Many studies on the professional development of science teachers demonstrated that induction teachers' conceptions of teaching science are important factors in developing their professionalism. The present study was conducted to describe in detail the progress of two science induction teachers, June and Mike, towards conceptual change teaching, and to investigate secondary induction science teachers' conceptions of teaching science by analysing their conceptual ecologies. The study was interpretive, using multiple data sources to achieve a triangulation of data. Both June and Mike held strongly positive learning in their views of knowledge and science. Holding positivist views of knowledge and of science is likely to be a major obstacle for anyone coming to understand constructivism and its implications in teaching for conceptual change. This argument resonates in several key ways with the teachers' cases, even though I recognize differences between scenario and teachers, and between teachers themselves.

This Qualitative study investigated a preservice teacher's developing views of learning with the influence of constructivist epistemology taught in the Math, Science, and Technology Education (MSAT) Master of Education (M. Ed.) preservice teacher education program. The MSAT teacher education program employs constructivist aspects of teacher education and generates applications of constructivism to the practice of teaching, as revealed by faculty interview data. It is important at this point to emphasize that there are significant epistemological and ontological differences between different versions of educational constructivism (i.e., individual, radical, and social constructivism) and that these differences imply different pedagogical practices. For the 16 preservice teachers included in a larger study, the epistemological and ontological characteristics for each teacher's developing views of learning were identified through four in-depth interviews. Data from interviews were used to construct a constructivist profile for each preservice teacher's views of learning (i.e., a profile containing ontological beliefs, epistemological commitments, and pedagogical beliefs). Of the sixteen participants in the larger study, five significantly changed ontological and epistemological beliefs and eleven did not. Profile changes for the five who did change also resulted in changes in their conceptions of science teaching and learning (CSTL). In this article, one of the five teachers case was presented with rich quotes. This case study documents how a preservice teacher transferred his ontological and epistemological beliefs to his pedagogical beliefs and maintained the consistency between his philosophical beliefs and CSTL. It also demonstrated implications that changes in components for an educational constructivist profile have for a preservice teacher's view of himself as teacher. Data indicated the possibility that a constructivist-oriented preservice teacher education program can influence students' conceptions of science teaching and learning by explicitly introducing constructivism as an epistemology rather than as a specific method of instruction. Implications for both instructional practices of teacher education programmes and research are discussed.

This article presents a theoretical model for conceptual change that relates cognitive conflict and the role of context. The model assumes that students derive alternative conceptions from everyday contexts while scientific concepts presume an idealized context, and hence, that the source of cognitive conflict results from the difference between the two contexts. Test results and analysis of the model are presented by applying it in a class studying the inertial motion of bodies. The subjects are 37 seventh grade boys.

The purpose of this study was to find the effect of these variables on the duration of the momentum effect. To examine the momentum effect for gravitational field concepts, an intensive time series design was used. We collected data every day except Sundays and holidays for 50 days; 5 days for baseline, 30 days for intervention, and 15 days for the follow up We adopted cognitive levels and styles as students characteristics and two item characteristics(quantity versus quality, and word versus picture) as the item representation patterns. In this study, the momentum effect was influenced by students characteristics and item representation patterns. The results showed that two variables, cognitive style and quantity/quality, were the most influential factors for the duration of momentum effect. Field independent students showed a longer duration than field dependent students did. In addition, students showed a longer duration in quality items than in quantity items. However, students cognitive levels(formal or preformal) and word/picture presentations seemed to have relatively weak effect on the duration of the momentum effect.

An important issue for qualified science teacher education should be a proper system of pre-service education for the science teacher. There are various types of science teacher education systems in accordance with their socio-cultural backgrounds. In this paper, science teacher education systems were analysed into 3 different types: Focusing Undergraduate Certification of Education (FUCE), Open Undergraduate Certification of Education (OUCE), and Post Graduate Certification of Education (PGCE). Science teacher education systems and their outcomes, such as the quality of the science teacher, were discussed with their socio-cultural backgrounds, compared by the 3 types of science teacher education systems. For this the results of meta-analysis from TIMSS-R and OECD data sets were used. Special interests focused on countries; Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States, which would represent stereotypes of science teacher education systems and different backgrounds of oriental and western culture.

