• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.545-555
• /
• 1998

The improvement of process skills has been one of the most important goals in secondary science education. To achieve this goal, it is essential to develop an instrument for evaluating inquiry skills in addition to improving science curricula, inquiry teaching methods, and other educational environment. There are a lot of instruments in testing science process skills in Korea as well as America and Europe. However, it has been difficult to find the instruments that have a characteristic in content and form. The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating science process skills using line graph. This study examined the whole body of scientific process and identified 6 component skills. Three or four items for each component process skills were developed and revised by pilot test and field test. The instrument is considered valid and reliable, for the content validity is 78% and the reliability(KR-20) is 0.82. The discrimination index is 0.57 and difficulty index is 0.47, which also suffice the criteria of good test.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.27 no.7
• /
• pp.547-558
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study is to compare inquiry activities in science textbooks' physics contents for Korean secondary schools with those of Singapore in order to provide a reference for further improvement of inquiry activities in Korean science textbooks. We analyzed inquiry activities using the framework of Millar et al.(1998) and Chinn & Malhotra (2002). The results of this study are as follows: There are differences between Korean and Singaporean inquiry activities in the area of 'learning objectives', 'students' thinking activities' and 'degree of openness'. In the area of 'learning objectives', the Korean textbooks have more activities associated with the learning of science content than those in Singaporean, whereas the Singaporean textbooks have more activities associated with the processes of scientific inquiry than in Korean textbooks. In the area of 'students' thinking activities', the Singaporean textbooks have activities like 'test a prediction', which Korean textbooks lack. The 'degree of openness' is higher in Singaporean textbooks than in Korean textbooks. And some differences in the area of 'authentic scientific inquiry' between Korean and Singaporean textbooks were also found. While the Korean textbooks do not have any activities associated with 'generating research questions', the Singaporean ones feature such activities. In the area of 'designing studies', the Singaporean textbooks have activities corresponding to 'selecting variables' and 'controlling variables', while the Korean ones never have such activities. The results of this study imply that it is necessary to balance inquiry activities in the area of 'learning objectives', 'students' thinking activities' and 'degree of openness', and to present activities close to authentic scientific inquiry in inquiry activities in textbooks.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.599-610
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to analyze mechanistic reasoning in Fabre's inquires and to develop mechanistic reasoning model. To analyze the order of the process elements in mechanistic reasoning, 30 chapters were selected in book. Inquiries were analyzed through a framework which is based on Russ et al. (2008). The nine process elements of mechanistic reasoning that was presented in Fabre's inquires were as follows: Describing the Target Phenomenon, Identifying prior Knowledge, Identifying Properties of Objects, Identifying Setup Conditions, Identifying Activities, Conjecturing Entities, Identifying Properties of Entities, Identifying Entities, and Organization of Entities. The order of process elements of mechanistic reasoning was affected by inquiry's subject, types of question, prior knowledge and situation. Three mechanistic reasoning models based on the process elements of mechanistic reasoning were developed: Mechanistic reasoning model for Identifying Entities(MIE), Mechanistic reasoning model for Identifying Activities(MIA), and Mechanistic reasoning model for Identifying Properties of entities (MIP). Science teacher can help students to use the questions of not only "why" but also "How", "If", "What", when students identify entities or generate hypotheses. Also science teacher should be required to understand mechanistic reasoning to give students opportunities to generate diverse hypotheses. If students can't conjecture entities easily, MIA and MIP would be helpful for students.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.49-59
• /
• 2024

