This study proposed task-based teaming strategies as a means of fulfilling the demands and goals of the 7th national science curriculum. Task-based learning is based on the use of a series of activities whereby a teacher presents students with tasks related to daily lift and the students solve the tasks by themselves using various methods and thought processes and then present and discuss their results with each other. The tasks are selected from the 6-grade science textbook, are reconstructed and are then given to the classes. The tasks include whole class activities as well as individual activities related to the interests, abilities, and concerns of the students. The purpose of this study was to verify the effects of task-based learning classes on the science process skills and the scientific attitudes of elementary school students, when applied to 6th grade students. For this, the task-based learning activities were applied to an experimental group and expository teaching was applied to the comparison group. Both groups were given a pre-post test on science process skills and scientific attitudes. The results indicate that task-based loaming is very effective in the development of science process skills and scientific attitudes.

This study was conducted to investigate the relationships between the patterns of elementary school teachers' explanations and the patterns of students' questions types on scientific phenomena. for the purposes of this study, we collected questions related to scientific phenomena from 255 $3rd{\sim}6th$ students in 2 elementary schools. Classifying the students' questions collected, 20 representative questions for each type were selected. Data regarding teachers' scientific explanation from 62 teachers of 3 elementary schools were also collected. The results of the analysis of the questions for each science field show that the students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades have the most questions regarding biology, and those in the 6th grade have more questions regarding earth science. Regarding question types, object exploration questions and explican exploration questions formed the majority. Moreover, the higher the students' grades, a decrease in the number of conjectural questions and an increase in the number of causal questions were observed. As a result of the analysis of the teachers' explanation, the following explanation types could be discerned; conjecture, hypothesis, prediction, teleological explanation, information given to feed exploration questions, as well as verification and information supply fer verification purposes. There were 4 kinds of relationships between question types and explanation types. One was the explanation fitting to each question type, a second was the explanation with additional content than the question required, a third was where the explanation was inappropriate to the question, and a forth was where the teacher responded that they "don't know." This study, investigating the relationships between questioning as a scientific inquiry process and explanation, will help to promote discussion regarding science classes in elementary school.

This study aims at helping us improve the methods used to teach elementary school students how to handle experimental apparatus by examining their manual skills and their understanding of the alcohol lamp, spuit and thermometer. To evaluate their ability to handle each experimental apparatus, a practical skills test and knowledge evaluation sheets were developed. The evaluation was carried out with 270 students from 2 classes each in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade of D Elementary School located in Daejeon City. For their handling ability of the alcohol lamp, the results for the practical skills test showed that the students had a very low ability in placing objects in the center of the apparatus for safe use and also in adjusting the height of the trivet to place objects so that they contact the outer flames correctly. For the spuit, the pass rate of the skills test was generally low in regards to how students should grasp a spuit and the timing and method of depressing the rubber part before dipping it into liquid. For the thermometer, on the other hand, the pass rate was relatively high in every respect. The knowledge evaluation results for the use of experimental apparatus showed a very high rate of correct answers for alcohol lamps and thermometers. The test results for spoils also produced a relatively high rate of correct answers, with the exception of the test item regarding the way that students should grasp them.

This study analyzed the effect of Human-oriented Alternative Science Activities(HASA) on a coaching teacher and the students who participated in this activity. Human-oriented alternative science activities were used in the experimental group and traditional teaching methods were used in the control group. In pretest and posttest sessions, both groups were evaluated using an academic achievement test, and an affective characteristics related science test. After the activity, questionaries regarding attitudes to science lessons were administered as well. The process of change (if any) which occurred in the science lessons of the experimental group teacher was also analyzed through the teacher's diaries. The results showed that application of HASA had a positive effect upon affective characteristics and attitudes to science classes held by the experimental group and teacher. However, the result of this study also showed that the variation between academic achievement of each group was statistically insignificant.

The purposes of this study were as follows; to investigate elementary school teachers' understanding of scientific inquiry, experiences in learning/teaching, their educational experience of scientific inquiry, and to study the difficulties they experience in teaching scientific inquiry methods to elementary students and their suggestions for future inquiry materials. For the purposes of this study, 157 elementary school teachers participated in a survey and 10 teachers were interviewed in-depth in relation to their ideas and experiences of scientific inquiry. The results show that most elementary school teachers had a lack of understanding of scientific inquiry skills, and lacked educational experiences of inquiry methods in general. They generally perceived the 7th science text-books as being inappropriate and inadequate for teaching students scientific inquiry processes. The educational implications are discussed to help practitioners implement scientific inquiries successfully through the various types of teaching materials and professional developments.

