• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.119-138
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• 2015

This study analyzed the academic achievements on above-level testing of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and English in newly entering students of science specialized high schools. It can be expected that newly students of science high specialized schools have reached ceiling level in the middle school mathematics and science academic scores. Above-level testing(or off-level testing) is a test tool used to evaluate student's ability which are above-grade level. In this study, above-level testing tools were used to develop the same type examination paper of the 2013 Korean College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT) in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and English. The conclusions of this study were as follow: First, the academic achievement level of science specialized high school freshmen were higher the average level of general high school senior because that over 50% of them are within the 5 grade of CSAT in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. In English, 19.3% science specialized high school freshmen have reached within the 5 grade of CSAT. Second, as a result of examining characteristics of academic achievement with respect to units of subjects, in mathematics, it was showed that the academic achievement of 'continuity and limit of a function' unit was higher, 'statistics' unit was lower. In physics, the academic achievement of 'Electricity and Magnetism' unit was higher, 'Waves and particles' unit was lower. In chemistry, the academic achievement of 'compounds in life' unit was higher, 'Air' unit was lower. In English, the academic achievement of 'practical sentence' of reading area was higher, 'Sentence' of writing area was lower. In conclusion, above-level testing provided a good strategy for identifying and determining appropriate programming interventions for gifted students who are two or more grade levels above their age-mates in achievements, aptitude, or ability.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.34-44
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• 2015

Mathematical, spatial, and verbal abilities are important for future engineers to succeed in the STEM disciplines. The purpose of the study is to assess engineering students' spatial abilities and analyse the relationship with mathematical achievement, verbal achievement, and gender. On the mental rotation tests, 65% of male students demonstrated a substantial level of spatial abilities. But only 30% of female students exhibited spatial skills at the same level as their male colleagues. The correlations between mathematical - spatial - verbal abilities are found to be negligible. When spatial visualization ability was plotted according to the mathematical achievement level, there was no difference in the mean spatial abilities score. But when mathematical achievement score was plotted according to the spatial abilities, there was a noticeable difference. Regression analysis confirmed that female students' mathematical achievement increased as spatial abilities improved. This phenomenon was not observed for male students. It's because male students' spatial ability already contributed to their mathematics achievement. So spatial ability can be regarded as one factor for the gender differences in mathematics achievement. The gender gap on spatial abilities and math achievement is large among high achieving students. For example, there was a 4.3 to 1 male - female ratio and 3.4 to 1 male - female ratio among students scoring 99th percentile in spatial visualization test and scholastic aptitude test-math.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.149-167
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• 2015

In this study, we estimate the effect of ability grouping on mathematics achievement empirically. We use propensity score matching(PSM) method to minimize selection bias and estimate the effect of ability grouping on the mathematics standard score of Scholastic Ability Test with the KELS(Korea Education Longitudinal Study) 6th stage data. The result indicated that relationship between ability grouping and mathematics achievement is positive and Policy efforts is needed to operate ability grouping effectively.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.595-604
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• 2003

This study was designed to investigate the difference in the autonomous supervision and role performance according to the socio-demographic factors of the teachers. Also, the relation of the autonomous supervision and the role performance was examined. This research was conducted using the questionnaire to 394 teachers of national, public, and private kindergarten in Chung-buk province. Data were analyzed with the SPSSWIN program by the frequency, percentage, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe post-hoc test and Pearson's correlation analysis. The results were summarized as follows: First, levels of autonomous supervision of kindergarten teachers were high in general and there were significant differences according to the institution, age, scholastic ability, and the career. The accomplishment in the public kindergarten was higher than that in the private one. Moreover, the higher the teacher's age, career, and scholastic ability, the higher the accomplishment. Second, levels of role performance of the kindergarten teachers were excellent, but the levels of role performance were higher in the public kindergarten than in the private one because the public teachers who did not transfer much had more chances of continuous education and higher responsibility. The role performance of teachers was found to be relatively higher in the kindergarten in countries than in cities because there were more public kindergartens than private ones in countries. Third, there were significant correlations between the lower factors of autonomous supervision and the role performance of the kindergarten teachers. Because the various types of the autonomous supervision can help the teacher's role performance, various types of the autonomous supervision which fit the developmental stages of the teachers will be desirable.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.169-186
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• 2015

According to changes of college admission policies and the first application for 2009 revised mathematics curriculum, we should redefine characterization of mathematics section in 2017 College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT) and prepare a plan on details of making questions related to it. Specially, we need to reflect the voices of the school site in order to determine the method of making CSAT questions which is consistent with the intent of it and contributes to the normal operation of high school curriculum. In this study, we polled out 312 schools among 2,338 high schools nationwide and math teachers of the schools were been chosen were surveyed. The sampling method used a proportionate stratified sampling by the department of education. Analyzing the results of the survey, We redefined characterizations and roles of mathematics section in 2017 CSAT and suggested the details including questions distribution according to optional object of 2017 CSAT mathematics section.

