The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) teaching on 6th graders in Korean elementary schools. Three classes from elementary school were respectively assigned to an experimental group consisting of one class (38 students) and a control group of two classes (78 students). For the experimental group, science instruction employed MBL. For the control group, traditional instruction was used. The results of this study are as follows: Firstly, the MBL was effective in the improvement of scientific inquiry skills. Secondly, there was no significant difference in respect to the results from the achievement test between the experimental group and the control group.

This study examined how pre-service elementary teachers' perceptions regarding the learning environment (learning focus/ability-meritocracy/cooperative climate) and achievement goals (mastery/performance-approach/performance-avoidance) in science education courses jointly contributed to their science teaching efficacy beliefs (personal science teaching efficacy belief/science teaching outcome expectancy). A path analysis supported a causal model in which the perception of the learning focus influenced the mastery goal, which in turn influenced the personal science teaching efficacy belief and science teaching outcome expectancy. The perception of learning focus also had a direct effect on science teaching outcome expectancy. The perception of ability-meritocracy influenced personal science teaching efficacy belief via the performance-approach (positively) or, conversely, the performance-avoidance goal (negatively). No link .was deduced from the perception of cooperative climate. The educational implications of these findings were also discussed.

This study investigated the characteristics of contents of the Atmosphere and Weather in the elementary science curriculum. For this study, elementary science textbooks reflecting the elementary science curriculum from 1st to 7th were analyzed with a number of tools. The results were as follows: Several parts of the contents about Atmosphere and Weather were dealt continuously through the all of science curriculum. Atmospheric Pressure, Humidity and Atmospheric Pressure and Weather were applied at the fifth grade above continuously. And Cloud$\cdot$Fog$\cdot$Dew was applied at the third and fifth grade. Quantity of learning about Atmosphere was more than it's of Weather always. Especially, Movement of Atmosphere and Temperature Change were maintained continuously above $10\%$ of the contents about Atmosphere and Weather. Some of the detailed learning themes related Atmosphere and Weather were dealt commonly through the all of the elementary science curriculum. Finally, the results showed that the contents of Physical Nature of Atmosphere, Atmospheric Pressure, Movement of Atmosphere, Temperature and it's Change and Cloud$\cdot$Fog$\cdot$Dew had been learned always with the experiments and practical training.

The purpose of this study was to develop a test of a creative problem solving (CPS) for the selection of gifted science students in elementary school. For this, the methods and procedures of the selection of gifted science students was investigated through the internet homepages 23 gifted science education centers of universities and 16 city. province offices of education. The results of this study were as follows: Most of the gifted science students were selected through a multi-step examination process. They were selected on the basis of their records by recommendation of a principal or a classroom teacher in their school, by operation of standardized tests (ex. intelligence quotient score, achievements in science and mathematics, interest and attitude/aptitude for science as well as through other means), as well as through intensive observation of those gifted science students who are selected by interview and oral tests. The selection of gifted students was not evaluated through creativity testing; giftedness in city. province office of education. Testing of CPS was found to be especially lacking in these organizations. For the development of the test items of CPS in science, the five elements were extracted through the framework for the content analysis of the CPS: problem exploration, problem statement, solution thinking, experiment design, and assesment. In addition, suggestions were made regarding an appropriate scoring system for the test of the CPS. As the result of the developed test was applied to the 4th grade of the gifted and general student, we found that gifted students were superior to general students. In conclusion, it was that the CPS test developed in this study should be used to evaluate the CPS for the selection of gifted students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of metacognitive strategy on conceptual acquisition ofvseasonal change and self-efficacy when it was applied to 6th grade elementary students. This study consists of 2 classes, 76 students in the 6th grade of elementary school, which were divided into the experimental group (38) and the control group (38). First, a pre-test was administrated to check students' levels of metacognitive self-regulation and self-efficacy prior to getting planned lessons and then an instruction program was developed based upon the metacognitive instruction model and students' conception. The control group was exposed to traditional methods mainly using the textbook and teacher's guide book. The experimental group employed a metacognitive learning strategy program and activities with metacognitive questionnaires. After the planned lessons, the students were tested with post-tests about the conception of seasonal change and self-efficacy. One month later the students were tested again with another test to determine the continuation effect. The results were as follows: First, the group that used metacognitive conceptual change instruction did better in forming and continuing to maintain the scientific seasonal change conceptions compared to the control group. Second, the high and intermediate group taught by metacognitive conceptual change instruction was higher in the level of self-regulation than the control group. However, it was not verified in the low group. Third, the group which used metacognitive conceptual change instruction showed a higher level of self-efficacy than the control group did.

