• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.406-418
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• 2015

This study was designed to enhance preservice teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) through scientific investigations based on current science education reforms. To do so, a science methods course was revised to include modeling effective scientific inquiry practices as well as designing and teaching scientific investigations in the K-5 practicum classrooms (Revised Science Methods Course). This study assessed the following research questions: (1) What level of PCK do preservice teachers have before and after the completion of RSMC; (2) To what extent do participants change their self-efficacy in science teaching after completing RSMC; and (3) Is there any correlation between participants' changes in self-efficacy and the level of PCK. Participants were 76 preservice teachers enrolled in a science methods course offered at a medium-sized university in the midwestern United States. This study employed the STEBI-B survey and the PCK rubric. There result of the study indicated that there was significant increase in Personal Science Teaching Efficacy (PSTE) of the participant preservice teachers after the completion of the course. Based on the PCK rubric analysis, there was a significant increase in mean scores of the post-RSMC lesson compared to those of the pre-RSMC lesson. The correlational analysis of participants showed a positive correlation between changes in self-efficacy and the level of PCK. Thus, it may be concluded that the reform-based science methods course had a positive impact on participants' self-efficacy in science teaching through correcting misconceptions, developing higher level of PCK, and modeling scientific investigation in their practicum schools.

• Korean Journal of Child Education & Care
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.49-63
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• 2017

This study aims to investigate the effect of early childhood teachers' mathematical attitude on their mathematics teaching efficacy and to prove the moderating role of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in mathematics, which we selected based upon previous literatures. To explore the effect of early childhood teachers' mathematical attitude on their mathematics teaching efficacy and the moderating role of PCK in mathematics between them, This study randomly sampled 500 early childhood teachers who work at child care centers and kindergartens in Seoul, Kyunggi province and Kangwon province and collected their responses by questionnaires. Mathematics teaching efficacy was measured with mathematics teaching efficacy scale for early childhood teachers developed by Luo (2000) and translated by Jung (2001a). Mathematical attitude was measured with Smith (2000)'s scale which we translated for this study. To measure the pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics, we revised Hong(2012)'s scale to be applicable for early childhood teachers. Direct effect of mathematical attitude on mathematics teaching efficacy and the moderating effect of PCK in mathematics were analyzed by multiple regression analysis using IBM SPSS 21.0. Study results demonstrated the significant direct effect of mathematical attitude on mathematics teaching efficacy. Also, the moderating effect of PCK in mathematics was also proved to be significant. That is, if the teacher has high level of pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics, the positive effect of mathematical attitude on mathematics teaching efficacy was even more enhanced. This results supports the current finding where PCK in mathematics functions as a moderating variable between mathematical attitude and mathematics teaching efficacy. Thus, our study is expected to provide relevant contents that should be covered during teacher education, which aims to improve early childhood teachers' mathematics teaching efficacy.

• The Journal of Korean Association of Computer Education
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.23-34
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• 2010

The PCK of teachers about informatics subject, which is viewed as one of required subjects in today's information society, is linked to what and how to teach, and that is very significant in terms of academic education. However, there are currently no efforts to develop items geared toward evaluating the PCK of teachers about informatics subject or to make a factor analysis of those items, though the importance of that subject in information society has been discussed. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to size up the PCK of preservice elementary teachers about informatics subject. The finalized instrument consisted of 39 items regarding five factors that involved knowledge of curriculum, knowledge of expression, knowledge of content, knowledge of evaluation and knowledge of teaching methods.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2023

This study investigated the level of academic passion for pre-service elementary teachers' science pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and the factors that influence the passion. To this end, 182 first to fourth grade students in advanced non-science majors who were taking science-related courses in the second semester were selected, and two tests were then administered to evaluate their academic passions for science subject matter knowledge and science pedagogical knowledge. Individual in-depth interviews were also conducted with some of the participants. It was found that the factors such as "importance" and "harmonious passion" for learning science subject matter knowledge and science pedagogical knowledge were found at a high level. On the other hand, the factors such as "like" and "investment of time and energy" were slightly higher than normal, and the factor such as "obsessive passion" was slightly lower than normal. The differences in academic passion for science subject matter knowledge and science pedagogical knowledge were greater according to the high school track than the grade. The pre-service elementary teachers selected more often the factors such as "individual interests", "high school track", "contents of science-related courses at the university of education", "characteristics of professor in charge of science-related courses at the university of education", and "experience in teaching practicum" as the factors that influenced their academic passion for science subject matter knowledge and science pedagogical knowledge. However, there was a slight difference in the selection ratio depending on the high school track.