In this study, we investigated the variables related to the science teaching efficacy beliefs of pre-service and in-service elementary school teachers. The participants were 176 freshmen and 260 seniors from an university of education and 234 teachers from 25 elementary schools located in Jeonju. Variables concerning pre-service teachers include their sex, career/study tracks (science or non-science), and the number of science courses taken either at high school or at university. Variables concerning in-service teachers include their sex, academic degree, the frequency and type of participation in science in-service training, and their teaching career experience. The Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument was used to measure teachers' self-efficacy beliefs. The results indicated that the personal science teaching efficacy belief scores of seniors were significantly lower than those of freshmen and in-service teachers, whereas the science teaching outcome expectancy scores of seniors were significantly higher than those of freshmen. Among variables investigated, sex, career/study track, the number of science courses taken at high school, and the frequency and type of participation in science in-service training were found to significantly influence teachers' science teaching efficacy beliefs.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the structure and type of prospective elementary school teachers' scientific hypotheses generated on zoological tasks. The subjects were 18 prospective elementary school teachers. Four zoological hypothesis generation tasks were developed and administered to the subjects. After being presented with the zoological situations of the tasks, the subjects were asked to generate causal questions and scientific hypotheses. The scientific hypotheses were analyzed by the inductive approach. The results of this study showed that the hypotheses contained explicans and explicanda. The explicans were divided into two parts: 'what' and 'how'. In some cases, additional explanations were attached to the 'what' section. In addition, the hypotheses were classified into 9 types. The number of explicanda, the pattern of explicans, and the number of explicans were used as criteria for classification purposes. This study also discussed the implications of these findings for future directions in teaching and teaming in science education.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the contents which were presented in the physics exhibits of the following three museums; Seoul National Science Museum, National Science Museum and the Exploration Center. The main findings of this research were as follows: Firstly, it was found that 73.7% of the exhibits were composed of 'dynamic exhibits', 87.6% of the exhibits were 'active involvement type exhibits', 48.3% of the exhibits were 'interest induction type exhibits' and 42.8% of the physics exhibits were composed of exhibits related to optics. Secondly, it was found that many elementary students seemed to have difficulty in understanding and executing the activities in the physics exhibits.

The purpose of this study is to find out the differences (if any) and the causes of preferences for science between elementary school boys and girls. Another purpose of this study is to find out when such differences in preference begin and what their causes we. Fourth, fifth and sixth grades from elementary school A in Gyeongg-gi Province participated twice in research surveys on preference levels in science with education, career course and personal experience taken into account. A total of 997 survey responses, (excluding no responses or half-hearted ones) were selected for comparative analysis. The analysis methods used were frequency analysis, cross stabs and one-way ANOVA Analysis which depended on survey items. The results of this study show that preference levels in science are 61.7% and the difference of preference levels in science between boys and girls are 31.2% and 30.5% with boys showing higher percentages in science preference levels than girls(p<.01). Moreover, the results also show that the point in which changes in preference level in science emerges is from fifth and sixth grades. Therefore, the gender difference in preference levels in science begins with fifth grade students, with science being slightly more favored by boys. finally, the main causes in gender differences seems to be the experiment participants' levels, scientific education textbook preference level, interests in science class, and plans for the future that are related to field of science. Among these causes, interests level in science class and preference levels in science are closely related.

The purpose of this study was to elucidate elementary school teachers' pedagogical content knowledge regarding the subject of "weight and pressure in water". 6 elementary teachers in charge of the 6th grade were selected for this study. The 7 hour lessons were observed over $15{\sim}20$ days, and a variety of data including scenarios, questionnaires for teachers, interviews of teachers were analyzed. As a result of this study, teachers who had long career histories thought that the purpose of teaching science was to teach the use of science principles, and teachers who had only taught for a relatively short time thought the purpose was satisfying students' curiosity. Most of the teachers felt that the science content knowledge related to buoyancy was insufficient. They had acquired most of the science content knowledge from teaming experiences in middle and high schools. The pre-service teacher education programs didn't help them to satisfactorily acquire the science content knowledge under analysis here. Most of the teachers taught the science lessons according to the order of sequence as shown in the science textbook. They didn't teach the contents that they thought were needed if they were not already included in the science textbook. Only one teacher who had taken science courses in high school managed the science classes freely according to his own thoughts and opinions. From the results of this research, it could be concluded that most elementary school teachers did not have enough pedagogical content knowledge to teach their students effectively.