• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 1998

Portfolio assessment provides many opportunities to foster children's creativity and to increase their responsibility for learning. few research study has been conducted in this area, and this assessment method has scarcely been administered in primary science class, Proper and effective use of portfolio assessment in our primary science class requires basic research on how to design and administer the method. Based on the earlier study on typical structures and components of portfolio assessment, the assessment instrument was developed on various primary science topics, The development team was consisted of one science education specialist and nine pre-service elementary school teachers. It takes ten months to develop instruments for 27 class hours. The development process was reciprocal in that development and revision cycle was repeated more than 7 times. The portfolio assessment instruments consist of instructional objectives, developers' evidence for the objectives, and assessment criteria. Adopting a new way of assessment into science class inevitably causes lots of confusions to teachers and children. The absence of basic research studies must be a critical barrier for successful administration of a new assessment method such as portfolio assessment. further research is required in the preparation and administration of portfolio assessment in our primary science classroom.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.421-433
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• 2023

This study examined the reasoning of gifted elementary science students in a socioscientific issues (SSI) classroom discussion on COVID-19-related trash disposal challenges. This study aimed to understand the characteristics of evidence use and decision-making difficulties in each type of SSI-related reasoning. To this end, the transcripts of 17 gifted students of elementary science discussing SSIs in a classroom were analyzed within the framework of informal reasoning. The analysis framework was categorized into three types according to the primary influence involved in reasoning: rational, emotional, and intuitive. The analysis showed that students exhibited four categories of evidence use in SSI reasoning. First, in the rational reasoning category, students deemed and recorded scientific knowledge, numbers, and statistics as objective evidence. However, students who experienced difficulty in investigating such scientific data were less likely to have factored them in subsequent decisions. Second, in the emotional reasoning category, students' solutions varied considerably depending on the perspective they empathized with and reasoned from. Differences in their views led to conflicting perspectives on SSIs and consequent disagreement. Third, in the intuitive reasoning category, students disagreed with the opinions of their peers but did not explain their positions precisely. Intuitive reasoning also created challenges as students avoided problem-solving in the discussion and did not critically examine their opinions. Fourth, a mixed category of reasoning emerged: intuition combined with rationality or emotion. When combined with emotion, intuitive reasoning was characterized by deep empathy arising from personal experience, and when combined with rationality, the result was only an impulsive reaction. These findings indicate that research on student understanding and faculty knowledge of SSIs discussed in classrooms should consider the difficulties in informal reasoning and decision-making.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.57-66
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• 2008

This study, with teachers form elementary schools in Chungju-si as its subjects, has investigated influence of school forest on satisfaction with school greenspace and environmental education. It has reached the following conclusions. As for recognition of and satisfaction of school greenspace there were meaningful differences between teachers form school forest model schools and ones from common schools, which was thought to be due to positive effects of school forest movement. It appeared that environmental education was carried out through audio-visual materials once a week in most schools. On the other hand, as for class places, 'classroom in parallel with outdoor class' and 'classroom education' appeared to be carried out most frequently in the case of school forest model schools, and 'classroom education' in the case of common schools. However, considering the fact that 'field learning' the most important element in environmental education, appeared to be carried out least frequently in both of the groups, which suggests that we should improve it for future through introduction of various field-experience learning programs. As a result of the survey of satisfaction with environmental education, some meaningful differences were recognized between school forest schools and common schools, and 'presence or absence of field learning spaces' was the most frequently answered reason for 'satisfied' and 'unsatisfied'. Thus, 'schools' and related institutions' enthusiastic efforts are needed for providing field-experience spaces where children can directly access to and explore into nature.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.315-329
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics and the relationships of PCK components of elementary school teacher in the chapter of electric circuit unit. The subjects of this study were two teachers serving as main teachers in the 5th grade and data were collected through qualitative research methods such as questionnaires for teachers, classroom observations and teacher interviews. The collected data were transcribed and then analyzed. Results of analysis showed that teacher A thought that science was a class to explore and study the principles of nature phenomena and scientific knowledge by themselves In addition, teacher A helped students to understand the content by using strategies of analogy. The teacher B conveyed the contents of text without any reconstruction. But teacher B understood the standards of curriculum, and didn't want to teach students over the standards. Based on the analysis, we could conclude that PCK is formed on the basis of knowledge and belief about curriculum and knowledge and belief about learners.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.553-564
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• 2017

