• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.525-542
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to comparatively analyze the internal and external frameworks of elementary science textbooks, which first appeared as the authorization system of elementary science textbooks changed from the national government system. In order to confirm the purpose of the authorization system to support the development of diverse and creative textbooks, this study compared 7 authorized textbooks with the national textbook developed as the 'Use of Magnets' unit of the 2015 revised science curriculum. In this study, the textbook's framework was largely divided into an external framework and an internal framework for the 'Use of Magnets' unit of elementary science textbooks, and quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted in parallel according to each subcategory. According to the research results, in the external framework of textbook units, all textbooks had the same structure: unit introduction, scientific inquiry, creative convergence, unit arrangement, and scientific reading materials. The framework in the 'Use of Magnets' unit of the 7 types of authorized textbooks was found to have some differences according to the textbook development team's interpretation of the curriculum achievement standards and many commonalities that maintained the framework in the national textbooks. In addition, the characteristics of each textbook were clearly revealed in some areas not specified in curriculum such as unit introduction activities and science reading materials, a meaningful change was also found in that the level of inquiry activity was classified and operated in response to the uniform inquiry activity operation of the existing government textbooks.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.720-733
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• 2011

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an effective teaching-learning strategy for enhancing students' motivation, problem solving ability, and creativity. Its educational values coincide with the aim of open-inquiry activity introduced in 2007 revised national curriculum. From this aspect we designed the PBL open-inquiry program and implemented to 202 first year middle school students in Gyeonggi provincial office of education for one semester. We developed an energy related PBL problem. The program was designed in four steps: 'understand the problem,' 'investigate information,' 'solve the problem,' and 'present and evaluate the result.' Through the program, students did such activities as 'make Know/need to know chart,' 'group discussion,' 'search information,' and 'preparation of group report.' After completing the program, a survey was conducted to understand the students' perception of the program. The results are as follows: First, 40.6% of students showed positive attitude toward the program. Especially, students responded that 'make Know/need to know chart' was very useful. However, some students responded that 'search information' and 'preparation of group report' were difficult to perform. Second, male students showed positive attitude toward the PBL program compared to female students. Also students had higher scores in attitude toward science, showed more positive attitude toward the PBL program. Third, there was a significant correlation between attitude toward science and perception of PBL steps. Based on survey results, some suggestions were made for teachers who were planning to implement PBL in open-inquiry program.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.538-552
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• 2022

This study attempted to understand the characteristics of pedagogic activities performed by pre-service elementary school teachers. To this end, it applied Algodoo simulations to analyze the actions of students and obtain educational implications for optical learning. The study's participants comprised 79 first-year students enrolled in a teacher training college. Their activities could be classified as representation reproductions, verification experiments, and inquiry experiments. Students who performed representation reproduction exercises replicated renowned and authoritative exemplars, apprehending and demonstrating their principal features through simulations. Students performing verification experiments attempted to validate previously learned optical concepts by reviewing the relevant theoretical contexts. Such students primarily conducted simple experiments. Students accomplishing inquiry experiments used simulations to explore phenomena they did not know. Some of them even investigated optical phenomena beyond the domain of general physics. The above results confirmed that free optical experiments performed using Algodoo can effectively denote starting points for learners to engage in activities at varying levels. Additionally, students require assistance from instructors in addressing queries about the application of the principles and models related to optics. This study suggests ways in which instructors should help students at each level of activity. Additionally, the paper presents examples of varying levels of inquiry-related activities available on Algodoo. It also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of performing inquiry-based activities on Algodoo and suggests ways of enhancing the learning achieved through this platform.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.402-415
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• 2018

This study aims to inquire into the U. S. elementary school teachers' storylines for science teaching methods, scientific knowledge and interactions with students. As research subjects, two American elementary school teachers, named Christina and Melissa, were selected. As test tools, this study adopted Storyline Test and semi-structured interviews. Firstly, in regard to the science teaching method, Christina evaluated that she gradually improved her science teaching skills up to positive 6 points, starting from 2 points in the first year of teaching career, while Melissa sustained a stable state with 5 points in the 9th year of teaching career, starting from 1 point in the first year of teaching career. It was found that both the teachers had more confidence in their science teaching methods by participating in various training programs. Secondly, Christina evaluated her scientific knowledge in the first year of teaching career as 4 points, but evaluated her present scientific knowledge as stable as 6 points since she started studying teaching materials actively, discussing with other teachers and having more ability of application through science class integrated with other school subjects, in the 7th year of her teaching career. On the other hand, Melissa evaluated her scientific knowledge in the first year of teaching career as 1 point since she did not exactly know what to teach elementary school students, but in the 6th year of teaching career, she sustained a stable state with points through joint-activities with other teachers. It was found that chances to research with other teachers had important effect on both the teachers' confidence in scientific knowledge. Thirdly, in regard to interactions with students in science class, Christina said that she did not have any interaction with students when instructing inquiry activities in the first year of teaching career, but since the 10th year of her teaching career, she had sustained a stable state with 6 points through active interaction with students, by leading learning projects and science competitive exhibitions, etc. On the other hand, Melissa evaluated her interaction with students in the first year of teaching career as 1 point because her class was reading-oriented, but since the 9th year of teaching career, she had sustained a stable state with 6 points so far, by developing inquiry activity strategies to improve interaction with students. Overall, it was found that inquiry activities played a central role in improving both the teachers' interaction with students.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.362-375
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• 2022

