• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.153-162
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to analyze the STS (science-technology-society) contents in chemistry chapters of middle school science textbooks standardized by 7th national curriculum, and to investigate chemistry teachers' perception of STS education. This study was based on 8 essential elements in STS education suggested by Yager and 9 activities in SATIS (science and technology in society). The questionnaire and interview were used to investigate chemistry teachers' perception. As a result of this study, the average value of the STS contents in chemistry chapters of 7 kinds of middle school science textbooks was 22.4%, and the STS contents were preponderated to essential elements of science application and local and community relevance. And STS contents showed that science 2 textbooks were the most of all and in order of science 1 textbooks and science 3 textbooks. As a result of analysis by activities in SATIS, most activities were practice activity, problem-solving and decision making, and structured discussion. Chemistry teachers' perceptions of STS education were following. There were many responses that STS education was necessary for educational efficiency. On the other hand STS education was unnecessary because there were few effective teaching-learning method related with STS education. From these results, middle school science textbooks have to be complemented because 2 essential elements of the STS contents were preponderated in the science textbooks. And the teaching-learning method connected with STS education will have to be developed for the efficiency of STS education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.279-293
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• 2019

This study investigated the effects of national science leading school programs on students' positive experiences about science (PES) and teachers' perceptions of curriculum implementation factors affecting students' PES. For this study, Test for Indicators of Positive Experiences about Science (TIPES) was administered to a total of 11,488 students from 117 national science leading schools and 1,315 students from 50 normal counterpart schools. In addition, a total of 105 teachers were given a survey asking their curriculum implementation levels and perceptions on importance and performance levels of each identified factor that was known to influence students' PES. Students' total PES scores and scores in five sub-components of PES were widely varied across science leading school program types. In general, participating teachers reported common curriculum implementation factors that most positively affected students' PES including 'science-related activities out of school,' 'student-centered research projects,' 'ICT-related materials' and 'performance assessment.' Based on these results, implications for science education were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to examine the pre-service elementary teachers' views on the necessity of science learning. The eighty five student teachers in their second year of studies were participated in this study. The participants freely wrote their thoughts on a question'Why should students learn science?' The results of the study are as follows: (1) The participants' responses were very diverse, so their responses contained almost all kind of values or arguments about the science learning suggested by researchers, and there was no difference in their response ratio between views of focusing on intrinsic values and views of focusing on extrinsic values; (2) About 30% of the participants had the biased conceptions on the necessity of science learning and they would be likely to explain their biased conceptions to their future students. The educational implications and the suggestions for further studies are also presented in this paper.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.459-472
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of science writing for different audiences on preservice chemistry teachers' chemistry concept understanding and modeling ability in general chemistry experiment activities using Argument-based Modeling (AbM) strategy. And we also examined preservice chemistry teachers' perceptions of modeling in different audience groups. The participants of the study were 18 university students in the first grade of preservice chemistry teachers taking a general chemistry experiment course. They completed eleven topics of general chemistry experiment using argument-based modeling strategy. The understanding of chemistry concept was compared with the effect size of pre- and post-chemistry concept test scores. To find out modeling ability, we analyzed level of model by each preservice chemistry teacher. Analytical framework for the modeling ability was composed of three elements, explanation, representation, and communication. The questionnaire was conducted to check up on preservice chemistry teacher's recognition of modeling. The result of analyzing the effect of modeling for different audience on the understanding of chemistry concept and modeling ability, the preservice chemistry teachers' were found to be more effective when the level of audience was low. There was no difference in the recognition of modeling between the groups for audience. However, we could confirm that the responses of preservice chemistry teachers are changed in concrete when they have an experience in succession on modeling.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.428-439
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of reflective thinking on verbal interaction of the pre-service teachers in elementary science classes. Two pre-service teachers were selected for this study and they respectively had gave three science classes. Every science class was recorded by using video/audio but only audio data of first and last science classes were transcribed for verbal interaction analysis. The result of this study revealed that the frequency of teacher's verbal interaction in last science class was increased rather than the case of first science class. The increasing patterns of interaction frequency were affected by the teacher's viewpoint and preparation for the science class. Teacher's verbal interactions were divided into low-level and high-level for the analysis of qualitative change. Low-level interactions are which leading students' convergent thinking, high-level interactions are which leading students' divergent thinking. Also the result of this study revealed that high-level interactions in last science class were increased rather than in first class. On the other hand, low-level interactions in last class were reduced rather than in first class. Therefore, this results implied that the effects of reflective thinking on verbal interaction of pre-service teachers in elementary science classes were appeared, but the effects were also affected by teacher's individual characteristics. Especially the changing degrees of qualitative interactions varies with the teacher's viewpoint and preparation for the science class.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.149-160
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• 2022

