• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.100-107
• /
• 2003

The purpose of this study is to assess gifted students' conceptions about nature of science (NOS). Scientifically gifted students who are expected to be professionals in the future should possess an adequate understanding of NOS that if firm foundation for scientific career. 47 volunteers from the 8th grade gifted science program in Seoul National University Gifted Education Center participated to answer questions inquiring NOS conceptions. Their answers were analyzed and compared to different groups such as non-gifted students and younger gifted students. As a result, gifted students' understanding of NOS appeared to surpass that of non-gifted students in many aspects and it seemed that gifted students formed their NOS view in early ages. The relative weakness in their NOS conceptions was found in understanding of scientific enterprise. Their strong misunderstanding about obstacles that minority people would face in scientific enterprise was noticed, too. They admitted that there has been discrimination in scientific enterprise, but they wrongly believed that outstanding scientists cannot be affected by it. Further studies will be required to probe more.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.199-208
• /
• 2015

An enhanced understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge-what counts as a scientific argument and how scientists justify their claims with evidence-has been central in Korean science instruction. However, despite its importance, scholars are generally concerned about the difficulty of both addressing and improving students' epistemic understanding, especially for students of a young age. This study investigated Korean middle school students' epistemic ideas about claim, data, evidence, and argument when they engage in reading both text-based and data-inscription arguments. Compared to previous studies, Korean middle school students show a sophisticated understanding of the role of claim and evidence. Yet, these students think that there is only a single way of interpreting data. When comparing students' ideas from text-based and data-inscription arguments, the majority of Korean students barely perceive text description as evidence and recognize only measured data as evidence.

• The Mathematical Education
• /
• v.57 no.4
• /
• pp.453-475
• /
• 2018

This study examines how elementary students understand fractions with operations conceptually and how they perform procedures in the division of fractions. We attempted to look into students' understanding about fractions with divisions in regard to mathematical proficiency suggested by National Research Council (2001). Mathematical proficiency is identified as an intertwined and interconnected composition of 5 strands- conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic competence, adaptive reasoning, and productive disposition. We developed an instrument to identify students' understanding of fractions with multiplication and division and conducted the survey in which 149 6th-graders participated. The findings from the data analysis suggested that overall, the 6th-graders seemed not to understand fractions conceptually; in particular, their understanding is limited to a particular model of part-whole fraction. The students showed a tendency to use memorized procedure-invert and multiply in a given problem without connecting the procedure to the concept of the division of fractions. The findings also proposed that on a given problem-solving task that suggested a pathway in order for the students to apply or follow the procedures in a new situation, they performed the computation very fluently when dividing two fractions by multiplying by a reciprocal. In doing so, however, they appeared to unable to connect the procedures with the concepts of fractions with division.

• The Mathematical Education
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.377-393
• /
• 2012

The understanding demands the different degree of the understanding according to student's learning situation. In this paper, we investigate what is the foundation for the complete understanding for the generalization in the generalization-process and justification of some concepts or some theories, through a case. We discovered that the completeness of the understanding in the generalization-process and justification requires 'the meaningful-mental object' which can give the meaning about the concept or theory to students. Students can do the generalization-process through the construction of 'the meaningful-mental object' and confirm the validity of generalization through 'the meaningful-mental object' which is constructed by them. And we can judge the whether students construct the completeness of the understanding or not, by 'the meaningful-mental object' of the student. Hence 'the meaningful-mental object' are vital condition for the generalization-process and justification.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.123-141
• /
• 2003

This study investigated the understanding level and the using level of mathematical language for middle school students in terms of Freudenthal' language levels. It was proved that the understanding level task developed by current study for geometric concept had reliability and validity, and that there was the hierarchy of levels on which students understanded mathematical language. The level that students used in explaining mathematical concepts was not interrelated to the understanding level, and was different from answering the right answer according to the sorts of tasks. And, the level of mathematical language that was understood easily as students' thought, was the third level of the understanding levels. Mathematics teachers should consider the students' understanding level and using level, and give students the tasks which students could use their mathematical language confidently.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.246-254
• /
• 2004

Purpose: This study was to measure college students' understanding of elderly's sexual life. Method: For this study, questionnaires were distributed to 423 students in 'K' college of Chungcheongbuk-do during the period from November 17 to December 3 2003. Result: With regard to elderly's sexual life, 38.5% of the respondents answered' very important' or 'important'. With regard to disturbances of elderly's sexual life, 56.7% of the respondents answered 'because of aging', and 53.4% answered 'because of social and moral dignity'. Of the respondents, 95.0% agreed on elderly's acquaintance with the opposite sex, and 50.8% of respondents who agreed on it answered that the reason of elderly's acquaintance with the opposite sex was to get friends. The score of college students' understanding of elderly's sexual life was 2.64 out of 4 points. Among the areas in the questionnaire on understanding of elderly's sexual life, college students' attitude toward sexual life showed the highest score. The score of the necessity of education and counseling for elderly on sexuality and acquaintance with the opposite sex was 3.11 out of 4 points. Of the respondents, 84.4% agreed on education and counseling on sexuality for elderly, and 90.0% agreed on education and counseling on acquaintance with the opposite sex for elderly. There were statistically significant differences in the scores of college students' understanding of elderly's sexual life according to their grade(F=14.241, p=.000), major(t=4.751, p=.000) and sexual attitudes(F=5.395, 0=.005). Conclusion: The survey result suggests that college students have open-hearted understanding of elderly's sexual life. But to make ordinary people accept elderly's sexual life more open-heartedly, it is necessary to develop various education and counseling programs for elderly's sexual health.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.389-400
• /
• 1996