In this study, we investigated the philosophical background and progress of the 2022 revised curriculum development in the high school earth science field. Research that was not covered in the research report includes the relevance of the transformative competency of OECD Education 2030, and that core ideas and achievement standards are organized around knowledge understanding, process functions, and value attitudes that constitute the learning compass needle. In addition, the composition of core ideas and Earth science electives in light of the understanding-centered curriculum, and IB type inquiry-based teaching and learning. Main research results include that the 2022 revised Earth science curriculum emphasized the student agency to foster the transformative competency and scientific literacy, and the curriculum document system in the field of earth science uses a learning compass needle. In addition, based on the understanding-centered curriculum, core ideas of Earth science were derived, and elective courses were organized to help students reach these core ideas. Also, IB-type inquiry-based teaching and learning was emphasized to foster student agency with knowledge construction competency. Based on the research results, slimming of the national and general level curriculum, the need to develop process-centered assessment methods for value and attitudes, the need for curriculum backward design, and ways to develop student agency through inquiry-based teaching and learning were suggested.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.173-185
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study is to present a reflective review of the earth and universe units from the revised elementary curriculum of 2007-2015 and suggest changes in the 2022 revised curriculum. For this purpose, we conducted an FGI with earth science educators and elementary school teachers regarding the content elements and system, the achievement standards and inquiry activity composition, and the vertical and horizontal curriculum connectivity. Free response and weighted hierarchical analysis items were incorporated into the FGI to ensure logical consistency of the inductively derived improvement. This analysis revealed that the composition of units by grade group had been unevenly distributed among each of the "earth systems" until the 2015 revised curriculum was finalized. Furthermore, the basic concept was still insufficient. We suggest that achievement standards centered on the learning content and skills must state specific scientific core competencies, and inquiry activities should include rigorous critical thinking, student written responses, and student inquiry and analysis. In the hierarchical analysis items, FGI emphasized the inclusion of essential content elements rather than reduction of content elements, understanding-oriented concept learning rather than interest-centered phenomenon learning, basic concept division learning before integration between subjects, and expanding vertical-horizontal connectivity rather than repeating and advancing learning. There is a limit to the generalizing the suggestions proposed in this study to the common opinion of elementary earth science experts. However, since the main vision of the 2022 revised curriculum is to gather opinions through educational entities' participation in a variety of educational subjects, it is suggested that our results should be incorporated as one of the opinions proposed for the 2022 curriculum revision.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.235-253
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study is to compare by learner groups(K-12, geology-related majoring students, science teachers) how geologic fieldwork education cases in domestic and foreign papers for recent 20 years reflect the elements of inquiry in field geology. The total number of analyzed cases is 53(58 for double counting), and the analysis was conducted on the elements of inquiry in field geology and their sub-element. As a result, there was a clear difference between the cases of geologic fieldwork education for K-12 and college students majoring in geology-related disciplines, in the way of reflecting elements of inquiry in field geology. Because most of K-12 target fieldworks were designed based on the curriculum, it mainly included 2-3 elements of observations, representations, and/or abductive reasoning. On the other hand, because fieldworks for geology-related major students aim to train geologic experts, it diversely contained four or five of the elements of inquiry in field geology, including spatial thinking and diachronic thinking in a high proportion, and also frequently used activities that require specialized skills such as geological mapping. Fieldworks for science teachers were found to have mixed features of K-12 and geology-related major students. Considering the diversity of included inquiry elements, similarities with the activities performed by geologists, and the autonomy of learners, it was analyzed that geologic fieldwork for geology-related major students was more close to authentic geologic inquiry than fieldwork for others. Based on the results of this study, we suggested implications for improving geological fieldwork as authentic science inquiry.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.87-96
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the features of the standards of observation and measurement in foreign national science curriculums. For the purpose of this study, we analyzed the science standards of the USA (National Science Education Standards, the Science Standards of the State of California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Nebraska, Virginia and Florida), the United Kingdom (England), Singapore, Canada (the State of Alberta), Australia (the State of Victoria) and New Zealand. The results of the study indicated that foreign national science curriculums put an emphasis on accurate and systematical observation, usage of the five senses, usage of observation tools, and an understanding of observation. Regarding the 'measurement' factors, foreign national science curriculums emphasized systematic and accurate measurement. Measurement targets and tools were presented for each grade. The usage of appropriate units was also included in the foreign national curriculums which we examined.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.465-481
• /
• 2017