This study investigated the change of pre-service elementary teachers' professional visions through video-based reflection on science teaching with focus on their attention and pedagogical reasoning about student learning. Specifically, we compared two reflection cycles before and after pre-service elementary teachers went through the collaborative video-based reflection process in a professional learning community. The primary data were collected from eight pre-service elementary teachers and included their science lesson plans, videotaped lessons, video-reflection papers, and transcripts from the interviews. Pre-service elementary teachers' attention was categorized in five aspects: classroom management & control, teacher's instruction, students' thinking & learning, subject knowledge, and assessment. The level of their pedagogical reasoning about student thinking and learning was determined with six levels based on the number of evidence, evidence area, and evidence type. The findings revealed that 1) individual reflection is not enough - collaborative reflection is essential to change their attention toward students learning and thinking 2) pedagogical reasoning levels increase gradually throughout the individual and collaborative video-based reflection processes. The participants not only attributed student learning solely to the characteristics of students but also connected it with their own instruction or science content knowledge and used different types of evidences as they went through two reflection cycles. Implications for using video in the teacher education program were discussed.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.88-106
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• 2023

This study aims to investigate the disparity between the teacher's perception of student-centered inquiry classes and the actual implementation of such practices. Specifically, we compared an elementary science teacher's self-perception of her science lessons with the observers' evaluation using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) of the "Temperature and Heat" unit. Research data were collected through classroom teaching survey, interview, and science lessons video which were analyzed using the RTOP. As a result of the study, the teacher recognized that she was practicing inquiry-oriented/student-centered classes, but the results judged by the RTOP score were found to be transitional/student-affected classes by a slight difference. Teacher H planned and practiced classes based on a high understanding and content knowledge of the curriculum and created a science classroom culture that promotes active interaction among students as well as students and teachers. However, teacher-led aspects were still emphasized in teaching design and implementation, and the project theme and content were inappropriate to improve the quality of students' science inquiry experience. In the end, the slight difference between teacher's perception of inquiry-oriented/student-centered classes and actual implementation is related to how student-centered "lesson design" is and how to plan and implement classes supported by "procedural knowledge" for students' experience in the science inquiry process. These results indicate that the teacher's self-evaluation alone is not enough to determine whether the teacher's intentions and efforts are actually being implemented, and that it is necessary to conduct objective analysis, evaluation, and discuss the results of science classes by the external observers.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.194-204
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• 2004

The purpose of this literature review is to investigate what kinds of research have been done about scientific inquiry in terms of scientific argumentation in the classroom context from the upper elementary to the high school levels. First, science educators argued that there had not been differentiation between authentic scientific inquiry by scientists and school scientific inquiry by students in the classroom. This uncertainty of goals or definition of scientific inquiry has led to the problem or limitation of implementing scientific inquiry in the classroom. It was also pointed out that students' learning science as inquiry has been done without opportunities of argumentation to understand how scientific knowledge is constructed. Second, what is scientific argumentation, then? Researchers stated that scientific inquiry in the classroom cannot be guaranteed only through hands-on experimentation. Students can understand how scientific knowledge is constructed through their reasoning skills using opportunities of argumentation based on their procedural skills using opportunities of experimentation. Third, many researchers emphasized the social practices of small or whole group work for enhancing students' scientific reasoning skills through argumentations. Different role of leadership in groups and existence of teachers' roles are found to have potential in enhancing students' scientific reasoning skills to understand science as inquiry. Fourth, what is scientific reasoning? Scientific reasoning is defined as an ability to differentiate evidence or data from theory and coordinate them to construct their scientific knowledge based on their collection of data (Kuhn, 1989, 1992; Dunbar & Klahr, 1988, 1989; Reif & Larkin, 1991). Those researchers found that students skills in scientific reasoning are different from scientists. Fifth, for the purpose of enhancing students' scientific reasoning skills to understand how scientific knowledge is constructed, other researchers suggested that teachers' roles in scaffolding could help students develop those skills. Based on this literature review, it is important to find what kinds of generalizable teaching strategies teachers use for students scientific reasoning skills through scientific argumentation and investigate teachers' knowledge of scientific argumentation in the context of scientific inquiry. The relationship between teachers' knowledge and their teaching strategies and between teachers teaching strategies and students scientific reasoning skills can be found out if there is any.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.205-217
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• 2011

