• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
• /
• v.8 no.5
• /
• pp.157-177
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the project approach on the thinking faculty improvement of preschoolers. The subjects in this study were 60 preschoolers who were selected from S kindergarten in Gyeonggi Province. After an experimental group and a control group were organized with 30 preschoolers each, the experimental group engaged in project activities that were based on the project approach, and the control group didn't. As a result of making a comparative analysis, the following findings were given. The preschoolers who participated in the project approach were found to excel over the other preschoolers who didn't participate in perceptual thinking, analytic thinking, synthetical thinking, inferential thinking and thinking faculty. Therefore there should be more consideration to the project approach in the sector of early childhood education, since the activities are effective in improving the thinking faculty of preschoolers.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.69-89
• /
• 1998

The purpose of this study is to develop a test which can be used in identification of the gifted students in the area of mathematics. This study was carried out for two years from 1996. Mathematical giftedness is, in this study, regarded as a result of interaction of mathematical thinking ability, mathematical creativity, mathematical task committment, background knowledge. This study presumed that mathematical thinking ability is composed of seven thinking abilities: intuitive insights, ability for information organization, ability for visualization, ability for mathematical abstraction, inferential thinking ability(both inductive and deductive thinking abilities), generalization and application ability, and reflective thinking. This study also presupposed that mathematical creativity is composed of 3 characteristics: fluency, flexibility, originality. The test for mathematical creative problem solving ability was developed for primary, middle, and high school students. The test is composed of two parts: the first part is concentrated more on divergent thinking, while the second part is more on convergent thinking. The major targets of the test were the students whose achievement level in mathematics belong to top 15~20% in each school. The goodness of the test was examined in the aspects of reliability, validity, difficulty, and discrimination power. Cronbach $\alpha$ was in the range of .60~.75, suggesting that the test is fairly reliable. The validity of the test was examined through the correlation among the test results for mathematical creative problem solving ability, I. Q., and academic achievement scores in mathematics and through the correlation between the scores in the first part and the scores in the second part of the test for mathematical creative problem solving ability. The test was found to be very difficult for the subjects. However, the discrimination power of the test was at the acceptable level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.125-144
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to analyze the astronomical thinking level of elementary, middle, and high school students using ordered multiple choice items. For this purpose, we constructed a questionnaire comprising three items about spatial thinking and system thinking. This survey was conducted and applied to 1,066 students in the 5th grade, 8th grade, and 11th grade in 12 schools located in Gangwon Province. The collected student response data were analyzed by applying inferential statistics of classical test theory and Rasch model. The results of the analysis were as follows; First, in the level of spatial thinking, students were able to grasp the spatial location and orientation of the celestial body, but were not able to convert the celestial motion of two-dimensional plane into three-dimensional plane, and it was revealed that there is no statistically significant difference in the spatial thinking of students among grade levels. Second, in the level of system thinking, students were able to identify the components and relationship between components of the celestial motion system, but could not identify the patterns of the system, and it was revealed that there was statistically significant difference among the system thinking of students in different grade levels, unlike in spatial thinking. Third, the astronomical thinking expressed in certain context (content) was very similar regardless of grade level, Through this, we could confirm the context-dependency or content-dependency of the astronomical thinking of students. It is expected that the results of this study can be used as basic data for exploring ways to enhance astronomical thinking level in school science classes.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.459-476
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study is to suggest a new direction in using LOGO as a gifted education program and to seek an effective approach for LOGO teaching and learning, by analyzing the strategic thinking of mathematically gifted elementary students. This research is exploratory and inquisitive qualitative inquiry, involving observations and analyses of the LOGO Project learning process. Four elementary students were selected and over 12 periods utilizing LOGO programming, data were collected, including screen captures from real learning situations, audio recordings, observation data from lessons involving experiments, and interviews with students. The findings from this research are as follows: First, in LOGO Project Learning, the mathematically gifted elementary students were found to utilize such strategic ways of thinking as inferential thinking in use of prior knowledge and thinking procedures, generalization in use of variables, integrated thinking in use of the integration of various commands, critical thinking involving evaluation of prior commands for problem-solving, progressive thinking involving understanding, and applying the current situation with new viewpoints, and flexible thinking involving the devising of various problem solving skills. Second, the students' debugging in LOGO programming included comparing and constrasting grammatical information of commands, graphic and procedures according to programming types and students' abilities, analytical thinking by breaking down procedures, geometry-analysis reasoning involving analyzing diagrams with errors, visualizing diagrams drawn following procedures, and the empirical reasoning on the relationships between the whole and specifics. In conclusion, the LOGO Project Learning was found to be a program for gifted students set apart from other programs, and an effective way to promote gifted students' higher-level thinking abilities.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.177-203
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this research was to look at whether small group drawing activities can be applied to learning content that combine mathematics and art, by analyzing the changes in $10^{th}$ grade students' interests in mathematics and particular features of their strategic thinking that were reflected in small group drawing activities using graphs and inequations. The results of the study are as follows: 1. The small group drawing activity using graphs and inequations demonstrated that students interests in mathematics could experience positive changes. 2. The small group drawing activity using graphs and inequations was effective in stimulating the students' strategic thinking skills, which are higher level thinking activities necessary for creating problem solving. As the students went through the whole process of accomplishing a complete goal, the students engaged in integrated thinking activities that brought understandings of basic graphs and inequations together, and were also found to use such higher level thinking functions needed in achieving creative problem solving such as critical thinking, flexible thinking, development-oriented thinking, and inferential thinking. 3. The small group drawing activity using graphs and in equations could be expected to constitute learning content that integrate mathematics and art, and is an effective solution in boosting students' strengths in mathematics by way of activities that consider students' unique cognitive and qualitative peculiarities and through integration with art.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.546-558
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this study was to identify heuristically how abduction was used in a context of solving an earth-environmental problem. Thirty two groups of participants with different institutional backgrounds, i,e., inservice earth science teachers, preservice science teachers, and high school students, solved an open-ended earth-environmental problem and produced group texts in which their ways of solving the problem were written, The inferential processes in the texts were rearranged according to the syllogistic form of abduction and then analyzed iteratively so as to find thinking strategies used in the abductive reasoning. The result showed that abduction was employed in the process of solving the earth-environmental problem and that several thinking strategies were used for inferring rules from which abductive conclusions were drawn. The strategies found included data reconstruction, chained abduction, adapting novel information, model construction and manipulation, causal combination, elimination, case-based analogy, and existential strategy. It was suggested that abductive problems could be used to enhance students' thinking abilities and their understanding of the nature of earth science and earth-environmental problems.