The purposes of this study were to analyze chemistry problem solving processes of middle school students and to compare their problem solving behaviors in the aspects of the cognitive developmental level of student, the success in problem solving, and the context of problem. Their failures in solving problems were also analyzed in the aspects of problem solving stage and prior knowledge. Forty-two students individually solved four problems regarding density and solubility using a think-aloud method. Students' responses were analyzed after intercoder agreement for analyzing problem-solving processes had been established to be 0.94. The results were as follows: 1. Most students solved chemistry problems following the stages of understanding, planning, and solving, while few exhibited the behaviors of the reviewing stage. There was also individual difference in the number of the stages repeated and their behaviors at each stage. 2. Most students were successful in understanding problems. However, unsuccessful and/or concrete-operational students had more difficulties in understanding problems than successful and/or formal-operational students, and students tended to have more difficulties in understanding problems in everyday contexts than in scientific contexts. 3. Successful and/or formal-operational students exhibited more behaviors of the planning stage than unsuccessful and/or concrete-operational students. Students showed more behaviors of the planning stage, but failed more at this stage, in everyday contexts than in scientific contexts. 4. Most students did not review their solutions. Successful and/or formal-operational students exhibited these behaviors more than unsuccessful and/or concrete-operational students. Students tended to exhibit the behaviors more in everyday contexts than in scientific contexts. 5. Many students failed to solve problems correctly due to the lack of prior knowledge and the inability to plan appropriately.

• Research in Mathematical Education
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.151-170
• /
• 2009

This study reports a research which was conducted on how frequently and where the students use the unit circle method while dealing with trigonometric functions in solving the trigonometry questions. Moreover, the reasons behind the choice of the methods, which could be the unit circle method, the ratio method, or the use of trigonometric identities, are also investigated to get an insight about their understanding. In this study, the relationship between the students' choices of methods in solving questions is examined in terms of instrumental or relational understanding. This is a multi-method research which involves a range of research strategies. The research techniques used in this study are test, verbal protocol (think aloud), and interview. The test has been applied to ten tenth grade students of a public school to get students' solution processes on the paper. Later on, verbal protocol has been performed with three students of these ten who were of the upper, middle and lower sets in terms of their performance in the test. The aim was to get much deeper data on the students' thinking and reasoning. Finally, interview questions have been asked both these three students and other three from the initial ten students to question the reasons behind their answers to the trigonometry questions. Findings in general suggest that students voluntarily choose to learn instrumentally whose reasons include teachers' and students' preference for the easier option and the anxiety resulting from the external exam pressure.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.151-164
• /
• 2001

This study is to investigate the level of understanding of the separation of dispensing and prescribing health policy in Korea and its associated factors. A questionnaire survey was conducted upon a sample of college students responded from 540, response rate 77.1%, 4 months after the introduction of the policy. The understanding level was measured using 4 question items describing the goal and motivation of the policy, and 8 items describing its operational rules. For each item, respondents were asked to mark whether the description was true or false. While the goal and motivation of the policy was relatively well informed (mean understanding score: 69.6 out of 100), the students did not have good understanding of the operational details of the policy (mean score: 32.5). The results of regression analyses showed that personal interest and agreement with the need of the policy were the most significant factors affecting the understanding level. It is suggested that, for other health policies in the future, policy makers in Korea need to develop more effective media communication strategies to inform general public of the practical details of the policy.

• The Mathematical Education
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.173-187
• /
• 2002

The purpose of this study through ethnographic inquiry is to describe how an elementary teacher teaches mathematics with understanding. The ways that teachers'beliefs affect instructional activities, what means understanding from the view of cognitive psychology, and ethnographic research tradition were reviewed to anchor theoretical background of this study. A third-grade teacher and his 45 students were selected in order to capture vivid and thick descriptions of the teaching and learning activities of mathematics. Three major sources of data, that is, participant-observation with video taping, formal and informal interviews with the teacher and his students, and a variety of official documents were collected. These data were analyzed through two phases: data analysis in the field and after the fieldwork. According to data analysis, ‘teaching mathematics with understanding’ was identified as the teachers central belief of teaching mathematics. In order to implement his belief in teaching practices, the teacher made use of three strategies: ⑴ valuing individual student's own way of understanding, ⑵ bring students' everyday experiences into mathematics classroom, and ⑶ lesson objectivies stated by students. It is suggested for future research that concrete and specific norms of mathematics classroom for the improvement of mathematics understanding are needed to be identified and that experienced and skillful teachers' practical knowledge should be incorporated with theories of teaching mathematics and necessarily paid more attention by mathematics educators.