This study analyzed the reading materials presented in the existing 'Experiment Observation' targeting 31 elementary school students and conducted a preliminary investigation to examine the cause which makes the science reading materials of elementary school difficult to read. Also, on the basis of a preliminary investigation, this study developed the reading materials on science. After that, by examining the degree of understanding about existing reading materials on 'Experiment Observation' targeting 55 students of elementary schools and the newly developed reading materials targeting 44 students of elementary schools, the study proved its effect. As the result of the study, the causes for which students felt difficulty in reading were as follows: the scientific or non-scientific terms were explained by using more higher levels of Chinese characters compared to the levels of students; the scientific terms never treated in the classroom were used in the reading materials without any explanation; the overall structure of existing reading materials was distracted and listed the fragments of information, and the sentences were described complicatedly; the contents of a text and the photo materials were not connected functionally. In addition, the newly developed science reading materials were preferred by students because more various methods were devised, such as more systematic structure, arrangements of simpler sentence structure, additional explanation of scientific terms, divisions of paragraphs and postscript and their understanding was found to be improved.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.93-109
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to analyze the character of the creative design processes that appear at the creative design stage of the design thinking based on STEAM class and what factors affect the creative design process. Students who served as the subjects of this study were 4 elementary school students. We developed the design thinking based on STEAM program to look more specific the creative design process. The project was conducted with a total of 12 sheets of paper materials. The conclusions of this study are as follows. First, the problem solving process of the design thinking based on STEAM classes is not anticipatory and is cyclical and complex. So, teachers should provide sufficient time for students to create and simulate ideas and accept the solving problems through trial and error. Second, Having presented the STEAM class as a practical problem in the real world, there was less fear of students' failure and heightened motivation and enthusiasm. Providing with the real topic and open questions in classrooms can lead to students' voluntary participation in the classroom. Third, In the design thinking based on STEAM class, students develop concrete ideas through visualization courses. The group of students made the best solutions through communication.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.27-38
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to develop a test of a creative problem solving (CPS) for the selection of gifted science students in elementary school. For this, the methods and procedures of the selection of gifted science students was investigated through the internet homepages 23 gifted science education centers of universities and 16 city. province offices of education. The results of this study were as follows: Most of the gifted science students were selected through a multi-step examination process. They were selected on the basis of their records by recommendation of a principal or a classroom teacher in their school, by operation of standardized tests (ex. intelligence quotient score, achievements in science and mathematics, interest and attitude/aptitude for science as well as through other means), as well as through intensive observation of those gifted science students who are selected by interview and oral tests. The selection of gifted students was not evaluated through creativity testing; giftedness in city. province office of education. Testing of CPS was found to be especially lacking in these organizations. For the development of the test items of CPS in science, the five elements were extracted through the framework for the content analysis of the CPS: problem exploration, problem statement, solution thinking, experiment design, and assesment. In addition, suggestions were made regarding an appropriate scoring system for the test of the CPS. As the result of the developed test was applied to the 4th grade of the gifted and general student, we found that gifted students were superior to general students. In conclusion, it was that the CPS test developed in this study should be used to evaluate the CPS for the selection of gifted students.