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http://dx.doi.org/10.14697/jkase.2017.37.1.0169

Exploring the Possibility of Forming the Strategic Community of Practice for Science Education: A Case of Science Core Schools in Korea  

Kim, Jinhee (Seoul National University)
Na, Jiyeon (Chuncheon National University of Education)
Song, Jinwoong (Seoul National University)
Publication Information
Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education / v.37, no.1, 2017 , pp. 169-179 More about this Journal
Abstract
The aim of this study is to see school science education from the perspective of CoP (Community of Practice) and to explore the possibility of strategic CoP in Korean school settings. To do this, we conducted a survey using SCaCoP instrument with more than 1600 students from 14 science core schools (SCSs), which were selected across the country, and analyzed their school curriculum, which can be summarized as follows: First, compared to other tracks in SCSs, like the Nature and the Humanity Classes, students of the Science Core Class (SCC) showed significantly higher scores of CoP features for all five factors of SCaCoP (i.e. responsibility of learning, common interest, mutual relationship, open participation, and practice). Second, students of SCC considered activities that require interaction and collaboration among community members (like experiments, hands-on activities, club activities, project works, R&E) to be very positive. Third, SCC students thought that the educational activities of SCSs were not only effective to CoP aims (i.e. self-driven learning, sharing learning outcomes, peer collaboration) but also positive to general aims of science education (i.e. acquiring knowledge, understanding scientific concepts, science-related attitudes). In other words, it appears that educational activities that were effective in vitalizing the CoP have positive effects on ordinary science education, too. These features of SCSs illustrate its possibility of forming strategic COPs in the context of often government-driven Korean education and of bringing in the innovations of school science education.
Keywords
community of practice; strategic community of practice; science core school;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 4  (Citation Analysis)
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