• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.219-232
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• 2024

This study aims to determine the perspectives of pre-service elementary school teachers on the science curriculum in the fourth industrial revolution era. In this study, 128 pre-service elementary school teachers were asked to express their perspectives on the Saber-toothed Tiger Curriculum through photovoice activities. The resulting images were classified into three types: conservative, progressive, and radical perspectives. The number of both conservative and progressive perspectives was similar and high, whereas the number of radical perspectives was l ow. Those who had conservative perspectives on the Saber-toothed Tiger curriculum regarded "Inquiry" as the basis of the science curriculum, which should be maintained regardless of the time period and environment. Similarly, older teachers believed that this curriculum was based on eternal truth, which should be protected. Those who showed progressive perspectives on the Saber-toothed Tiger curriculum regarded a progressive person as someone succeeding to the blood of "New fist," and they showed positive attitudes toward AI-based education such as coding and meta-verse, regarding these practices as part of the teaching and learning method that could replace the existing inquiry-based education. Those who showed radical perspectives on the Saber-toothed Tiger Curriculum assumed critical attitudes toward the rapidly changing political circumstances of science education and criticized conflicts between different social classes formed through progressive curriculum. Based on these results, this study found that pre-service elementary school teachers needed to consider the science curriculum from several different perspectives rather than just one.