• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.390-404
• /
• 2013

The premise of the study is that teacher communities or teacher interest groups are one of the representative examples of Communities of Practice (CoP) formed by teachers who engage in the process of collective learning regarding science teaching. Based on the theory of CoP, we investigated and interpreted the process of identity development of six science teachers who have been actively involved in teacher communities. We conducted 2-3 individual interviews with the teachers in order to explore their narratives and personal experiences of being involved in the communities over the years. Results indicated that a teacher community is a place where the teachers not only generated and shared repertories of ideas, documents on teaching and learning, or routines (i.e. practices), but also formulated a set of relationships through social participation. Teacher communities actively provide the teachers a sense of joint enterprise and identity, and where the teachers have an opportunity to develop themselves personally and professionally as science teachers playing major roles in their communities.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.553-564
• /
• 2017

This study investigated the change of pre-service elementary teachers' professional visions through video-based reflection on science teaching with focus on their attention and pedagogical reasoning about student learning. Specifically, we compared two reflection cycles before and after pre-service elementary teachers went through the collaborative video-based reflection process in a professional learning community. The primary data were collected from eight pre-service elementary teachers and included their science lesson plans, videotaped lessons, video-reflection papers, and transcripts from the interviews. Pre-service elementary teachers' attention was categorized in five aspects: classroom management & control, teacher's instruction, students' thinking & learning, subject knowledge, and assessment. The level of their pedagogical reasoning about student thinking and learning was determined with six levels based on the number of evidence, evidence area, and evidence type. The findings revealed that 1) individual reflection is not enough - collaborative reflection is essential to change their attention toward students learning and thinking 2) pedagogical reasoning levels increase gradually throughout the individual and collaborative video-based reflection processes. The participants not only attributed student learning solely to the characteristics of students but also connected it with their own instruction or science content knowledge and used different types of evidences as they went through two reflection cycles. Implications for using video in the teacher education program were discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.93-108
• /
• 2023

This study aims to analyze the types and roles of visualization materials presented in the third- and fourth-grade national and authorized science textbooks based on the 2015 revised curriculum. Using the type and role framework, 17 chapters were analyzed. The analysis revealed, first, that the national and authorized textbooks had different total amounts of visualization data and total amounts of simple illustrations. However, no difference in the amounts of simple illustrations and infographics used in the units was evident. The units that used the most infographics were Life, Earth and Universe, in that order, in both the national and the authorized textbooks. Second, simple illustrations were observed to have role differences according to the type of visualization data, but infographics had no such differences. Specifically, the motivational role in a simple illustration increased in all the authorized textbooks. Third, looking at the frequencies of the infographic subtypes, the Process, Structure, Comparative Analysis, and Timeline types accounted for 86% of the total, but the proportions of those subtypes varied in the national and authorized textbooks. Based on the results of this study, I suggest that to achieve differentiation in the types or roles of visualization materials, changes in the types, processes, and skills of inquiry must first occur, as must changes in the structure of chapters or lessons. Continuous research and discussion on the standards and methods for authorized textbooks are also needed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.43 no.3
• /
• pp.307-319
• /
• 2023

This study aims to explain the key concepts and principles of text-based generative artificial intelligence (AI) that has been receiving increasing interest and utilization, focusing on its application in science education. It also highlights the potential and limitations of utilizing generative AI in science education, providing insights for its implementation and research aspects. Recent advancements in generative AI, predominantly based on transformer models consisting of encoders and decoders, have shown remarkable progress through optimization of reinforcement learning and reward models using human feedback, as well as understanding context. Particularly, it can perform various functions such as writing, summarizing, keyword extraction, evaluation, and feedback based on the ability to understand various user questions and intents. It also offers practical utility in diagnosing learners and structuring educational content based on provided examples by educators. However, it is necessary to examine the concerns regarding the limitations of generative AI, including the potential for conveying inaccurate facts or knowledge, bias resulting from overconfidence, and uncertainties regarding its impact on user attitudes or emotions. Moreover, the responses provided by generative AI are probabilistic based on response data from many individuals, which raises concerns about limiting insightful and innovative thinking that may offer different perspectives or ideas. In light of these considerations, this study provides practical suggestions for the positive utilization of AI in science education.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.170-184
• /
• 2024

This study focused on the practical research needed to improve elementary school science lesson plans. Specifically, a video clip-based pedagogical reasoning activity that included elementary student misconceptions was presented and the influences of this activity on preservice teachers' science lesson planning were assessed. First, the eight preservice teacher participants were asked to write a lesson plan for a dissolution and solution unit, after which a first semi-structured interview was conducted. Then, the participants participated in a video clip-based pedagogical reasoning activity. Based on the activity results, the participants revised their previously planned lessons, and second semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data from the preservice teachers' lesson plans and interview transcripts were analyzed using a constant comparative method to investigate the lesson plan changes. It was found that after the video clip-based pedagogical reasoning activity, the preservice teacher tightened the activity or changed the material to understand the students' thinking processes. In addition, they supplemented their goals and assessment criteria to accommodate the diverse students' thinking. Some also specified motivational strategies that considered student interests, motivation, and possible misconceptions. However, some preservice teachers still set goals that did not sufficiently account for student misconceptions and some planned the student assessments based only on the learning goals rather than the students' thinking. The few preservice teachers were able to develop motivational strategies that considered interest, motivation, and misconceptions. The preservice teachers claimed that they had difficulty predicting the misconceptions and connecting these to the lesson content. Discussions were then held to assist the preservice teachers to consider possible student misconceptions when planning their lessons.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.564-579
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to examine the change in the classes of the beginning science teachers through a cooperative mentoring program that induces the practice of reflective thinking. Participants in this study included three mentor-teachers, two teachers in doctorate or masters courses, one university professor, and three mentee-teachers who had less than four years of teaching experience. We collected data such as video recordings of mentee-teachers' classes and transcription, lesson plans, recording of one-on-one mentoring and transcription, mentor's and mentee's journals, and RTOP class observation reports. RTOP was used for the class analysis, and the cognition and changes in mentee-teachers' classes were determined from their journal entries and one-on-one mentoring interview materials. According to mentee-teachers' recognition of changes in their classes during the mentoring program, they themselves recognized their teacher-centered teaching styles, misconception, and lack of content knowledge. Furthermore, there were changes in the mentee-teachers' classes through their reflective practice and improvement. Based on the result of this study, however, the teachers' reflection was not all accompanied with reflective practice even if the beginner science teachers made some partial changes in reflective practice by reflection. This means that it is hard to instill a reflective practice in mentee-teachers through mentoring in a short period. Therefore, we consider that more systematic and long-term mentoring is necessary for beginner science teachers.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.27 no.9
• /
• pp.818-831
• /
• 2007