This study is a research synthesis analyzing how field geology education is conducted in domestic and foreign countries in the recent 20 years and how it reflects the characteristics of authentic geologic inquiry. For these purposes, we first drew five elements of inquiry in field geology (observation, representation, abductive reasoning, spatial thinking, and diachronic thinking) considering the field geologists' actual research method as well as its pedagogical significance in science education. We developed analysis criteria for field geology education. The 53 cases were analyzed based on each element of inquiry in field geology and its sub-elements, and also the tendency of overall elements. As a result, observation and representation were included in most cases, but there appeared less frequency in order of abductive reasoning, spatial thinking, and diachronic thinking. For observation, the ratio of purposive observation and autonomous observation is high. For representation, both visualizing and linguistic type of representation and free-form representation appear frequently. For abductive reasoning, the step of generating hypothesis is often included and the hypothesis tends to be about the geological formatting process. For spatial thinking, type of self-location and perception of the spatial configuration of the structure appear at a high rate. For diachronic thinking, type of stratigraphic sequence is the most frequent. The proportions of the cases including three or more elements of inquiry in field geology consist 87% of the total. We suggested implications for improving geological fieldwork as authentic science inquiry in the future.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.189-203
• /
• 2008

Microcomputer Based Laboratory (MBL), by offering accurate and effective data collection and real-time graphs, enables students to reduce experiment time and, thereby, have deeper discussions concerning experimental results. This helps to emphasis the essential aspect of scientific inquiry; the process communication. Therefore, this study examined secondary school earth science MBL lessons with regards to the five basic aspects of scientific inquiry: "Asking", "Evidencing", "Explaining", "Evaluating" and "Communicating". It then investigated the level of argumentative communication between the students and teachers and also among the students themselves. For this study, three classroom activities were observed and videotaped, and teaching materials, textbooks and students' notes were collected. The transcribed data were analyzed from the perspective of scientific inquiry level and argument frames. The results showed that the scientific inquiry levels of the three classes were similar, except for the "Communicating" aspect, which appeared in only one episode. "Asking" was carried out by the teacher and then students were directed to collect certain data in the "Evidencing" stage. Furthermore, students were given possible ways to use evidence to formulate explanations and connections through the "Explaining" and "Evaluating" stages. In the argumentation analysis, most argumentative communication was identified as being associated with a given procedure, rather than with any scientific phenomena. In only one episode, did "Communicating" relate directly to any scientific phenomena. It can be concluded, that although MEL places emphasis on communication for authentic scientific inquiry, the environment required for such inquiry and argumentative communication can not be easily created in the classroom. Therefore, in order for authentic inquiry to take place in the MBL classroom, teachers should provide students with the opportunity to develop meaningful argumentation and scaffolding abilities.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.295-306
• /
• 2022

This study aims to analyze the aspect of inquiry activity for seven national science textbooks, which were recently authorized and developed for elementary schools. The study reviewed seven of the abovementioned textbooks, which were introduced to the authorized textbook system for 2022 in elementary schools. In-depth analysis was conducted on inquiry activities, which were frequently emphasized since the third curriculum. A chapter entitled "Stratum and Fossils" was selected to analyze the detailed types of inquiry activity using the framework. First, analysis was conducted on six types of inquiry activity. The result indicated that two out of seven inquiry activities different among the national and authorized textbooks. In other words, the two slightly differed from the inquiry activities presented in national textbooks. It was not reasonable that the introduction of the authorized textbook exerted an effect on the increase of autonomy and variety of teaching and learning activities compared with those of national textbooks. Second, science process skills, material, and inquiry process were established as standards for the detailed types of inquiry activity. The study demonstrated a slight difference among textbooks in terms of material and inquiry process, whereas the inquiry activities of the seven authorized textbooks were the same or similar. This finding indicated that students could experience seven types of inquiry activities. Moreover, the study examined inquiry activities related to essential learning contents in detail and found that there were more diverse than types of inquiry activities.