• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.63-78
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• 2013

Purposes of this study were to explore the process of experience that science teachers go through when participating in peer coaching meetings to improve teaching ability and to find out factors that affect each process of experience. The data were collected through recording of peer coaching meetings, videotapes of science class, and interviews. All the data were analyzed after transcription. The results of the study showed that even though Teacher K broke the ice and formed consensus among the peers by developing Content Representation (CoRe) at the beginning of the meetings, he became self-defensive rather than receptive of peers' opinions on the recorded class at the discussion session. But as the peer coaching went on, he realized that peer coaching was not about evaluation but rather on improving his teaching ability. In turn, he was able to look at his teaching in a more objective point of view and accepted suggestions from peer coaching discussion. The self-reflection of Teacher K acted as the key factor in the efforts to improve his teaching ability. He sought the concrete alternatives through the class analysis with fellow teachers and showed major changes in his teaching practice from the language habits, pronunciation, and speed of his speech to the interaction with students and class design. However, there was little change in knowledge of curriculum and assessment due to his strong orientation to improve students' grades as an academic high school teacher. Likewise, it was found that while peer coaching exert a strong influence on instructional methods and strategies of Teacher K, his strong orientation to improve students' grades hinders a balanced development of subcomponents of PCK.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.595-609
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze the experiences of teachers who participated in the development of online science class videos in the context of covid-19, their perception of online science class, and the characteristics of the online science class content developed by teachers. A survey and interviews were conducted with ten elementary school teachers who made online science class videos themselves. Also the characteristics of the online science class were investigated by analyzing the online science class video produced by the participants. As a result, participants in the study recognized the lack of production time, difficulty in filming and editing, concerns over misconceptions, the problem of solving copyrights for existing materials, and the burden of external disclosure. Although it was a teacher who had experience producing online science class video contents, no research participants actively answered the merits of online science class. On the other hand, the study participants cited that the shortcomings of online science classes were that students had fewer opportunities for inquiry and lack of communication or interaction. In particular, these shortcomings were thought to have a great influence on the quality of online science classes, especially in making inquiry classes difficult. Some teachers took a negative view that online science classes could not completely replace face-to-face classes. However, if multiple teachers are presented with supplementary teaching activities that complement the content-based online teaching method, the method of combining online science classes and face-to-face classes is not. Through the analysis of the contents of the online science class, the introduction and arrangement steps of the online science class were similar to the process of the face-to-face science class, but the inquiry step and the conceptual explanation step showed a big difference from the face-to-face science class.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.301-311
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ awareness of chemical waste produced in elementary school laboratory experimentation and how this awareness relates to collection and disposal of chemical waste. More specifically, the study looked at the correlation between the handling of chemical waste and factors such as years of teachers’ educational career, class size and amount of waste produced. The target population were 250 elementary school teachers in Gyeongnam area and 237 subjects were responded. Among the 237 responses, 37 cases that did not complete the questionnaire were eliminated. Therefore, 200 responses were analyzed in this study. The survey questionnaire consisted of 15 questions. The categories of the questionnaire were their skills of management and treatment of the chemical waste. The data collected were analyzed by SPSS 10.0, and the relations among variables such as class sizes and years of teaching experience were also analyzed by $x^2-test.$ The results in this study were as follows: First, there were no significant differences between the years of teaching and class sizes in the training experience of chemical waste disposal. Second, there was a significant difference between the science laboratory size and class sizes in the laboratory actual condition. In addition, in the relations between the number of times of experimentation and the years of teaching experience, there was a significant difference. Third, in terms of the discharge amount of chemical waste, there was a significant difference between the years of teaching and class sizes. Fourth, in the simple chemistry waste disposal process in the science laboratory, there also was a significant difference between the kinds of experimental equipments that used in the experimentation and the years of teaching. Based on this study, it was found that great amount of the chemical wastes produced in the science laboratory dumped into the drain and the treatment process of chemical waste was also inattentive. Even the importance of environmental education is emphasized in the elementary education, the basic problems occurred in the science laboratory is disregarded. Therefore, not only students but teachers have to pay attention to the disposal process of chemical waste in the laboratory in order to prevent environment pollution. Furthermore, the efforts of preventing environment pollution are needed such as opening the teacher training course about environment education, minimal use of chemicals, treatment of chemical waste, and so forth.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.129-141
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• 2019

As the number of minority students such as multicultural, North Korean defectors, and low-income groups increases, more research is needed in science education to help their learning. Due to the various growth backgrounds and learning environments of the underprivileged students, there is a big difference in the individual characteristics of the group rather than the whole group characteristics. In this study, we conducted about 50 hours of science lessons for seven students in the underprivileged class, categorized them by observing and interviewing the characteristics of their science learning. Seven underprivileged students showed five different learning patterns, these are 'I love science', 'I think I know science', 'I want to know science', 'I need to know science', and 'I don't know what I want'. Although the scientific activities they experienced were not all of an excellent educational quality, their interest in science learning has increased with their experience in science activities. It shows the need to provide more abundant science experience and educational opportunities for these minority students who can only experience science learning under the public educational system.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.471-489
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• 2014