• School Mathematics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2011

This study investigated the Chinese national university entrance examination (Gaokao) in mathematics administered in 2009 and 2010 to draw out some implications on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in mathematics of Korea. To evaluate the attainments of basic mathematical skills and multilateral abilities required for further studies in university, the Gaokao mathematics is set in two forms(Art/Science), based on the Chinese national mathematics curriculum. The types of items in the Gaokao mathematics are multiple-choice, single-answer, and write-out-answer. The mathematical abilities that the Gaokao mathematics evaluates are mathematical reasoning, operation, geometrical imagination, application, and creativity. As a result, some implications on the Korean CSAT are drawn out in terms of the level of difficulty, the types of items, the arrangements, and the scores of items.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.171-195
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• 2012

While noticing that there is insufficient interest in the assessment of EFL learners' vocabulary levels or sizes, the researchers developed two tests identical in form (Forms A and B) to assess the lexical knowledge of Korean university learners at the $1^{st}{\sim}10^{th}$ 1,000 word bands by adapting a pre-established vocabulary levels test (VLT). Of equal concern was to investigate if the VLT was equally a valid and reliable instrument to be used on measuring the lexical knowledge of EFL learners. The participants were 804 university freshmen enrolled in a General Education English Course from four different colleges. The learners were asked to respond to either Form A or B. While scores generally fell towards the lower frequency bands, multiple regression found the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) to be a significant variable for predicting the learners' vocabulary sizes. From a methodological perspective, however, noticeable differences between Forms A and B could be found with item response theory analysis. The findings of the study provide suggestions on how future VLT for testing EFL learners may have to be redesigned.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.179-185
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• 2008

purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between high school students' Problem Finding Ability (PFA) and chemistry problem solving ability. To achieve this purpose, the interrelationship between the results of PFA in ill-structured scientific problem situation and the scores of sham examination in chemistry I of College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was analyzed. The results of this study turned out to be as follows: There was correlation (r=.346) between the score of PFA test and that of sham examination in chemistry I of the CSAT. And a little correlation (r=.390) between PFA and students application ability which is one of the sub factors in sham examination of the CSAT. Especially, in the high achievers group there was high correlation (r=.446) between students fluency which is one of the sub factors in PFA, and application ability. This implies that the application ability of high achievers has something to do with their PFA for a variety of problems. As for the PFA between high achievers and low achievers, there was no significant difference (t=.830, p=.411).

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.378-386
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• 2002

In this study, the students' responses on the chemistry items of in the general science of College Scholastics Ability Test (CSAT) implemented for the past 3 years since 1999 were investigated. The number of items by content and inquiry process, the average percent correct by content and inquiry process, the distribution of items by the level of percent correct, and the items with high and/or low percent correct were analysed. There were the fewest items in 'environment' area, especially in 'ozon layer', no test item had been made. The most difficult content area was 'acid rain' in 'environment'. By inquiry process, the most number of items belonged to 'analyzing & interpreting data', and 'identifying problems & formulating hypothesis' was the most difficult process. No test item came under the level of 'very difficult', and many items under the 'easy' or 'very easy' level. Students were generally poor at solving test items demanding several concepts, and very good at simply requiring basic concept treated in lower grade. Educational implications are discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.345-356
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• 2002

This study investigated the trends in the number of applicants and mean score and applicants' responses on the test items of 'science inquiry' of the College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT) implemented for 3 years$(1999\;{\sim}2001)$. The results of this study were as follows: The percentage of applicants of science track for 1995 CSAT were 43.13%, but reduced to 29.5% for 2001 CSAT. And unlike other tracks, the percentage of male applicants, ranking above average, of science track was 65.58%, which is about twofold of female applicants(34.42%). The mean score of 'Science inquiry' was 58.6 in 1999, and 69.5 in 2001. And the score of the applicants, ranking above average, of humanity and social science course and science course, were 85.8 and 90.7 respectfully in 2001 CSAT. These high mean scores were caused by the policy of "easy CSAT" so called. Most of test items were developed to have difficulty 60-79% or above 80%. This easy CSAT provoked intense dispute about the discriminating power of CSAT. The mean score of male applicants was higher than that of female. But the difference decreases every year. Applicants were generally very good at solving tests focusing on process skills only but poor at solving tests related to physics or calling for two or more science concepts. Thus special measures to cope with the decrease in applicants, especially female applicants, for science track should be provided. To increase discriminating power of CSAT, it is recommended to develop test items with wider range of difficulty and to reduce test items which are focussing process skills and can be solved without any special science concepts. And special consideration should be given to teaching the content area with poor achievement and high actual difficulty compared to the expected.