• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.89-97
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• 2016

Science contest is one of the important programs of extracurricular school science activities which give various experience for science learning. In order to understand teachers' perceptions on science contests in elementary school, this study investigated teachers' awareness of science contests, perceptions and difficulties in carrying out science contests in each school, their perceptions on the preparing process of statewide science contest, and the preference of the types of preliminary science contests. 196 teachers were responded to survey, and 8 teachers were interviewed. The results showed that elementary teachers were aware of various science contests through their in-school experiences. The main difficulties of teacher on science contests was lack of professionalism on science and science contests. While teachers preferred the preliminary round of contest by contest's host to the preliminaries of science contest in each school. They also worried about the intimidation of science month's festival in schools. Based on the understanding of the teachers' perceptions on science contests, educational implications were discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.315-326
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• 2013

In this study, we investigated elementary school teachers' and students' perceptions of the reading materials in science textbooks. Participants were 181 teachers from 23 elementary schools who were teaching science and 643 third- to sixth-grade students from 12 elementary schools. A questionnaire for teachers consisted of 18 items and a questionnaire for students consisted of 11 items about their perceptions of the reading materials in science textbooks. Nine to twelve items, according to grades, examining the actual uses of each reading material in science textbooks were also included to both questionnaires. The results indicated that teachers have positive perceptions about reading materials and frequently use them in case of needs for supplement and/or enrichment of science learning. Novice teachers were found to have less positive perceptions about reading materials than expert teachers. Over 70 percent of students responded that they read all reading materials. Fifth- and sixth-grade students were tended to have less positive perceptions about reading materials than third-grade students. Finally, students tended to have more positive perceptions about reading materials than their teachers.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.86-92
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• 2010

Although constructivist assessment has been emphasized by many science educators, most elementary school teachers are still not familiar with this. In order to investigate the causes of this problem, we examined the perceptions of pre-service elementary school teachers toward constructivist science assessment and the relationships among the perceptions toward constructivist science assessment, the views on science teaching and learning, science teaching efficacy beliefs, and the perceptions toward constructivist science learning environment. Analyses of the results revealed that the perceptions of pre-service elementary school teachers toward constructivist science assessment were higher than those of the elementary school teachers reported previously. The results of a stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that the views on constructivist science teaching and learning and personal science teaching efficacy beliefs were the significant predictors of the perceptions toward constructivist science assessment.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.163-172
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• 2019

This study explored elementary teachers' perceptions on the essential features of science inquiry, the appropriateness of inquiry activities to science inquiry, and the essential features of inquiry by inquiry activities. 85 elementary teachers' perceptions were investigated using Likert scale survey, and 7 teachers were interviewed. The results are as follows. First, the features that elementary teachers perceived the most essential were 'Engaging students in evaluating their explanations in light of alternative explanations' and 'Engaging students in communicating and justifying their explanations'. Second, The inquiry activities that teachers thought the most appropriate to science inquiry were 'experiment' and 'project'. On the other hand, the perceptions on 'discussion' and 'field trip' were relatively low. Third, the inquiry activity that showed the highest mean score of five essential features of inquiry was 'experiment' while the mean score of 'field trip' was the lowest. Educational implications about the science inquiry were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.144-158
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• 2012

In this study, science teachers' and students' perceptions were searched on lectures and experiment of law of definite proportion in middle school science classes. For this study, the three teachers' lessons were observed and recorded, following interviews related to teachers' perceptions on the lessons and experiments. Also, We analyzed students' science scores, cognitive levels, science attitude, experimental reports, etc. According to the results, the three teachers had different focuses in the lectures. Chemistry teachers accentuated calculation of proportions and application rather than basic conceptions. But the students could not understand basic conceptions properly. The teachers spend long time to explain experimental procedures by assuming a low performance level of students in experimental classes. And the teachers had negative perceptions about error of results. The students could not understand the experiment results well, tried to manipulate data artificially, and had negative perceptions about error of results like the teachers. We suggested that these problems might be solved by changing teachers' perceptions on school science lectures and experiments.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1110-1120
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of gender differences in students' mathematics and science learning ability. The sample included 289 elementary and secondary school gifted teachers. The teachers filled out the survey, asking their perceptions of gender differences in mathematics and science learning ability, as well as of the reasons of the differences. The results were as follows: 1) 65% of the teachers responded that gender differences existed in students' mathematics and science learning ability, 2) 63% of the teachers perceived that the differences began around higher elementary or middle school ages, 3) 57% of the teachers thought that gender differences existed in the high-achieving student group. Teachers perceived the reasons of differences were 1) differences in inborn ability, 2) the different expectation, and 3) the different ways of parental cares. Since teachers' perceptions of students' ability would impact teachers' attitudes on students, implications and suggestions were included in this article to provide teachers insights that promote students' better learning.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.451-460
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• 1997