Comparative studies using large-scale data such as TIMSS, PIRLS, and PISA inform us of the effectiveness of each educational system. Even though samples in the large-scale studies were representative, admitting potential discrepancy when applying the findings of the large-scale studies to local educational system is still needed. This study examines the structural relationship among students' attitude towards science, learning support from teachers, school life, and science academic achievement with both large-scale data and local comparative study data utilizing same variables. Responses on the TIMSS 2019 of 5,554 Korean seventh-grade students and National Assessment of Educational Achievement (NAEA) 2019 of 6,365 third-grade middle school students were used. The results indicate that: a) school life did not affect the science achievements in both data. However, in NAEA 2019, students' attitude mediated the relationship between school life and science achievement; b) learning support from teachers had a significant impact on TIMSS science achievements, and also had positive effect on achievement through students' attitude in TIMSS. On the other hand, learning support had a positive effect on achievement only when student's attitude mediated the relationship in NAEA; c) students 'attitude toward science had positive effect on science achievement on both data; d) the impact of gender was different on school life, academic achievement, students 'attitude towards science, and learning support from teachers on both data; and e) the impact of the number of books differed as well. There were differences in results between the international and domestic research, which inform us that we need to pay attention when interpreting the domestic environment through the results of international research.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.90-105
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• 2009

This study analyzed current programs practiced by science-gifted education centers. This study was based on concerns of 18 science teachers on six science-gifted education centers of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education that had local representatives. For this study, we collected data using journals, documents, reports, survey reviews and interviews with science teachers. Science teachers were concerned about the selection and identification of gifted students, education periods, curriculum, and student evaluation. More authentic measurement for students' potential ability were needed for the identification and selection process. If the purpose of science-gifted centers was to be met, the number of students selected should be determined by local differences rather than regional equality. The curriculum and educational period could make good use of time allotted for vacation to increase lesson periods. Lessons based on strategies like contests for improving the students' creativity, free inquiry and communication skills had to be encouraged. A consistent system for science-gifted education from primary school to high school was needed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.600-608
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• 2011

The ultimate goal of instruction is for learners to understand contents they have to learn in class. Therefore, shedding light is needed on the characteristics of understanding required by teachers and perceived by students when class is conducted for the purpose of understanding. To do this, 87 middle school teachers were requested to write down questions they asked to improve the understanding of learners in 'reproduction and genesis' unit. They were categorized according to Wiggins & McTighe's six aspects of understanding and a questionnaire was developed based on the data. A survey was conducted on 90 teachers and 370 ninth-grade students. The findings of this study were as follows: First, the teachers demanded explaining, interpreting and perspective a lot, but applying, empathy and self-knowledge were scarcely required. Second, the teachers demanded explaining the most, and the students as well. The next aspect of understanding in both groups was interpreting, followed by perspective, applying, empathy and self-knowledge. There were significant differences among the opinions of the students according to gender (p<0.05). Third, the students persevered explaining, applying and self-knowledge the same way as the teachers demanded, but not for interpreting, perspective and empathy. This study is expected to provide some information to achieve the instruction objectives of understanding successfully.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.22-34
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• 2012

This study was aimed to discuss how to improve the professionalism enhancement program for teachers in charge of energy and climate change education based on STEAM perspectives. It analyzed the program according to the specialties of the teachers in charge of training, and identified the degree of professionalism enhancement of the participating teachers through the pre- and post-survey. Also, researchers described the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of this program that were found through the interviews with trainees by participating in the program in person. The results were as follows; First, teacher's training course in charge of energy and climate change education should be approached from the perspective of STEAM education. Second, teachers should have time to discuss their activities after they complete experience learning related with STEAM education. Third, it should be a 60-hour intensive course, but the burden for the teachers should be reduced by using online programs. Fourth, the training program should be planned based on the focus on improving the professionalism. Also, there should be enough time to prepare for the training program. Fifth, energy and climate change teacher training program should be practice-oriented, using hands-on experiences and experiments, in fusion education. Sixth, it would be better to run energy and climate change teacher training programs according to the level of schools. However, several courses could be mixed between different levels of schools.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.729-737
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• 2016

Natural selection is the core idea of evolution that pre-service biology teachers need to understand to solve diverse biological problem. This study aims to investigate the level of Korean pre-service biology teachers' understanding of natural selection by comparing their knowledge with their Chinese, American, and German biology major undergraduate counterparts. In particular, this study focuses on two conceptual components of natural selection (i.e., ecology and genetics). This study used a total 1226 pre-service biology teachers and biology majors' data. The instrument measuring the understanding of natural selection concepts was Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection, which consists of ten ecology concept items and ten genetics concept items. The Rasch model analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and univariate analysis of variance were used for the statistical tests. The result reveals that the level of Korean pre-service biology teachers' understanding of natural selection were similar with Chinese undergraduates' understanding and significantly lower than American and German undergraduates.' In the first year student data, the level of genetics concept of Korean pre-service biology teachers were significantly lower than Chinese and German students. In the fourth year student data, the level of ecology concept of Korean pre-service biology teachers were significantly lower than American and German students. Based on these results, the ecology concept education and balanced natural selection concept education are discussed.