This study was to investigate the changes of attitudes related to science of students in high school science club through modified the creative-experience activity model program. To begin with, using the creative-experience activity model program the programs adapted to the school practices have been developed through consultation of the teachers. The developed program was performed on students in the high school science club. Then we studied the changes of attitudes related to science of students through their outcomes of the activities and face-to-face talk. The change of attitudes related to science of students is positive, especially problem-solving, curiosity, a sense of responsibility, interests toward science, interests toward science related careers, and leisure interest in science. Interest for science as hobby were influenced by used tools like telescopes and experimental tools. Interest for science class were not effective to change to positive by creative experience activity. It seems to be due to creative experience activity were not connected with science class. The program to participate in the activities was more effective than to observe with visit for the change of the attitude related to science. Also, the programs with activities contained scientific knowledge were more effective.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to explore the teaching and learning experiences to improve the positive experiences about science (PES) of scientifically-gifted elementary school students. For this study, 36 students in grades 5~6 at a gifted science education institutes in Seoul were selected and conducted pre-test and post-test for 'Test for Indicators of Positive Experiences about Science (TIPES).' After the weekly science classes of the institutions were over, individual in-depth interviews were also conducted with some students to explore the teaching and learning experiences for improving their PES. The analysis of the results reveals that the science classes for scientifically-gifted students have been shown to improve PES of scientifically-gifted elementary school students. The teaching and learning experiences to improve their PES included eight teaching and learning experiences that appeared in general elementary school students of previous study such as 'practice-centered exploratory activities,' 'student-led class,' 'positive and professional feedback,' 'construction of knowledge through exploration,' 'class considering student's interest and aptitude,' 'use of materials related to real life,' 'smooth communication and collaboration in group activities,' and 'appropriate difficulty in learning content.' There were also six teaching and learning experiences that newly emerged from science-gifted students: 'Learning experience through the strategies for improving scientific creativity,' 'inquiry experience as a little scientist,' 'advanced or accelerated learning experience,' 'learning experience with excellent students,' 'experience helping other students,' and 'experience with high or low achievement'. Based on these results, the practical implications for improving the student's PES are suggested.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.289-294
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• 2011

Laboratory class is an integral part of biomedical engineering education. Current biomedical engineering curriculum in Korea mostly includes mandatory laboratory classes. Most of the Korean biomedical laboratory classes focus on electrical engineering aspects, while molecular/biological engineering aspects are neglected. Many leading universities in U.S.A. offer a more balanced laboratory class where both electrical engineering aspects and molecular/biological engineering aspects are considered. As a part of an effort to enhance undergraduate biomedical engineering education, a new biomedical engineering laboratory class is proposed to offer a more balanced laboratory learning experience.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.588-596
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to provide basic data for improving the STEAM class by examining elementary school teachers' difficulties in the STEAM class and discussing solutions. For this research, 25 elementary school teachers in Seoul City and Gyeonggi-do were asked to write their difficulties in the STEAM class in the open-ended questionnaires. After classification of the collected data, an in-depth interview was conducted with one in-service elementary school teacher who is richly experienced in STEAM education to find solutions for each type of difficulties. The study result showed that most of elementary school teachers had difficulties in the STEAM class, due to selection of integrated subjects, production of teaching devices and materials, guidance of group activities, reorganization of the curriculum, assessment and uncooperative co-teachers. One teacher that participated in the interview to discuss solutions for teachers' difficulties was solving the problems in various ways. She said that many of her solutions came from her experience and also, knowledge obtained through a participation in the STEAM training or opportunities to share information with other teachers who belong to the STEAM research institution, was highly helpful.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.337-348
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to examine epistemic thinking in middle school students in an argument-based inquiry science class. Participants of the study were 93 9th grade students from four classes of a middle school in a metropolitan city. Observations were made over one semester during which argument-based inquiry lessons on five subjects were conducted. Data was collected from argument-based inquiry activity worksheets and student questionnaires. After analysis of epistemic thinking in the written reflections, students were found to have the highest frequency of epistemic metacognitive skills, followed by epistemic cognition, epistemic metacognitive experience, and epistemic metacognitive knowledge. While investigating the effects of an argument-based inquiry science class on student epistemic thinking and after analysis of the reflections written for the first ABI activity and the fifth ABI activity, we found that all of the sub-elements of epistemic thinking have increased. The rate of growth for epistemic cognition is greatest, followed by epistemic metacognitive knowledge and epistemic metacognitive skills. Assessed for epistemic thinking, the level of epistemic thinking improved over the course of the argument-based inquiry science class. The results of the survey show that students actively participating and being recognized for their active participation in the argument-based inquiry science class are helpful in understanding scientific knowledge. Therefore, an argument-based inquiry science class is a teaching and learning program that allows students to understand and experience the epistemic nature of scientific knowledge and its construction through collaboration and agreement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.273-284
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• 2022

This study was conducted to examine the practical and educational implications of teachers' operation of the curriculum through science and online classes based on data collected for 4 months from 4 teachers who had experience in science subject online classes among homeroom teachers in the 3rd to 6th grades of elementary school in D city. This study was conducted through narrative inquiry. As a result of conducting interviews and in-depth interviews based on the online class experiences of the Earth Science Unit of the study subjects, and conducting field classes with related documents such as online class-related materials and teacher journals, teachers were more likely to take online classes compared to traditional face-to-face classes. They spent more time preparing and showed difficulties in the process of adapting to the new medium used in online classes. In addition, they demanded the provision of scientific materials produced in a pandemic situation and a teaching platform for smooth class operation. In particular, in the case of experimental classes, there is a burden of completing the planned curriculum, and in a pandemic situation, students felt the need for individual experimental tools for intensive science classes. As a result, it is necessary to introduce a blended learning learning system that combines the advantages of face-to-face and online classes as a new class form for the transition to future education in preparation for the pandemic. Continuous teacher research on the format and online class experience is required.