• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.209-215
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• 2007

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.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.425-433
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to examine for middle school science textbooks published by the sixth curriculum to analyze STS material, activity, and space devoted to STS. Because most teachers and students are dependent upon textbooks in teaching and learning, analyzing science textbooks will give basic information to ascertain the extent to which the current school science incorporate STS themes. Results indicated that lots of STS topics in the middle school science text books are related to applications of science. They also revealed that about 3% of the narrative space is devoted to STS topics, with a range of 0.7% to 5.2%. The coverage of STS topics increases as grade level increases.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.283-294
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• 2022

Although the concept of light is important in the elementary school curriculum, substantial research suggests that students and teachers have difficulties in understanding it. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the reasons for these difficulties-whether it is due to the content or due to the presentation method of contents, structure, and expression. The national curriculum and textbooks of Korea, the US, China, and Japan were comparatively analyzed from the following perspectives: 1) key concepts of light, 2) structure of light units in the textbook, 3) materials, light sources, and optics used in light units. Consequently, there were differences between countries in their inclusion of the concept of light in the curriculum. In particular, the Korean curriculum studies the concept of refraction by a convex lens, whereas the concept of light, light source, and vision is not introduced. Furthermore, countries also differed in their structuring of units. The Korean curriculum was presented segmentally by concept rather than structured according to core ideas or perspectives, and the connection between concepts was unclear. In addition, there were differences between the countries in materials, light sources, and optical instruments to explain key concepts. On using light, the US curriculum provides a purpose and uses light to achieve it, and China and Korea understand the concept. It was divided into the method of using the material to deepen. Based on the results of this analysis, the implications for the elementary science curriculum in Korea were derived as follows. First, it is necessary to introduce concepts sequentially and organize them so that the connection between concepts is well expressed. Second, it is necessary to introduce light and light sources as the predominant concepts. Third, it is necessary to include the principle of seeing objects. Fourth, it is necessary to adjust the material and content level of the refraction concept included in the light and lens unit. Fifth, an integrated approach is required because light has a deep connection with various concepts included in the elementary science curriculum.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.677-689
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to derive suggestions and implications to strengthen the science curriculum continuity of Korea through comparative analysis with focus on the continuity of science curriculum in six countries (Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Finland, the United States, Canada, Korea). Original and Korean translations of the national curriculums of each country gathered from NCIC comparatively analyzed the contents of the 'Moon' and 'Rock cycle' based on features of curriculum configuration, vertical, and lateral connectivity. As a result, it was found that the concepts of Big Ideas or Cross-cutting Concept was utilized internationally to strengthen the linkage between grades or subjects. In particular, dealing with the aspect of the system was important. In the comparison of countries for the content, Korea deals with the most frequency on the 'Moon' and 'Rock cycle'. The contents of the chapter about the moon were simply repeated from elementary to high school levels with some variation. Korean science curriculum holds different perspectives and contents about the Rock cycle compared to other countries. In conclusion, Korea's curriculum requires appropriate tools to strengthen curriculum linkage and by doing so, it will be able to take advantage of the systems approach. Moreover, it is important to constitute the curriculum based on a sufficient understanding of the learning development of students according to their grade levels for the effective application of the curriculum.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.385-391
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• 2014

We use a scale mainly for quantification when we study the psychological characteristics that we cannot observe. The utilization of a scale is frequent in scientific educational studies. The convenience offered by Likert scale, which is among the most frequently used, enable us to grasp characteristic attitude or recognition in students, and evaluate them against an affective domain. But a lot of errors occur, and has been noted as well in the case of utilizing Likert scale in the process. A central tendency in the utilization of Likert scale appears in this study, and the trend analyzes according to study objects and study contents, but we intend to find a way to utilize Likert scale. The results of study made on our countryside students show that the answers tend to get concentrated and a central tendency appears. Our countryside students were aware of the eyes surroundings them, have respect for elders through social experiences, and have had troubles with differentiated expression or personality in the group and cultural environments. According to the object of study, the central tendency appears more among older students than younger students, more among general students than gifted students. In the contents of study, the central tendency has been given more appearance in scope and their exposure has relatively been in large domain. Therefore when utilizing Likert scale in scientific education study, an error of central tendency appears as if they are results of the study. So, when applying the Likert scale to scientific study, we need to consider sociocultural environment, characteristics of an object and contexts of study. This enables avoiding dependence on numerical value of the utilization results, and interpret them correctly.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.577-586
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to try to structuralize the perception of the mothers of science-gifted elementary students using the concept mapping approach. The mothers who participated in this research had children who were 5th and 6th graders selected as science-gifted by a regional education office, a science high school and two national universities in a city. One of the authors interviewed 26 mothers, and extracted 50 general statements of their perceptions about the career path of their children. Ten mothers who participated in interviews sorted a shuffled pack of statement cards. The categorization of the statements into the dissimilarity matrix was carried out by SPSS multidimensional scaling analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis to generate a conceptual diagram. After that 140 mothers rated each statement using a Likert-type response scale from one to five. The result showed six clusters of parental views such as were 'Burden of private education, grades and going to the next grade,' 'Thinking about career guidance in gifted education and school,' 'Parental roles in child career education,' 'Difficulties in career guidance at home,' 'Demand for strengthening the parental capacity for career guidance,' and 'Demand for social support.' 'Demand for social support' obtained the highest sympathy from mothers of elementary science gifted.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.199-216
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• 2022