In this study, science teachers' NOS lessons were observed and the characteristics of the lessons were analyzed. Three science teachers who taught NOS in the 'Science Inquiry Experiment' developed under the 2015 revised curriculum participated in the study. Their NOS lessons were observed and interviews were conducted before and after lessons. The collected data were analyzed using analytical induction and constant comparative method. The analyses of the result revealed the teachers' naive views on NOS were also revealed during the lessons. There were some cases where they showed naive views during the lessons even if they showed informed views in the interviews. Although the domains of NOS taught by them were diverse, all of them taught 'tentativeness' and considered this an important goal. They tended to teach NOS with content related with their major, and teaching NOS was found to be deeply related to their major. In the activity where students learn NOS by inferring the unknown object, teachers disclosed the unknown object, which is unlike the rule of the activity. They thought that could help students' learning. At last, although they emphasized teaching NOS, they either did not assess NOS or assessed NOS in a limited way. Based on the results, some directions for teacher education and follow-up study are suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.277-285
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perspective of pre-service chemistry teachers on the learning situations of visually impaired students through scientific inquiry in a darkroom and to propose a teaching and learning method for students with visual impairments. Twenty-one pre-service chemistry teachers from college of education in Gyeongbuk were encouraged to explore individually hands-on model for the molecular structure of ice freely, and had a discussion with a one of the researchers during the activity. All the conversation and discussion were audio-taped and transcribed for analysis. As a result, pre-service chemistry teachers realized that learning situation of the visually impaired students was quite different with their perception while exploring and figuring out hands-on model of the molecular structure of ice in the darkroom. They already learned and could see this model by themselves but also recognized that visually impaired students had inconvenience and difficulty in learning science concepts. Based on these reflections, some pre-service chemistry teachers suggested directions for modification to fit visually impaired students' needs more.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.399-408
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• 2015

This study is to find out that the effects of a creative experience activity program to scientific concepts and self-directed learning skills. This study has been aimed at 2 class 40 students of 4th grade in D metropolitan city A elementary school in 2015, one class 20 students are the research group to apply Scientific research program using creative experience activity, another class 20 students were comparison groups to apply general science classes. The related class section of this study is 4th grade 2 semester of science 4 chapters, 'The Earth and the moon' This section is in fourth grade elementary science curriculum revision in 2009 is a Sections to learn for the first time about astronomical area. Target research group in club activities as part of the creative activities implemented using scientific inquiry and analyzed the results. In addition, in order to better research based on the results of this study as follows. First, the science curriculum in elementary schools, as well as applied research about the creative experience activity classes in other subjects is required. The ongoing research is needed to classes utilizing the characteristics of creative experience activities in several subjects of the elementary school curriculum. Second, Creative experiential learning is only effective when it is done consistently, it is worth studying for long periods of time.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.669-679
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• 2019

In this study, we investigated how 'Scientific Inquiry Experiment,' a newly introduced subject under the 2015 revised curriculum, was implemented to identify the difficulties that science teachers face in the process of teaching the subject and to explore how to support them through online survey and interview methods. A questionnaire of the survey, which consisted of environmental factors of class, preparation and execution of class, teacher self-evaluation of class, and direction for the subject, was developed, and the online survey was requested with a response from one teacher per school from 1674 high schools nationwide. We analyzed the results from 814 teachers who answered all required questions, and we also conducted interviews and online advisory discussions to ensure the validity of our analysis. In the results of the study, teachers complained of lack of time for preparation and execution of the subject, and they demanded laboratory assistants and quality teaching materials. In addition, in order to achieve the goal of the subject, they agreed the necessity of using the 'block scheduling' though they also agreed the difficulties of its implementation. Meanwhile, the alteration of guidelines for evaluation, which was changed from 9-grade system to 3-grade system, was positively recognized by teachers. As a result of this change, the percentage of performance assessment increased in 2019 compared to 2018, but there were no significant changes in the number of 'hands-on activity.' Finally, we proposed ways to support 'scientific inquiry experiment'.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.519-528
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of social interaction on metacognition, learning motive and academic achievement in elementary science learning. The science lessons emphasizing social interactions that is applied to this study was comprised of 5 stages, 'introduction', 'inquiry activity', 'small group emergent activity', 'large group emergent activity', 'conclusion and assessment'. The results of this study were as follows: First, applying the learning model emphasizing social interaction to the experimental group led to a significant difference between the result of the pre- and post-test, regarding metacognition, especifically those of declarative knowledge. And meaningful difference was drawn from the results of all elements in the lower category of regulation of cognition between the experimental and comparison group. Second, a significant difference was found between the pre- and post-test regarding learning motive, especially those of attention, relation, and self-confidence. Third, after applying the learning model emphasizing social interaction to the science classes of the experimental group, students' academic achievement improved significantly in the post-test, compared to the results of pre-test.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.591-602
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• 2005