• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.102-116
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• 2008

In their teaching practice, teachers encounter multi-dimensions of pedagogical challenges. The recognition and reflection on these challenges is crucial to advance our science teaching. This study looked into science teachers' dilemmas of their teaching practical work through their written cases. Dilemma cases are teachers' narratives organized around important events of teaching and learning. It can reveal teachers' situated cognition and be used as lens to investigate complex realities of science teaching and learning. 26 pre- and in-service elementary teachers' dilemma cases of science practical work were carefully collected and analysed to interpret what constitute tensions in elementary science practical works. They were largely grouped into three: Curriculum and Institutional Relevance, Students Relevance, Nature of School Experiments Relevance and divided into 7 subheadings: 'Authority of Curriculum(textbook)', 'Disappointment at external support', 'Students' interests and safety', 'Students' unscientific and inert attitude', 'Difficulty of showing expected results', 'Generalization through experiment', 'Knowledge acquisition and authentic inquiry'. Each dilemma was interpreted in terms of the tensions which constitute contradictory beliefs, values, expectation and realities. These dilemmas enabled to expose actual conditions of elementary science practical work and teachers' challenges otherwise can not be seen easily. Science teacher educators also can get some implications to overcome the gap between theory and practice in their teacher education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.98-110
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• 2005

This study aims to explore the usefulness and the way of practical use of dilemma episodes in science teacher education by the responses of teachers on the given dilemma episodes and connected discussions. The research based on the idea of constructivist teacher education, the assumption that dilemmas can provide teachers with an open investigation context, an understanding of nature of science education. The dilemmas episodes in Wallace and Louden(2002) were introduced and discussed in order during graduate course to 11 elementary teachers. Perception on the reality and importance of given dilemmas differed by topics, but many of them were very similar to their experiences, brought active discussion on the issues. Some could not arouse sympathy because of cultural differences. The teachers recognized the dilemma episodes provided thoughtful reflection on their own teaching, opportunity of sharing experience and knowledge with peers, overall view for science education. Most of them gave positive opinion on the use of dilemma episodes in teacher education. Upon these teachers' responses and exploratory research experiences, some practical suggestion were made for science teacher educators.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.657-668
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• 2016

The purpose of the study is to explore the types and coping methods of dilemmas that pre-service science teachers experience during student teaching. For this, we collected 131 dilemma journals that 34 pre-service science teachers wrote during a four-week period of student teaching. Results show that first, there are five categories of dilemmas, they are, 'Which science teacher should I be?', 'What is good science teaching?', 'How should I build relationships with the people around me at school?', and 'Who am I as a student teacher?'. Second, pre-service science teachers' status as a students-teachers made them cope with dilemmas passively. Third, when they cope with the dilemmas, student-teachers considered the dilemmas as conflicts of irreconcilable alternatives rather than opportunities of conciliation and compromise, therefore, most pre-service science teachers choose just one alternative and only 20% of dilemmas are resolved by compromise choice. Finally, dilemmas which showed the features of science teaching are the dilemmas related to scientific inquiry teaching and science teaching-learning model. Based on the results, we discussed the implications for teacher education.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.338-355
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• 2022

This study explored the effects of pre-service elementary teachers' inquiries into science class dilemmas. By closely examining the characteristics of the pre-service teachers' inquiry processes and changes in their educational decisions, the effectiveness of using dilemmas as part of teacher education was determined. Twenty fourth-year university pre-service teachers participated and conducted inquiries into science class dilemmas over seven weeks. Based on pre- and post-questionnaires, KWHL tables, inquiry reports, discussions, and group class presentations, the major factors that influence the pre-service teacher's decision-making changes were extracted. The pre-service teachers found the science inquiry process meaningful when exploring the science topics covered in the dilemmas, and claimed that elementary school students would be able to engage in meaningful science explorations if they learned science through inquiry. Furthermore, the pre-service teachers explored the thinking processes and background knowledge of the students in different ways. Documents such as teacher's guides and the curriculum were examined and the students' thought processes were identified through interviews with the teachers and students, which were found to reflect their educational decision-making. Moreover, it was recognized by the pre-service teachers that depending on the situation, alternative teaching methods were possible. The focus on the unstructured dilemma problems provided the pre-service teachers with problem-solving situations that triggered scientific inquiry and exploration of student thinking and revealed the complexity of science teaching and learning. Based on these results, the teacher education implications for using dilemma cases are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.268-283
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• 2020

In this study, we aimed to look at what dilemmas of science teaching elementary school teachers experience and how they cope with their dilemmas in everyday science classes. Three elementary school teachers participated and qualitative data such as class log, class video, and interview materials were analyzed in inductive ways. The main findings are as follows. First, the dilemmas were classified based on the four factors that make up the science class; teacher, student, learning content, environment. However the dilemmas appeared to be not only one factor involved, but the rest of the factors intertwined. Thus, it was interpreted how the main factors causing the dilemmas conflicted with other factors. Second, the types of teachers' coping strategies to the dilemmas could be largely divided into 'give-up', 'stick to' and 'modified'. In some cases, teachers gave up on what they valued and did not take active action ('give-up'), teachers chose what they valued and made decisions to actively realize it ('stick to'), and in others, conflicts were adjusted by introducing new methods or elements to their classes ('modified'). Based on these results, we discussed that the teacher's dilemmas could facilitate the teacher's learning or professional development.