• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.299-313
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• 2002

A web-based instruction program for the enriched course under the 7th Revised National Curriculum of Biology in Korea was developed and the application effects to learners were analyzed. For the development of the web-based instruction program, five topics of biology from the enriched courses through 7th to 10th grades in the middle and high school science textbooks were selected and modulated with interrogative sentences. Each topic of programs was divided into four activity sections according to the learners' activity procedures supplemented with explanations and evaluations. Each activity was hyper-linked to multi-layers and animations. Further, a virtual experiment was also developed and an evaluation section designed by Java Script was attached. Among five topics, one topic of 'Reproduction and development' at 9th grade level was selected to examine the effects on students' learning. Among 247 9th grade students in the research subject school, only 67 students were able to accessible to ultra-thin Internet cables with their computers at home and they became an experimental group. A control group was assigned to those who are similar level of school science achievement to the experiment group and did not use the web-based program. It was found that most of 9th grade students are able to use Internet at home, however, they do not prefer to use Internet for homework or task project. Rather, most of students used Internet for e-mail or information navigation. Students used internet to solve problems of science and perceived the benefits of Internet for science learning. However, there are not many students to utilize Internet for science homework or task project. Students expressed that they do not prefer to use a web-based learning program for science learning due to lack of interests in science. The effects on students who studied with this program appeared to be significantly high compared to those who did not study with this program. Students who studied with this program positively evaluated this program, in particular, they enjoyed animation effect and virtual experiments. It was concluded that a web-based program for science learning should be developed and distributed through Internet in an attractive and interesting format for students. It was also concluded that various web-based programs for science learning with animation effect and virtual experiments should be developed to increase students' interests in science as well as to improve students' science achievements.