This study explored the possibility of introducing modern physics into the elementary school science curriculum. The study discussed the need of introducing modern physics to elementary school students and examined the results of certain projects and studies on teaching modern physics to elementary school students. Furthermore, this study proposes several teaching and learning techniques to introduce modern physics into the elementary school science curriculum. Modern physics can be linked to various everyday situations experienced by students and can increase their interest and curiosity in science. Additionally, introducing modern physics to elementary school students who are yet to establish a background on the classical view of nature can help them build a new perspective. Recently, several global projects to introduce modern physics at the elementary level have also reported positive results regarding the increase in student understanding and interest in modern physics. The study briefly proposed specific topics and teaching and learning techniques that could be suitable for the elementary school level. These proposals are expected to advance discussions on the possibility of introducing modern physics. However, appropriate follow-up studies are warranted to confirm the possibility and effectiveness of this initiative.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.277-294
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• 2023

Science education researchers have discussed more effective STPD(Science Teacher Professional Development) based on a variety of perspectives, pointing out the limitations of traditional STPD. In this study, we selected eight major issues for more efficient STPD based on the literature review, summarized the literature review contents for each issue, and proposed a draft STPD standard based on the literature review. Using the draft STPD standard, a questionnaire for the Delphi survey was developed and a two-phase Delphi survey was conducted. The questionnaire consisted of 25 statements describing the STPD standard, and respondents were asked to indicate the validity and importance of the statement on a Likert scale, followed by an explanation and suggestions for revision. Twenty-one science educators and science teachers participated in the Delphi survey, and the results of the second round of the survey showed high levels of agreement on the validity and importance of all statements describing the STPD standard. For the content validity ratio and coefficient of variation, all statements met the criteria, and for the convergence and consensus, all but two statements met the criteria. Two statements were revised to reflect comments from the Delphi survey and were included in the final STPD standard. As a result, we developed STPD standard consisting of 23 statements in eight categories, and we discussed the disadvantages and advantages of the developed STPD standard and how to utilize them, as well as suggestions for future improvement and research.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.892-905
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• 2002

There are an increasing emphasis on affective domain, for example interest or belief, in science education. But decreasing interest on learning science and tendency to avoid science-related job are serious problems of secondary science education, especially in case of vocational high school students. However there are few researches for vocational high school students. In this study, preference for science is assumed to be a multidimensional property that reveals ones' behavioral volition and valuation as well as emotional response upon learning science. To investigate vocational high school students' preference for science and its causal factors, a Likert style questionnaire was developed through factor analysis. Students' preference for science was analyzed by 3 categories, and its causal factors are investigated by path analysis using structural equation model.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.7-41
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• 2018

The projects of citizen science which is originated from citizen data collecting action driven by governmental institutes and science associations have been implemented with different form of collaboration with scientists. The themes of citizen science has extended from the ecology to astronomy, distributed computing, and particle physics. Citizen science could contribute to the advancement of science through cost-effective science research based on citizen volunteer data collecting. In addition, citizen science enhance the public understanding of science by increasing knowledge of citizen participants. The community-led citizen science projects could raise public awareness of environmental problems and promote the participation in environmental problem-solving. Citizen science projects based on local tacit knowledge can be of benefit to the local environmental policy decision making and implementation of policy. These social values of citizen science make many countries develop promoting policies of citizen science. The korean government also has introduced some citizen science projects. However there are some obstacles, such as low participation of citizen and scientists in projects which the government has to overcome in order to promote citizen science. It is important that scientists could recognize values of citizen science through the successful government driven citizen science projects and the evaluation tool of scientific career could be modified in order to promote scientist's participation. The project management should be well planned to intensify citizen participation. The government should prepare open data policy which could support a data reliability of the community-led monitoring projects. It is also desirable that a citizen science network could be made with the purpose of sharing best practices of citizen science.