Recognizing the importance of abductive inquiry in Earth science, some theoretical approaches that deploy abduction have been researched. And, it is necessary that the abductive inquiry in a geological field excursion as a vivid locale of Earth science inquiry should be researched. We developed a geological field trip based on the abductive learning model, and investigated students' abductive inference, thinking strategies used in those inferences, and the impact of a teacher's pedagogical intervention on students' abductive inference. Results showed that students, during the field excursion, could accomplish abductive inference about rock identification, process of different rock generation, joints generation in metamorpa?ic rocks, and terrains at the field trip area. They also used various thinking strategies in finding appropriate rules to construe the facts observed at outcrops. This means that it is significant for the enhancement of abductive reasoning skills that students experience such inquiries as scientists do. In addition, a teacher's pedagogical interventions didn't ensure the content of students' inference while they helped students perform abductive reasoning and guided their use of specific thinking strategies. Students had found reasoning rules to explain the 01: served facts from their wrong prior knowledge. Therefore, during a geological field excursion, teachers need to provide students with proper background knowledge and information in order that students can reason rues for persuasive abductive inference, and construe the geological features of the field trip area by the establishment of appropriate hypotheses.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.233-251
• /
• 2024

Meaningful learning occurs through an active process of engaging with the content in a lively interaction between teacher and student. In this study, we explored teachers' learning, challenges, and changes as they learned and practiced responsive teaching (RT), a practice that supports students to put their ideas at the center of their lessons. As a result, we found that teachers initially embraced RT from different perspectives and struggled to implement it in ways they understood. We then explored RT more deeply by focusing on the case of a teacher who was teaching science herself, and found that her experience was both rewarding and confusing. However, by the end of the learning process, the teachers were able to define RT in their own ways, which strengthened their commitment to implementing RT in elementary science education. Based on this teacher learning process, it was suggested that teachers should be viewed as curriculum experts, that they should learn and explore collaboratively through a community of teachers, and that they should be researchers who continue to explore various practices in the field.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.105-117
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study was to explore changes in elementary teachers' modeling pPCK (personal PCK) resulting from knowledge exchange within the realms of PCK described in the Refined Consensus Model (hereafter RCM). For this purpose, a professional learning community (hereafter PLC) was established for three elementary school teachers to facilitate knowledge exchange specifically focused on science modeling instructions. The study then analyzed the CoRe (content representations) written by the research participants twice to explore any changes in modeling pPCK (personal PCK). In addition, the discourse shared by the participants in the PLC and the data from the in-depth interviews were also analyzed using grounded theory research methods. The results of the study showed that there was no significant change in knowledge of the science curriculum in elementary teachers' modeling pPCK, but there were changes in orientations toward teaching science, knowledge of students' understanding in science, knowledge of instructional strategies and representations, and knowledge of assessment of science learning. Furthermore, the analysis of PLC discourse and in-depth interviews showed that modeling instructions reflection (ePCK; enacted PCK) and educational research-based modeling cPCK (collective PCK) influenced these changes in teachers' modeling pPCK. Accordingly, this study suggests recommendations for pedagogical approaches aimed at improving teachers' modeling PCK.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.375-386
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study is to investigate the aspects of verbal interactions of teacher?small group students by categorizing those interactions which affect students' thinking thus to improve teacher's interaction. First, verbal interactions of teacher-small group students were divided into two categories ?Behaviors related to problem-solving, and Others. Behaviors related to problem-solving were also classified into two elements?Receiving opinion based on the students' thinking process, and Giving help based on the teacher's thinking process. Receiving opinion consists of agreement, question, correction, objection while giving help consists of information, hint, question, summary, and ask & answer. Most of teacher-small group students' interactions were in the form of teacher's questions and students' answers, and teacher's questions tended to require simple answers rather than answers from deep thought. In addition, there was a tendency that the teacher focused more on her own thinking process than students' and that she interacted with only a couple of students who gave correct answers. As a result, even after teacher's scaffolding, many students were often unable to understand the particular contents. However, through the interactions, the teacher made students to have confidence by restating their opinions and agreeing or praising them. She also created an atmosphere where students can give their opinions freely. From the observation of interactions, we can find that students' thinking process is affected by the characteristics of teacher's interactions such as expression of agreement and encouragement, hint giving rise to thought, interactions based on the students' thinking process, permission of students' activities and questions, allowing time for students' thought, and correction of wrong opinions. At this point, educational implications of teacher-small group students' interactions were drawn.