The language and the gestures of a teacher, generally, have a great influence on the effect of a lesson. This is because subject content is transferred to students by teachers' language and gestures. In the science lessons which focus on experiments, the language and gestures of both students and teachers will help the learning of scientific content. However, the role of gestures, despite its importance, has rarely been investigated in science education research. The role of gestures of students and teachers is a much needed area of study. This study investigated the gestures observed in the experimental process performed by students who participated in a science exploration activity. Students' gestures play an essential role in the successful performance of the experiment. and they could function as a process of solving the contradictory situation. In addition, the demonstration and the communication of gestures should be performed very cautiously. There were a number of implications for the long-standing problem of the relation between the understanding of science concepts and the performance of experiments.

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of discussion using newspapers on fifth grade elementary school students' academic achievement and affective characteristics related to science. Additionally, this study intended to examine students' ideas about newspaper utilization, discussion based learning and science with questionnaire. The subjects were 59 fifth grade students from two classes. NIE was used in the experimental group and traditional teaching methods in the control group. In pretest and posttest sessions, both groups were evaluated by the academic achievement test, and an affective characteristics related science test. The results of this study showed that the academic achievement of the experimental group which applied discussion using newspapers was significantly higher than that of the control group which applied traditional instruction, especially in terms of knowledge and understanding. Additionally, the results showed that discussion using newspapers had a positive effect on affective domains such as perception, interest and attendance for science classes. In particular, the post-results of the experimental group were higher than pre-results, on the other hand, those of the control group were lower than preresults in all affective domains. It appeared that students had positive thoughts about newspaper utilization, discussion based learning, and science. The half of students who had low academic achievement showed negative reactions for discussion based learning.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a multiple cognitive conflict strategy at remedying student's misconceptions. Elementary students have many misconceptions about the brightness of the electric bulb in simple dual circuits. Most of the misconceptions can be summed up as 'the more batteries or the fewer bulbs, the brighter is the output.' The students have learned about the brightness of the electric bulb while connected to a battery in Grade 4 and the brightness of multiple electric bulbs in Grade 5. However, about $50%$ of the students remain with the firm misconception that the brightness of the bulb is related to the number of source batteries. This strong misconception may not lead to a conceptual change in the case of only one cognitive conflict. This study used a multiple conflict strategy while tackling the cognitive conflicts in the students as they solved the problems many times. It involved 160 grade 5 students. The result was they often changed their misconceptions and used more scientific thinking than the same grade students of other schools. It remains to be seen if this success will transfer to other schools and students and we intend on studying further the differences in students regarding this learning process.

The purpose of this study was to examine elementary teachers' perception on birds and problems on teaching it. For this study, the science textbooks from 3rd grade to 6th grade according to the 7th national curriculum were analyzed. Results revealed that, firstly, there were 34 bird species recorded and these were described 55 times in the surveyed textbooks. Secondly, the survey showed that $20\%$ of the teachers were interested in birds despite the fact that $98\%$ of them had no special knowledge about birds nor had studied them in college. Additionally, it was revealed that $41\%$ of the teachers felt lacking in specialist knowledge about birds and this lead to difficulties in teaching on this subject. Thirdly, academic backgrounds had an affect teachers' perceptions on teaching this area. The teachers' levels of interest in birds and the teachers' ratio of teaching on this topic tended to increase as their academic careers developed, and the proportion of male teachers in this category were higher than female teachers. To overcome difficulty in teaching on this area, it is suggested that a reconstitution of subject materials, as well as a revision of the teachers' guidebooks be undertaken.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how prospective elementary school teachers perceived teacher's inquiryoriented teaching practice, with an emphasis on students' scientific explanations based on scientific evidence. For this study, 94 prospective elementary school teachers were participated. 14 among 94 participants had chances to intensively experience this particular teaching methods for 15 weeks. All of the 94 participants observed the intended science teaching practice for 4th graders in two different elementary schools, which utilized the science talks emphasizing students' scientific explanation activity. For quantitative data analysis, they were asked to provide their reaction to the science teaching methods after their classroom observation. For qualitative data analysis, 5 among the participants, who had relatively long term experience with this teaching practice, were chosen to interview in order to understand their individual reasons of the ways they perceived about the inquiry-oriented teaching methods boosting students' scientific explanation. The results show that the prospective elementary teachers generally thought the emphasis of students' scientific explanation based on scientific evidence could enhance young elementary students' science content understanding, stimulate their curiosity/interests, and further develop their ability to engage actively in scientific discussions. However, some prospective teachers tended to think that the science teaching. methods would not be effective in terms of managing science classes, though. This study concludes that the prospective teachers tended to hold an endemic dilemma. On the one hand, they had their clear preference to the inquiry-oriented teaching practice as the most ideal teaching methods. On the other hand, they also had their persistent hesitance in using these methods due to their fear that elementary students might not adequately grasp the important science content when engaged in scientific discourse through an inquiry-oriented class.