• The Mathematical Education
• /
• v.54 no.1
• /
• pp.83-98
• /
• 2015

By analysing the examination papers for geometry, we classified the errors occured in the proofs for geometric problems into 5 main types - logical invalidity, lack of inferential ability or knowledge, ambiguity on communication, incorrect description, and misunderstanding the question - and each types were classified into 2 or 5 subtypes. Based on the types of errors, answers of each problem was analysed in detail. The errors were classified, causes were described, and teaching plans to prevent the error were suggested case by case. To improve the students' ability to express the proof of geometric problems, followings are needed on school education. First, proof learning should be customized for each types of errors in school mathematics. Second, logical thinking process must be emphasized in the class of mathematics. Third, to prevent and correct the errors found in the proofs for geometric problems, further research on the types of such errors are needed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.11
• /
• pp.4921-4927
• /
• 2016

Background: Cervical cancer is a major preventable cancers. The, current study aimed to assess relevant knowledge and attitude of female students and hospital staff in Iran. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Medical and Nursing faculties and hospitals of East-Azerbaijan Province of Iran. Participants were medical and paramedical female students and female staff in hospitals selected by stratified random sampling techniques. Tools for data collection were questionnaires for which validity and reliability had been verified (${\alpha}=0.8$). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data with SPSS.16. Result: Response rates were 71 % (426 from 600) and 63.5% (254 from 400) for students and staff, respectively. Some 29.1% admitted that they had no information about cervical cancer, only 70 (10.3%) thinking their knowledge as high, 360 (52.9%) as intermediate, and 237 (34.9%) as low. While 93% of participants considered cervical cancer as a severe health problem, the only statistically significant relationships with knowledge were for education (p<.001) and occupation (p<.001) variables. Conclusion: Given the importance of the roles of medical students and personnel as information sources and leaders in health and preventive behavior, increasing and improving their scientific understanding seems vital. Comprehensive and appropriate education of all people and especially students and personnel of medical sciences and improving attitudes towards cervical cancer and its monitoring are to be recommended.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.372-387
• /
• 2012

This study aims to identify unique small group norms and their influence on the process of constructing a scientific model. We developed instructional materials for the construction of a model of blood flow in the heart and conducted research on eighth-grade students from one middle school. We randomly selected 10 small groups, and videotaped and recorded their dialogues and behaviors. The data was categorized according to the types of interaction and then analyzed to investigate the characteristics of group norms and models in one or two representative groups for each type. The results show that the types of interaction, the quality of the group models, and the group norms were different in each group. Even though one teacher guided students through the same task in the inquiry context, each group revealed different patterns of discourse and behavior, which were based on norms of cognitive responsibility, the need for justification, participation, and membership. With the exception of one group, there was little cognitive responsibility and justification for students' opinions. Ultimately, these norms influenced the model construction of small groups. A group that forms norms to encourage the active participation and justify members' opinions with cognitive responsibility was encouraged to do inferential thinking and construct a group model close to the target model. This study has instructional implications for the establishment of a classroom environment that facilitates learning through small group activities.