• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.581-596
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to identify students' views on the orientation of science and to investigate the relationship between their views and decision-making on socio-scientific issues (SSI). In this study, 27 university students attending a science course were asked to discuss four controversial issues: the Toyota recall, the green car, the global warming and swine influenza (influenza A (H1N1)). The study was comprised of two stages. At the first stage, we examined students' views on the nature of science and on the orientation of science with the open-ended questionnaire based on VNOS and VOSTS. While they held relatively similar views on the nature of science, their views on the orientation of science were distinct as pragmatic, intrinsic, communal and ethical views. At the second stage, to examine the role of their views on the orientation of science in decision-making, we selected four students who had similar views on NOS but different views on the orientation of science. The four students were selected from each group of views on the orientation of science and their decision-making processes were analyzed following grounded theory. Across SSIs, they relied upon their views on the orientation of science as the strategies for decision, though considered different perception, and causal and contextual conditions. This study indicates that understanding students' views on the orientation of science would be helpful for achieving scientific literacy for informed decision.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.195-206
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• 2010

The purposes of this study were to develop science education programs for changing students' science research ethical views, and to investigate the types and features of their views, and to examine their changes overtime. The subject of this study was one 6th grade class(41 students) at an elementary school located in Seoul. The scientific research ethical education programs developed in the study was applied through 8 lessons over 4 weeks. The results of this study show that 3 types of science research ethical views were appeared in elementary students participated in this study: 'human technology centered views', 'value ecology centered views' and the mixed views. The numbers of students, who changed their views from type I or type II to type III, were significantly increased. Students with type III appeared to actively involve in classroom activities aligned with science research ethical issues. The results imply that intended science ethical education program can affect students' ethical views on science. It is also important to aware that teacher's effective assistance and help contribute to students' meaningful changes on their traditional scientific ethical views. Educational implications on science education are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between elementary school teachers' points of view about the organization of the science curriculum and their views on the nature of science (NOS). We surveyed 132 elementary school teachers' view points about these two kinds of views, analyzed the data by their variables, and compared the two viewpoints with their personal details. The elementary school teachers thought the science curriculum should be emphasized through the process more than contents. They thought the contents of the science curriculum should be integrated rather than separated. As teachers' career progressed, they focused on the contents more than the process. On the other hands, because elementary school teachers showed the NOS views as relativism, deductivism, decontextualism, content, and instrumentalism, when we plotted sub-viewpoints of NOS in process-content dimension, we thought it would be similar distributions with point of views on the organization of science curriculum. However, there was no meaningful relation. This showed that teachers' views on the organization of the curriculum and the NOS are totally different. These findings suggest further research is needed to find how factors influence elementary school teachers' views on the organization of the science curriculum and what inclinations can occur in science classes with their different views.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.121-128
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• 2004

This study was to investigate high students' conceptions of acids and bases, and their views on learning science. Multiple sources of data were collected over six months with a participation of sit tenth graders and their science teacher. The transcripts of interviews and other data were examined with an eye toward students' conceptions of acids and bases, and their views of learning science. Students' views of science are displayed the representative pattern. Each pattern is represented with an episode. Students' views of learning have been found to reflect the transmissive models of science educational practice. Students accept passive and difficult-to-modify views of the learner roles that they should play in the science classroom. Students identified science classes as conservative places, despite the introduction of science literacy as a goal of Korean science education since 1980. Behaviorism remains the major influence in their expectation, design, and practice in school science. Moreover, 'transmission' remains the persistent and dominant classroom cultural dynamic for both teaching and learning of science.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.558-570
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• 2005

The importance of teaching the nature of science (NOS) has been always emphasized in science education. However, the NOS is hardly taught in elementary science class. We are lacking in the strategies and materials for teaching NOS. So we designed the science drama teaching, and investigated the effects on pupils' perceptions about NOS. The subjects of this study were 185 third graders from a elementary school. The treatment group was provided with science drama lessons and the control group was provided with traditional lecture-type lessons. Their perceptions about NOS were investigated before/after the science lessons and after 3 months following them, and both of two groups were compared. The pretest results revealed that the pupils of both groups were found to have similar views on NOS. Dey had traditional views of the most items except for social construction of theories, mathematical knowledge and decision-making. After science lessons, they tended to change their views toward modem views, but the pupils of the treatment group showed more modem views than those of the control group on the observation, model, social construction of theories, predictions. After 3 months, the pupils of the control group tended to come back to their traditional views, but those of the treatment group showed tendencies that their changed views were kept up on the observation, scientific model, scientific knowledge, scientific methods, decision-making, social construction of theories, mathematical knowledge. Therefore this study suggests that science drama teaching could be one of the effective ways for teaching NOS.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.1158-1172
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• 2004

