학교와 영재교육원에서의 초등과학교육 비교

Comparison of Elementary Science Education between Schools and A Education Institute for the Gifted

The present study compared the contents and methods of elementary science education in schools and education institutes for the gifted and surveyed the contents and methods of science education for the gifted desired by students in order to set the direction of elementary science education at education institutes for the gifted. For this study, we conducted interviews with a 5th-grade male student and a 6th-grade female student at the science class of the Education Institutes for the Gifted run by Iksan Education Office. Besides, printed materials were collected and used to refer to the contents of education. The results of this study are as follows. First, in school, the student learn according to the curriculum defined by the government and the contents begin with elementary and basic ones and move step by step to deeper and wider scientific principles. On the contrary, in the education institute for the gifted, the contents of teaching materials are decided at the teacher's discretion, and because they target gifted children, their level is higher than that of the science curriculum in school. Second, the most common teaching method in school is lecturing and, next, experiments, group activities, etc. On the contrary, in the education institute for the gifted, experiments are used most frequently, and various educational methods are adopted including lectures, project learning and cyber learning. Third, the contents of science education that gifted children wanted to learn are not limited to any specific area. Science education methods that gifted children wanted were various, including project learning, group activities, experiments, and report making and presentation.