In both Korea and the U.S., science education leaders and specialists insist that there is a shortage of curricula to address the new national science education guidelines in support of reform. This paper addresses development of new curricula for science education reform in the hopes of facilitating further development of guideline-based curricula. We examine Korean and U.S. thematic-based (Korean Science Field Trip at Cultural Sites Program and U.S. Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education) and project-centered (Korean Teachers for Exciting Science and U.S. Foundational Approaches in Science Teaching Program) programs. Using the criteria of rationale for curriculum, content and scope, processes of implementation, and assessment strategies, we identify the curricular components that are common across four successful secondary science programs and determine which of these components address the national guidelines. Our findings indicate that common components of these four programs meet the expectations of the science guidelines being used to revamp science education in both countries. Therefore, these programs not only engage secondary students and teachers in practicing successful science education, but also lead to successful science education practices that can be incorporated in the future development of curriculum to support secondary science reform.

Korean students ranked the 3rd out of 32 participating countries in the first cycle of PISA(Programme for International Student Assessment) science field, which assessed 15-years-old students' scientific literacy. PISA developed several variables such as parents' socio-economic status, parents' educational attainment, family wealth, and cultural possession, to investigate the effects of background variables on scientific literacy. On the other hand, motivation and engagement in science study were not given much attention, partly because science was the minor area in the first cycle of PISA. Therefore, PISA Korea developed a series of variables to collect data on students' learning motives and out-of-school activities in science as a national option. The results are as followings. First, Korea was found to be one of the PISA participating countries with the scientific literacy achievement least influenced by parents' socio-economic status, family wealth, and parents' cultural possession. Second, the degree of achievement in scientific literacy according to parents' educational attainment was in a positive correlation, similar to the overall tendency of PISA. Third, the most crucial learning motive for Korean students was their desire to develop scientific thinking abilities or obtain science knowledge. On the other hand, choosing jobs in the field of science or parental expectation was the least important learning motive. In particular, the motive for scientific learning was found to have a positive relationship with the degree of scientific literacy achievement. Therefore, the higher the students achievement, the stronger the motive for scientific learning in order to develop their ability to think scientifically or acquire science knowledge. Fourth, Korean students were shown to participate very little in out-of-school scientific activities other than watching TV programs related to science. Whatever the activities may be, the more actively involved students are in out-of-school scientific activities, the higher their scientific literacy achievement. Fifth, Korean girls were rather passive compared to boys in all areas, including science learning motive and out-of-school scientific activities. The gender difference was especially more pronounced in out-of-school scientific activities with wider gaps in such activities as reading scientific books or articles and visiting science-related web sites.

This study investigated university students' (majoring physics education) understanding of some aspects of idealization frequently used in teaching and learning of physics, especially of mechanics. A total of 143 students were given a Questionnaire of six questions requiring written responses. Out of the six questions, the first three were concerned with basic idealized concepts, the next two with the making of the assumptions of ideal conditions for given problem settings, and the last with the identification of the idealization used in the given solution of a problem. Students' written responses were grouped into patterns and the relative frequencies of the patterns were counted. It was found that the students had limited understanding of the idealization and their ideas were diverse and frequently incorrect. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the roles of idealization in physics education.

The purpose of the study is to analyze and compare the primary science curricula of Korea, China, and Japan. Science textbooks for Korea and China and national science curriculum guides for Korea and Japan were analyzed in terms of the scope and sequence of the topics. The number of primary science topics dealt with is greatest in China, followed by Korea, then Japan. In addition to the wide range of topics, the Chinese curriculum also shows more in-depth coverage of topics. On the contrary, the Japanese curriculum has the least number of topics and shallowest depth of coverage. Korea seems to be in the middle between China and Japan. The similarities of the curricula in these East Asian countries is greatest between Korea and China. and the least between China and Japan. The similarities between Korea and Japan is somewhere in the middle. Korean primary science curriculum shows a comparatively even distribution of topics across grades. A relatively smaller number of sub-topics are introduced at each grade level, especially in the area of earth science and physics. On the contrary, in the Chinese curriculum, sub-topics tend to be concentrated at a certain grade level, thus major topics are dealt with in a grade or two. The Japanese science curriculum has fewer topics than those of the other countries, and generally one or two sub-topics appeared in a grade or two.

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze secondary school chemistry education in Korea and China in order to identify implications for the improvement of Korean chemistry education. The school systems, curricula, and teacher education related to secondary chemistry education of both countries were compared and analyzed. The 6-3-3-4 school system is used in both countries, and national school curricula are formulated by the Ministries of Education in both countries. The 1996 chemistry curricular standard for advanced middle schools in China, and 1997 chemistry curriculum for Korean high schools were compared in several aspects, followed by comparisons of chemistry teacher education in both countries. Based on the comparative analysis of chemistry education, some ideas and issues which provide implications for improving Korean high school chemistry education were identified. Chemistry teaching in the junior secondary schools, tentative implementation of curricula, required course work in chemistry, structure of curricula, oral assessments, probation of teachers and other issues are identified and discussed in this study.