed individual interest in science but also provide implication for educators to examine personal characteristics of students.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.594-608
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• 2010

This research attempts to extract the factors that generate scientific interest, and verify the effect of extracted factors on the generation of scientific interest in middle school students' observation activity on life phenomenon. In order to analyze interest-generating factors, observation programs were applied four times in the science class of 3rd grade middle school students. And an interview was conducted towards students who had strong scientific interest among students who participated in the observation activity. After classifying the interview results according to the types, and 21 interest-generating factors were extracted. Interest-generating factors were classified into 5 categories; the characteristics of the observation object, the characteristics of the observation activity, the characteristics of the observation result, the characteristics of the observer, and the characteristics of the extrinsic factor. It was verified that interest-generating factors have an effect on the generation of scientific interest in the observation activity. First of all, in order to confirm whether the extracted generation factors would have an effect on the generation of interest in observation activity, as survey of interest-generating factors was drawn up. The observation activity program of 4 times' volume was applied towards third grade middle school students, and survey paper on interest-generating factor was input. Analysis result showed that factors have effect on the generation of interest. That is, it was confirmed that extracted interest-generating factor has a significant effect on the generation of scientific interest. The cause analysis on the uninteresting observation activity was possible, and it would play an essential role in developing an interesting observation activity.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.646-654
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate the patterns of the elementary school students' interests to animals and plants based on affinity toward animals and plants, and curiosity about animals and plants by using a cluster analysis. In addition, the differences of the big five personality traits by the identified clusters was examined. A total number of 411 elementary school students participated in the study. The students were clustered into four distinct interest groups with respect to the level of interests to animals and plants. Cluster 1 'Developed Interest to Organisms group' showed high levels in the interest to both animals and plants. Cluster 2 'Developed Interest to Animals group' showed high interest to animals and relatively low interest to plants whereas cluster 3 'Developed Interest to Plants group' showed high interest to plants and relatively low interest to animals. Lastly, cluster 4 were identified as 'Lack of Interest to Organisms group' by showing low levels of interest to both animals and plants. The four identified groups also showed different distributions of students according to gender and school year. These results support gender difference in the interest to animals and plants and suggest the decreased and specialized interest with school year. The Big Five personality traits excluding neuroticism were positively related with the interest to organisms and the identified groups showed significant differences in the traits. These findings indicate that agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness can be significant predictors of the interests to animals and plants.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.581-592
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• 2013

Various data and methods are necessary to help students understand the science subject, and have interest in it. Most students like cartoons, and more easily memorize their contents. The purpose of this study was to verify the effects of science cartoon reading on the academic achiements, the levels of interests in science and scientific attitudes of elementary students The study subjects were four classes of the 6th grade of G elementary school in U city. Two classes were experimental group and the others were comparison group. The students of the experimental classes were encouraged to read science cartoon related to class contents at the beginning and ending for 5 minutes respectively in instructional time. And those of the comparison classes received general science lesson. The results of this study were as follows. First, the experimental classes encouraged to read science cartoon marked higher average score than comparison classes in post-test and the difference was meaningful (p<.05). This meant science cartoon reading treatment had the effect of improvement of the levels of interest in science of student. Second, the experimental classes marked higher average score than comparison classes in post-test but didn't show meaningful difference. This meant science cartoon reading treatment didn't have the effect of improvement of academic achievement of students in our study. Third, the experimental classes marked higher average score than comparison classes in post-test and showed the meaningful difference(p<.05). This meant science cartoon reading treatment had the effect of improvement of scientific attitudes of students. From the results thus far, we could tell that science cartoon reading had positive effects on the levels of interest in science and scientific attitudes of students in our study.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.827-835
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• 2011

This study investigated the effect of introducing advanced science contents into the science curriculum 10th grade on students' interest in science. Four classes of the 10th grade were selected from a co-ed high school located in the city of Seoul. Among them, each two classes were assigned as a control group and treatment group, respectively. Students in each group were divided into three groups according to their previous science achievement. The treatment group was taught with materials consisting of advanced science content that was associated with the 'Reaction Rates', 'Environment' and 'Inquiry of Science' section of the curriculum. Before and after being taught over a six-week period, students' interest in science and science class were measured. The data showed that there was a significant correlation between the instruction and students' previous science achievement in the 'interest in science'(p<.01). There was a significant difference between the two groups in the 'interest in science class' irrespective of their prior science achievement (p<.05). The data showed that the introduction of advanced science content into the science curriculum had considerable effect on increasing students' interest in science and science class. Moreover, many students expected more opportunities to learn advanced science content associated with the science curriculum.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.225-237
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of elementary pre-service teachers regarding their interest in science. A survey was conducted among 187 elementary pre-service teachers enrolled at Non-Metropolitan Area A University of Education. Data collection was carried out concurrently with three elementary pre-service teachers who agreed to participate in online interviews. The survey responses provided by the elementary pre-service teachers were analyzed using a qualitative text analysis method. Interest in science was observed to decrease during middle school, followed by the upper grades of elementary school and then the lower grades. The reasons for the decline in interest in science were interpreted as stemming from negative experiences with science education within the context of individual circumstances in the school setting. Strategies to address the decline and enhance interest in science were discussed across individual, family, school, teacher, local community, and national levels, considering both short-term and long-term perspectives. These strategies encompassed various inquiry activities and experiences related to the field of science, engagement in science-related activities, student-centered instruction, teacher professional development, support for elementary students and teachers, and policy measures. The multifaceted approach and efforts aimed to open avenues for positive feedback regarding science on an individual level and foster experiences related to science were interpreted as part of an effort to counteract the decline in interest in science. Lastly, given the current situation of declining interest in science and the need to enhance students' interest, it was implicitly and explicitly discussed that pre-service teachers should focus on improving their expertise in curriculum instruction. This research, by exploring the conceptual characteristics of interest in science, perceptions of changes, and educational needs related to interest in science among elementary pre-service teachers, is expected to have academic significance as foundational research data for the current status of declining interest in science.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.183-192
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• 2004

