• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.705-720
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the meaning and value of interest (in Korean 'Jae-mi') in science education through literature analysis. Literature analyses were conducted on literature related to interest in various fields such as Korean language, psychology, philosophy, and education. Specifically, this study discussed the meaning of interest, the characteristics of the context of experiencing interest, the educational value of interest in science education, and the direction of science education to realize the value of interest. First, it was found that interest is an experience of emotional activation that can be felt through interaction with a specific object, and it is an emotional experience caused by the complex combination of various psychological factors, which is oriented sense, relationship, self, and object. Second, to understand the context of experience of interest, we conducted a topic modeling analysis with 1173 research articles related to interest. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the context of interest is closely related with playfulness. And we addressed that this kind of playfulness is also found in science. Third, the educational values of interest in science education were discussed. In science education, fun is not only an instrumental value to induce science learning behavior, it is also one of the universal experiences that learners feel lively in science teaching-learning, and driving force of individual students' emotional development related to science. The students' active attitude to feel interest lead to creative thinking and action. Finally, we argued that the interest that should be aimed in science education should be active interest and experienced at trial and error, not passive interest induced by external stimuli. And science education culture should be encouraged to respect those who enjoy science. In particular, this study discussed the importance of each student's unique interest experience based on the philosophy of philosopher Deleuze (1976).