• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.391-404
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• 2020

This study identified and examined earth science education department programs in Korea. Major courses provided by 11 universities and their course requirements were analyzed, and the main research results are as follows. First, many basic courses, other major requisite, and elective courses are provided in geology, astronomy, and atmospheric science. oceanography, geophysics, earth environmental science, and natural disaster and energy resources had fewer major requisite courses provided in addition to basic courses, and few elective courses were offered. Second, many courses in science education focused on earth science, while others focused on general science and there were few courses that covered education theory regarding the specific subject. Third, science course application requirements emphasized the understanding of science in general or of earth science specifically. From the above results, additional studies are proposed to reflect on the current state and supplement these programs.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.173-187
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate high school students' needs for home economics elective courses in line with the introduction of the high school credit system and the development of the next home economics curriculum. To this end, 1,689 high school students across the country were analyzed for needs of home economics elective courses (eighteen elective courses and six sub-disciplines of home economics) and differences in the needs of home economics elective courses based on gender, grade levels, and completion of home economics science subject. The research results were as follows. Among the six sub-disciplines, the preference for 'dietary life' was the highest, and in terms of teaching types, experiment and practice class had significantly higher preference in 'dietary life' than other sub-disciplines. Girls showed higher preferences for home economics elective courses than boys, and the third graders showed significantly higher preferences only for the 'dietary life' sub-discipline than the first graders. High school students who are learning or have learned the home economics science subject showed higher preference for home economics elective courses in all the sub-disciplines than those who have not learned it. Based on the results of this study, it is suggested for the national curriculum development that further researches should be actively carried out to develop home economics career elective subjects.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.183-192
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• 2021

As part of the second-year monitoring study on the implementation of the 2015 revised science curriculum, this study investigated high school science teachers' perception and realization of instruction and assessment of elective courses to derive measures to settle and improve the science curriculum. A total of 244 high school science teachers responded to the survey questionnaire, and 9 teachers participated in interviews. In survey results, science teachers are contemplating ways to increase students' science competencies and their participation in classes, but still, lecture-oriented classes are most often used in their teaching. Regarding assessment, teachers responded that there were positive changes in all of the questions related to process-based assessment (PBA). Regarding the difficulty of managing science elective courses, teachers most often selected increased numbers of subjects being covered, overload of work, and the burden of restructuring classes considering various ways of teaching and assessment. Through in-depth interviews, teachers argued the difficulty for Science I courses to emphasize student participatory classes compared to integrated science, and the difficulty to implement student participatory classes for Science II courses, which are mainly placed in the third grade. Teachers also argue that it is necessary to secure time to implement PBA in science elective courses, and that there is no need to implement PBA for the science experiment since there are no tests on the SAT. Based on the results of the study, discussed in the conclusion are support plans for the settlement of PBA in elective courses, and the need for in-depth analysis of the direction and cause of student participatory classes and PBA at the school.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.145-154
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• 2021

This study aims to investigate teachers' perceptions of the composition of high school science elective courses ahead of the 2022 curriculum revision, and to derive implications for the organization of the 2022 revised science curriculum in preparation for the full implementation of the high school credit system. To this end, a survey was conducted by randomly sampling high schools across the country. A total of 192 science teachers responded to the questionnaire. In addition, 12 high school science teachers were selected as a focus group, and in-depth interviews were conducted to investigate opinions on the restructuring of elective courses in science. Main research results include 129 (67.2%) science teachers in the survey answered that the current 2015 curriculum's science and elective courses system should be maintained. In the next curriculum, when reconstructing science elective subjects, it is necessary to provide an opportunity to experience the entire contents of each science field through Science I·II system as before, and to ensure student choice in preparation for the credit system. In addition, the opinion that general elective subjects should be organized to include all the contents of science I and II subjects was the highest. Through in-depth interviews, science teachers emphasized that the current science I subject system allows access to the content areas of science as much as possible as the number of subjects is small, and that subjects, such as physics, where the hierarchy of concepts is important, should deal with important content within one subject rather than divided by area. On the other hand, in the current I subject system, there is no subject for liberal arts students to choose from, so teachers suggested that science electives should be organized by subdividing each content area. Based on the research results, the necessity of organizing high school science elective courses in consideration of the purpose of the high school credit system, ways to organize science-convergence elective courses as subjects for all students regardless of career aptitude, ways to organize science-career elective courses, and ways to organize science elective courses in connection with the college admission system were proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.112-122
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• 2021

The goal of this study is to explore ways to restructure Convergence Elective Courses in science in preparation for the high school credit system, ahead of the 2022 revised science curriculum. This study started from the problem that the 2015 revised science curriculum has not guaranteed science subject choice for students with non-science/engineering career aptitudes. To this end, a survey was conducted by randomly sampling high schools across the country. A total of 1,738 students responded to the questionnaire of 3 science elective courses such as Science History, Life & Science, Convergence Science. In addition, in-depth interviews with 12 science teachers were conducted to examine the field operation of these three courses, which will be classified and revised as Convergence Elective subjects in the 2022 revised curriculum. According to the results of the study, high school students perceive these three courses as science literacy courses, and find these difficult to learn due to lack of personal interest, and difficulties in content itself. The reason students choose these three courses is mainly because they have aptitude for science, or these courses have connection with their desired career path. Teachers explained that students mainly choose Life & Science, and both teachers and students avoid Science History because the course content is difficult. Based on the research results, we suggested ways to restructure Convergence Electives for the 2022 revised curriculum including developing convergence electives composed of interdisciplinary convergence core concepts with high content accessibility, developing convergence electives with core concepts related to AI or advanced science, developing module-based courses, and supporting professional development of teachers who will teach interdisciplinary convergence electives.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.217-226
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• 2020