• The Journal of Korean Association of Computer Education
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2016

This study is for developing a programming education course to improve pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge(PCK) of programming education. A 40-hour training course was designed with App Inventor, a block-based mobile programming environment, and with problem-based learning method and project-based learning method. After the curriculum was adopted to 12 undergraduate students, the effect of education was tested with a programming PCK questionnaire. As a result, after a 20-hour problem-based learning class, overall score and teaching method score were enhanced significantly. After another 20-hour project-based learning class, content knowledge, teaching method, and curriculum score were improved.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.592-602
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• 2008

The purpose of this research is to explore types of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK, hereafter) for effective science teaching. In this research, we explored three science teachers' PCK on light, who were effective in teaching the topic with particular students. The data analysis consisted of identifying the three teachers' unique PCK and ways to improve each teaching episode through the teacher meetings. These analyses, which consisted of verbal exchanges among the participants, were identified on the basis of our understanding. Using grounded theory methods, the types of science PCK drawn from this research are: (1) teaching through curriculum reconstruction, (2) teaching to help students build their own explanation models about surrounding nature, (3) teaching for learning the social language of science, (4) teaching to motivate students' learning needs based on relevance of science to students, (5) teaching through lowering students' learning demand by providing scaffolding, (6) teaching based on the teacher's understanding of students, (7) teaching through inquiry with argumentation, (8) teaching through reification of abstract science concepts, and (9) teaching none marginalized science. Common features of science teachers with quality PCK and their professionalism in teaching are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.350-363
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• 2010

Recently there has been increasing emphasis on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for fostering science teachers' teaching professionalism that needs to be done from teacher training courses systematically. We investigated what were the PCK factors considered in planning instruction and the difficulties encountered in implementing it by pre-service teachers. In this study, 26 sophomores at an university of education in Gyeonggi province were asked to perform teaching demonstrations using scientific instruction models. They were also requested to write reflective journals and interview. Analyses of the results revealed that many pre-service teachers considered the teaching strategies such as the instruction organization and implementation when planning instruction. They had also regard to the learners' cognitive affective aspects, whereas the pre-knowledge of them was not properly considered. Especially, the curriculum and assessment were almost disregarded. Most of the difficulties encountered in planning instruction and implementing it were appeared in terms of the teaching strategies. For example, they had difficulties in considering the characteristics of each stage presented by the instruction models when planning instruction and implementing it. The frequencies of the difficulties in implementing experiment were especially higher than those of the other PCK factors. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.113-139
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• 2018

There is no doubt about the importance of teacher knowledge for good teaching. Many researches attempted to conceptualize elements and features of teacher knowledge for teaching in a quantitative way. Unlike existing researches, this article suggests an interpretation of preservice teacher knowledge in the field of geometry using the Shulman - Fischbein framework in a qualitative way. Seven female preservice teachers voluntarily participated in this research and they performed a series of written tasks that asked their subject matter knowledge (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Their responses were analyzed according to mathematical algorithmic -, formal -, and intuitive - SMK and PCK. The interpretation revealed that preservice teachers had overally strong SMK, their deeply rooted SMK did not change, their SMK affected their PCK, they had appropriate PCK with regard to knowledge of student, and they tended to less focus on mathematical intuitive - PCK when they considered instructional strategies. The understanding of preservice teachers' knowledge throughout the analysis using Shulman-Fischbein framework will be able to help design teacher preparation programs.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.109-124
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• 2012

Developing pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has been emphasized for teacher's professionalism and it should be done from systematic teacher training courses. In this study, we investigated changes of elementary pre-service teachers' PCK of science teaching and motivational strategies before and after a training course. For the analysis of pre-service teachers' PCK, their lesson plans, surveys, and interviews were collected. According to the results, in the beginning of the semester, pre-service teachers in the experimental group usually used didactic or combination of didactic and inquiry teaching strategies and a few pre-service teachers used inquiry or discovery teaching strategies when making lesson plans. However, at the end of the semester many pre-service teachers used inquiry teaching strategies in their lessons which included activities of asking students' prior knowledge, conducing experiments, finding conclusion, and comparing teachers' explanations with students' explanations. Regarding motivational strategies, in the beginning of the semester they focused using activities to create student's emotional interest in science lesson but at the end they used other strategies to create positive atmosphere for learning, capture intellectual interest in science, and connect science to students' everyday lives. The changes in pre-service teachers' PCK in the experimental group was meaningful because there was less change in pre-service teachers' PCK in the control group. This study implies the need for effective professional development programs for developing pre-service teachers' PCK.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.201-217
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• 2024

This introductory review study sought to conceptualize elementary school teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in science teaching (science PCK) by reinterpreting 11 science PCK research papers published in the Korean Journal Database from 2012 to 2023 based on the synthesized perspective of the model of teacher professional knowledge and skill (Consensus Model) proposed at the first PCK Summit in 2012 and the Revised Consensus Model (RCM) proposed at the second PCK Summit in 2016. Elementary teachers' science PCK was mainly analyzed based on Magnusson et al.'s (1999) PCK elements and described as the form of enacted PCK or personal PCK at the subject or discipline level. Personal PCK studies, which involved emotional factors, included the features of collective PCK from the RCM perspective. It was inferred that elementary school teachers' science PCK needs to be conceptualized by comprehensively considering the enacted PCK through individual teacher experiences and the collective PCK and personal PCK defined by experts.