The purpose of this research is to suggest the way to promote housewives' understanding of science and technology, based on the survey results of the attitude toward science and technology, the scientific attitude, and the interest in science and technology of housewives in Korea. The questionnaire was developed by researchers and administered to housewives who live in Seoul to get basic information. Housewives showed slightly positive attitudes toward science and technology, and similarly positive scientific attitudes. These scores were increased as monthly income and education level were raised. Housewives' interest of the science-technology related topics (foods, health, education, leisure, social issues, cooking, housing, everyday activity) was relatively high, and the interest of foods, health, education, and leisure was significantly correlated with the scores of housewives' attitude towards science and technology and their scientific attitudes. Housewives are shown to be curious to know these topics when they were asked by their children or do not know the terms appeared in media, or purchase home appliances and food. And they get the answers in a passive way by asking their family members or by watching TV or newspapers. They preferred TV program for enhancing their understanding of science. But such program could be proper to present science knowledge but not fulfill the role to promote scientific literacy. Specially designed programs through science centers or science museums would be suggested for their lifelong education.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2018

Objectives: This study aimed identify of the level and effect of the e-health literacy and health behavior in health science majors Methods: The data was collected from March 5 to March 15, 2018 for student majoring in health science at a university in the C city. The data were analyzed with the SPSS 21.0. Results: First, the e-health literacy were statistically significant in grades (F=5.769, p=0.001), health interest (F=10.553, p<0.001) and health care time (F=3.841, p=0.023), and health behavior were statistically significant in subjective health condition (F=5.476, p=0.05), health interest (F=16.716, p<0.001), and health care time (F=28.479, p<0.001). Second, the e-health literacy were correlated with grades, health care time, economic level and health interest, and health behavior were related to health care time, e-health literacy, subjective health condition and health interest. Third, health behavior related factors were health care time, e-health literacy, grades, subjective health condition, and health interest. Conclusion: The related knowledge and skills should be applied to basic classes in order to ensure that health science majors care can accurately utilize the information on the e-health.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.468-474
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the elementary pre-service teachers' interest in biological topics and activities. The instrument to survey the interest of them consists of 8 domains containing 27 topic items and 7 domains containing 12 activity items(three-point from 0 to 2 Likert scale). Data were collected from 108 pre-service teachers. The interest level in the topics was high, but the interest level in the activities was average. There was not different between interest levels of females and males in both topic and activity components (p > .05). Among the topics, the 'genetics' domain correlated strongly with the domains of 'nutrition and digestion', 'circulation', 'respiration' and 'nervous system', and the 'respiration' domain correlated with the 'circulation' domain(r >.450, p<.01). The correlation between the domains of 'out-of class experience activity' and 'visual information activity', and 'experimental performance following procedure' and 'discussing and debating'(r >.450, p<.01). This results suggested that the educational contents including learning materials and experiential activities be developed to activate the interest of elementary pre-service teachers in biology.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.379-392
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of animation-based instruction on elementary students' level of understanding and interest on a plant's structure and function, using "Magic School Bus(Joanna Cole, Bruce Degen, 1986)". The understanding and interest measurements were administered to 99 fifth grade students at a elementary school located in Seoul. The study examined the changes in understanding and interest through pre-test and post-test of the two groups. Intensive interviews were conducted to find factors that enhance understanding and interest. Three key findings were revealed from the results. First, the animation-based instruction enhanced the level of understanding in the experimental group compared to the control group. Second, animation-based instruction made high-achieving students enhance their interest in topic component and attitude component. And, animation-based instruction did not led low-achieving students to increase their interest in the topic component and attitude component. We suggest that animation-based instruction positively influences students' understanding, but its effects on students' interest are dependent on their conceptual understanding of the topic.