Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education (한국과학교육학회지)

The Korean Association for Science Education (한국과학교육학회)
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Middle School Students' Ideas about the purposes of Laboratory Work

과학 실험의 목적에 대한 중학생의 인식조사

  • Published : 2003.06.30
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Abstract

Researches on laboratory work show that students often achieve little meaningful learning through laboratory work. One reason for this failure is that students often do not know the different types of laboratory work and the 'purposes' of them. Therefore, this study investigated middle school student' ideas about the purposes of laboratory work. To seventh grade students(n=147) of middle school in Seoul, Korea, we asked (Question 1) "Why do scientists do laboratory work?" and (Question 2) "Why do you do laboratory work in science classes?" It was required a short essay including the reasons and examples of them. From the results, it was found that 56.8% of the students had ideas that scientists do laboratory work for discovering new facts or inventing something, and 82.9% of the students responded that they do laboratory work for understanding and memorizing the contents of science textbook. In addition, the differences according to gender and to school achievement level, and the relationship between the ideas about scientists' laboratory work and about school science laboratory work were examined. The results showed that boys responded 'social usefulness' more frequently than girl, while girls mentioned 'personal pleasure' more frequently than boys in relation to the purposes of scientists' laboratory work(p<.05). According to the achievement level, it was founded that 'middle' level students replied 'to remember' more frequently than high and low levels in relation to school science laboratory work. Finally, students who had ideas that scientists do laboratory work for verifying a theory had the similar ideas about school science laboratory work. In conclusion, students are lack of diverse and proper views about laboratory work. It is recommended that teacher need to make clear the purpose of laboratory work and help students to understand of it.

실험활동은 과학교육에서 중요한 요소로서, 그 목적과 효과에 대해 많은 논의가 있어왔다. 그러나 이에 관한 연구결과는 회의적이며 그 이유 중 하나는 하나의 실험은 동시에 다양한 목적을 성취할 수 없으며, 교사와 학생들이 실험의 목적에 대해 인식하고 있지 않기 때문이라는 것이다. 그러므로 본 연구에서는 시험의 목적에 대한 중학생들의 인식을 조사하였다. 실험의 목적에 대한 중학생들의 인식을 알아보기 위해 '과학자들의 실험'과 '학교실험'의 두 가지 상황에 대해 서울 소재 중학교 1학년생 147명을 대상으로 실험의 목적에 대해 서술형으로 응답하도록 하였다. 응답을 분석한 결과, 학생들의 56.8%가 과학자들이 새로운 것을 발견하거나 발명하기 위해 시험을 하는 것으로 응답하였으며, 학교실험에 대해서는 82.9%의 학생들이 인지적 영역, 즉 교과서에서 배운 것을 이해하거나 암기하기 위한 것이라고 응답하였다. 성별과 성취도에 따른 응답비율의 차이를 조사한 결과 남학생들의 경우에는 사회적 유용성을, 여학생의 경우에는 개인적 즐거움을 더 많이 응답하였다. 과학자의 시험과 학교실험에 대한 인식의 상화관련을 조사한 결과, 과학자들의 실험이 이론을 증명하는 것이라고 생각하는 학생은 학교 시험의 기능도 유사하게 생각하였다. 마지막으로 학생들의 응답을 정성적으로 분석하였으며, 결론적으로 학생들은 실험에 대해 다양하고 적절한 인식을 가지고 있지 못하며, 학교실험에 대해 회의적인 태도를 보이기도 하였다. 이를 개선하기 위해서 교사는 시험의 다양한 목적에 대해 학생들에게 알려주고, 매 시험마다 그 실험의 목적에 대해 명확히 밝혀야 할 것이다.

Keywords

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