Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education (한국초등과학교육학회지:초등과학교육)

The Korean Elementary Science Education Society (한국초등과학교육학회)
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An Inquiry into the U. S. Elementary School Teachers' Science Teaching Storylines

미국 초등교사의 과학교수에 대한 스토리라인 탐색

  • Received : 2018.09.26
  • Accepted : 2018.11.07
  • Published : 2018.11.30
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Abstract

This study aims to inquire into the U. S. elementary school teachers' storylines for science teaching methods, scientific knowledge and interactions with students. As research subjects, two American elementary school teachers, named Christina and Melissa, were selected. As test tools, this study adopted Storyline Test and semi-structured interviews. Firstly, in regard to the science teaching method, Christina evaluated that she gradually improved her science teaching skills up to positive 6 points, starting from 2 points in the first year of teaching career, while Melissa sustained a stable state with 5 points in the 9th year of teaching career, starting from 1 point in the first year of teaching career. It was found that both the teachers had more confidence in their science teaching methods by participating in various training programs. Secondly, Christina evaluated her scientific knowledge in the first year of teaching career as 4 points, but evaluated her present scientific knowledge as stable as 6 points since she started studying teaching materials actively, discussing with other teachers and having more ability of application through science class integrated with other school subjects, in the 7th year of her teaching career. On the other hand, Melissa evaluated her scientific knowledge in the first year of teaching career as 1 point since she did not exactly know what to teach elementary school students, but in the 6th year of teaching career, she sustained a stable state with points through joint-activities with other teachers. It was found that chances to research with other teachers had important effect on both the teachers' confidence in scientific knowledge. Thirdly, in regard to interactions with students in science class, Christina said that she did not have any interaction with students when instructing inquiry activities in the first year of teaching career, but since the 10th year of her teaching career, she had sustained a stable state with 6 points through active interaction with students, by leading learning projects and science competitive exhibitions, etc. On the other hand, Melissa evaluated her interaction with students in the first year of teaching career as 1 point because her class was reading-oriented, but since the 9th year of teaching career, she had sustained a stable state with 6 points so far, by developing inquiry activity strategies to improve interaction with students. Overall, it was found that inquiry activities played a central role in improving both the teachers' interaction with students.

Keywords

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Fig. 1. Storyline form (Beijaard et al., 1999).

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Fig. 2. The storyline test about ‘science teaching methods’ - ‘Korean version’.

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Fig. 3. Two teacher’s storyline on science teaching methods.

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Fig. 4. Two teacher’s storyline on scientific knowledge.

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Fig. 5. Two teacher’s storyline on interactions with students.

Table 1. The characteristics of the participants

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