Various modern social problems are also related with science and technology. Thorough understanding about Technology-Society(STS) interactions is required to take informed action about how to deal effectively with these problems. In this case, there is a need for STS education. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of high -school students and science teachers about Technology-Society interactions and differences of their perceptions. It is my hope that this thesis will contribute to future "General Science" class in Korea. We obtained the data by a survey of 414 high school students who took "General Science" courses in Seoul and 54 of their science teachers. The survey was made using 10 multiple-choice items selected from the VOSTS (Views On Science-Technology-Society) item pool. The results of this study are as follow: 1. More than half of the students and teachers thought that science is exploring the unknown and discovering new things. Their perceptions about the science are somewhat stable, but about the technology various. 2. Most students and teachers thought that science and technology interact and complement each other. They also thought that the improvement in the quality of life needs investments in both science and technology 3. Most students and teachers thought social facts as community, government, and politics influenced scientists and scientific research. They also had a good understanding about the effects of science and technology on society. We can conclude from this that they had a Science-Technology-Society oriented viewpoint. 4. There are significant differences between the perceptions of boys and girls in following categories (p<.05): Influence of Community or Government Agencies on Scientists Influence of Politics on Scientists Role of Scieoce/Technology in Resolving Social Problems 5. There are significant differences between the perceptions of students and teachers in following categories (p<.05): Definition of Science Influence of Politics on Scientists

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.326-334
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• 2022

This study aimed to explore science teachers' perceptions of obstacles that have affected their teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample comprised 204 science teachers in public schools within a Western district of Saudi Arabia. Results revealed that these teachers experienced obstacles across six areas: administration, students, teaching methods, assessment, technology, and learning aids. The study also explored teachers' perceptions of their current experience and offers suggestions for dealing with the identified obstacles.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.99-108
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• 2012

This study investigated the characteristics of preservice elementary teachers' science PCK through a mentoring program. Their perceptions of the mentoring program were also examined. The participants of this study were 33 preservice elementary teachers who prepared science lessons in small groups. A mentoring program was implemented in the processes of science lessons planning and evaluation to support their professional development. The characteristics of the preservice elementary teachers' science PCK exhibited through the mentoring program were as follows: They showed poor understanding of instructional models and logical connections of each instructional step. They also had problem in setting a clear learning goal for their science lessons. This was related with their poor understanding of the curriculum. They seldom considered students' misconceptions, and their perceptions of assessment were quite restricted. The analyses on their perceptions of the mentoring program revealed that the preservice teachers thought it was helpful for their professional development in several aspects. Mentoring could play an important role to examine and improve preservice elementary teachers' science PCK.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.740-749
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to survey junior high school teachers' and students' perceptions on the science textbooks. Subjects of this study were 113 science teachers and 715 students from junior high schools in Daegu and Kyungpook area. As statistical method, one-way ANOVA and t-test were used to check differences of the perceptions between teachers and students. Teachers had different perceptions by school location and class size, while students had different perceptions by school location, co-ed, class size, and grade level. Both teachers and students having the relativistic viewpoint on textbook knowledge regarded the knowledge as relativistic one, and preferred the student-centered textbooks. Teachers liked textbooks written by the student-centered view more than students did. Teachers had the more absolutistic viewpoint on textbook knowledge and on teaching, while students liked the electronic textbooks more than teachers did.