The purpose of this research is to draw suggestions on the settling of the 2015 revised curriculum and the direction of science curriculum improvement by identifying the current status of science general elective courses for high school sophomores, and examining teachers' perception. To this end, with 12 city and provincial education offices' cooperation, we analyzed the status of science elective subjects that freshmen took in 2018 by school year, school type and region. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine science teachers of the focus group to discuss ways to improve curriculum operation and implementation of science general elective courses, and ways to raise the selection rate. The number of science general elective courses for high school students in 12 municipal and provincial education offices was confirmed to be 163,710 for Physics I, 216,754 for Chemistry I, 290,736 for Bioscience I, and 200,861 for Earth Science I. By school type, autonomous high schools have the highest completion rate, while specialized schools and vocational schools have very low rates. Units completed per semester for general elective courses were mostly three units (61.5%) and two units (28.7%). High school science teachers suggested reconstruction of three-unit elective courses that can be completed in one semester, content development focused on competences rather than knowledge, and the need for a teacher community to improve teachers' teaching competences. Based on the results of the research, ways to operate high school science elective curriculum in preparation for the high school credit system were suggested.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.836-847
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• 2011

This study investigated the effects of taking elective science courses in high school on studying science at the university level. The research methods undertaken for this study included surveys of college students in science areas. For physics and biology major students, no significant differences in achievement in the basic courses at the university level were found between the groups that took only Science I courses and the group took Science I and II courses. For chemistry major students, achievement for the group that took Chemistry I and II courses was significantly higher in the basic courses, while no significant differences between the two groups was found in the advanced courses. The perceptions of college students regarding the effects of their science learning experience in high school on learning science at the university level were investigated. All the college students perceived that whether or not they took Science II courses in high school, it did not affect their learning in basic science courses in college. They also perceived that students were able to overcome difficulties by making extra effort even if they did not take Science II courses in high school.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.45-63
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to analyze the status and gifted students' perception on curriculum implementation for gifted education at Busan Science Academy. For the purpose, we investigated the curriculum documents, the process of implementing curriculum and the result of the questionnaire. The questionnaire about the curriculum courses, teaching strategies and evaluation method was answered by 143 students at Busan Science Academy. The curriculum courses are composed of general courses and specialized courses: general courses comprise of Korean language, social studies, foreign languages, arts, and physical education. Specialized courses consist of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, information science. Elective courses are divided into basic elective courses and in-depth courses. Each in-depth course deals with more specialized content. The significant results of the questionnaire are as follows: First, according to gifted students' perception, the credits of specialized courses and in-depth elective courses need to be increased and the credits of general courses need to be reduced. Second, teachers at this school mainly use teaching strategies such as lecture, group activities and discussion, but the students prefer diverse teaching strategies such as lecture, discussion, experiment, individual research, problem solving and field studies. Third, students prefer a paper-and-pencil testing assesment rather than a written report assesment and lab experiment assesment. According to this study, the characteristics of the acceleration curriculum at Busan Science Academy were too intensive. Thus it is difficult to implement the enrichment education according to the demand of gifted students in this school. Therefore, this study suggests that we need to revise the curriculum courses of Busan Science Academy and develop contents and strategies for gifted education in science and mathematics.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.3-11
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the learning experiences of high school mathematics and science subjects of new students in science and engineering, and to provide basic data and respond to strengthen basic knowledge of science and engineering students in the future. The subjects of the survey were 481 freshmen in science and engineering at S University. First, as a result of analyzing the learning experiences of freshmen, the geometric subjects were significantly lower, which is the result of students' sensitive responses to transitional changes in the curriculum and SAT system after revision. In science, general elective subjects were higher than career elective subjects, and there was a deviation between science subjects, which is a result of reflecting the diversity and hierarchy of science subjects. Next, as a result of analyzing the difference in learning experience after revision compared to before the revision of the curriculum, the learning experience of Mathematics II increased significantly and the geometry decreased significantly. Both Chemistry I and II increased significantly compared to before the revision, and Earth Science I decreased significantly. This can be seen as a result of strategic choices based on obtaining grades in the CSAT and disadvantages in college entrance exams. As a result of the study, students' sensitive reactions to changes in the high school education environment were confirmed, basic mathematics and science-related courses were opened to alleviate variations in the academic ability due to elective courses, and countermeasures tailored to each university's situation.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.445-449
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• 1996

We introduce the National Science Curriculum issued by the Education Ministry in Korea. Astronomy should be given and taught as compulsory courses in Nature of elementary school, Science of middle school, General Science of high school, and as elective courses in Earth Science I, II. Astronomy concepts have been designed in sprial pattern. College levels of astronomy have been given as majoring in astronomy course, cultivating one for earth science pre-teacher students and cultural subjects for non-major students