This study searched secondary school students' epistemological views and ontological views about nature and the root causes of such their views. The subjects were 156 secondary school students and data were gathered by the questionnaire developed based on preceding researches. As a result, many secondary school students had epistemological views of unknowable nature. There were various root causes of their epistemological views such as regularity and harmony of nature, predictable and circular natural phenomenon, causation, the relation between human and nature. On the other hand, a lot of secondary school students had ontological view of supernatural nature. Their religious beliefs were very powerful influence their supernatural ontological views. The nature is the object of science and the physical world. Because those views supply science educators basic backgrounds how leaners understand science class, secondary school students' epistemological views and ontological views are precious information. From now on, it is necessary to study relations between students' epistemological views and ontological views and their science class processes.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.244-249
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• 2000

Using a sample of 83 secondary school science teachers, this study investigated the views on science and learning which they have. Questionnaires used in this study were the same that Kwon & Pak(1995) administered. Both 'Questionnaire for Perception of Nature of Science' and 'Questionnaire for Constructivistic Views of Learning' were 11-point scales. Data analyses were done by using t-test and ANOVA. The secondary science teachers showed a relativistic, deductivistic, instrumental, and process-oriented views on science. The younger age of the teachers, the more emphasis on process rather than content. Female teachers had more relativistic, instrumental, and process-oriented views than male teachers had. The teachers sampled in this study showed a constructivistic view on learning. Finally, the teachers' views of science and learning were closely related each other.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.108-116
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the views of elementary students and teachers in relation to life phenomenon. Students seemed to strongly agree with the notion of vitalism as well as with organicism. However they clearly disagreed with the notion of mechanism. Contrary to our supposition, their viewpoints on lift phenomenon were highly affected by their relative levels of academic achievement in science subject areas, rather than by their religious affiliations. One possible explanation for this outcome is that elementary schoolers have not firmly established religious views, though they might indeed have a religious affiliation. High-achieving children in science subject areas seemed to agree with both vitalism and organicism (p<.01), and it is suggested that those students must have had more opportunities to encounter related cases in modem science or life ethics. Teachers agreed with all three views, showing the highest rate of approval in organicism. Though they appeared to agree with mechanism, they were strongly opposed to radical mechanism generally arguing that 'organism and machines were essentially the same'. Student responses indicated that TV had a bigger influence on their viewpoint on life phenomenon than teachers did. This means that children held certain views about the relative significance and influences of teachers vis-a-vis TV in daily life, and is also reflective of a perception amongst students that teachers do not how the significance of viewpoints on lift phenomenon.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.430-441
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• 2011

We investigated the elementary students' epistemological views on the nature of scientific measurement. The Views About Scientific Measurement (Ibrahim, 2005) was administered to 117 sixth graders. The analyses of the results indicated that there was an inconsistency in their epistemological views depending on the contexts of the measurement. They also had some difficulties in understanding a distribution of the data, which is needed to understand the necessity of repeating measurements, choosing a best representative value, and comparing data sets. They were found to have some naive views on scientific measurement which influenced negatively for fostering modern epistemological views on the nature of scientific measurement. The results suggest that the nature of scientific measurement should be emphasized explicitly in the national curriculum, and an effective method which improves elementary students' epistemological views on the nature of scientific measurement also be developed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.9-20
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• 2003

In this study, elementary school students' views about nature were searched. The participants were 18 students of fifth grade and sixth grade. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews involving a set of elicitation devices used to encourage students to talk about their views about nature, The results showed as follows; (1) Elementary school students had diverse views and common views about nature, (2) Their views about nature were affected by various factors, such as religion, aesthetical aspect, science, society, and so on. So when science educators construct science curriculum, they must consider these factors. (3) It is necessary to be concerned about the relations between science curriculum and others.