• Journal of Science Education
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.69-89
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to examine personal characteristics of two elementary students who developed individual interest in science. 201 students of two elementary schools in Seoul participated in questionnaire survey engaged in to investigate students' interest in science, engagements and preference in science-related-activities three times a year. This case study was conducted with seven students who showed typical types of interest in science. Students wrote a photo-journal for 12 weeks. They were interviewed every other week by a researcher. We analyzed two students who developed individual interest. It turns out that RF participated in doing experiments at home, and disassembling and assembling things. Participation of activities was a process of solving curiosity. When he was unable to solve problems, he searches the internet or books. Sometimes he would ask for help from his teacher. JW engaged in activities: drawing, doing experiments at home, and going to informal education center. She communicated with others by using online-offline media. Curious questions were solved by herself. The two students have a tendency to solve problems by themselves. Also, positive science-related activities were going on at home and in school. This study not only give insights and understanding of students who developed individual interest in science but also provide implication for educators to examine personal characteristics of students.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.594-608
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• 2010

This research attempts to extract the factors that generate scientific interest, and verify the effect of extracted factors on the generation of scientific interest in middle school students' observation activity on life phenomenon. In order to analyze interest-generating factors, observation programs were applied four times in the science class of 3rd grade middle school students. And an interview was conducted towards students who had strong scientific interest among students who participated in the observation activity. After classifying the interview results according to the types, and 21 interest-generating factors were extracted. Interest-generating factors were classified into 5 categories; the characteristics of the observation object, the characteristics of the observation activity, the characteristics of the observation result, the characteristics of the observer, and the characteristics of the extrinsic factor. It was verified that interest-generating factors have an effect on the generation of scientific interest in the observation activity. First of all, in order to confirm whether the extracted generation factors would have an effect on the generation of interest in observation activity, as survey of interest-generating factors was drawn up. The observation activity program of 4 times' volume was applied towards third grade middle school students, and survey paper on interest-generating factor was input. Analysis result showed that factors have effect on the generation of interest. That is, it was confirmed that extracted interest-generating factor has a significant effect on the generation of scientific interest. The cause analysis on the uninteresting observation activity was possible, and it would play an essential role in developing an interesting observation activity.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 2013

High school 'science' in the 2009 revised curriculum in Korea was developed for the purpose of enhancing students' scientific literacy needed for citizenship in a democratic society. For this analysis, 'science' includes a variety of scientific topics from the origin of the universe to the birth of life, and the relationship between technology and modern society. It aims to make students understand the process of scientific inquiry and foster interest and curiosity about science. On the other hand, interest has been studied as a psychological construct to affect academic achievement and career selection of students. In this study, the authors investigated students' interest in high school 'science' in view of the 2009 revised curriculum. To carry this out, a survey tool was developed according to previous research, with 997 high school students' responses analyzed with descriptive statistics and factor analysis. The result showed that the students' interest in high school 'science' in view of the 2009 revised curriculum can be interpreted into three dimensions such as motivation, activity, and topic, which has several sub-dimensions. Students' interest in motivation dimension was higher than in activity or topic dimension, while the average value was slightly higher than the middle value. They showed different distribution of interest by gender and job orientation, especially in activity and topic dimensions. From this study, the authors can infer the multi-dimensional property of students' interest in high school 'Science' and the different distribution of interest by dimensions.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.421-431
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to identify instructional components supporting students' interest and creativity in American middle school science classrooms. Two 7th grade classrooms were selected, and observed for 11 class periods each. Results showed that hands-on and small group activities were the most effective ways to increase students' interest. The teachers' instructional approaches, such as individualized paced teaching, sufficient peer teaching, permissive atmosphere, various media, and purpose-focused summary game were found to influence students' interest. To enhance students' creativity, increasing interest, making hypothesis, and trying to various experimental method with sufficient time were identified as effective components.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.175-190
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to find out how interest in thermal concepts and the perceived difficulty affect the stimulation of science state curiosity. To achieve this purpose, 410 elementary school students in 5th to 6th grade were asked to measure interest in the content of the thermal concept tasks, the perceived difficulty and science state curiosity while solving the thermal concept tasks. 2 (low interest vs. high interest)×2 (easy vs. difficult) ANCOVA was conducted with the covariate of the student's level of science curiosity, which is expected to affect the stimulation of science state curiosity. As a result of the analysis, students with high interest in the contents of the task were showed high science state curiosity. Meanwhile, there was no difference in the level of science state curiosity according to the perceived difficulty. In addition, science state curiosity level of the students with low interest in the content of the task were high when they perceived the task as easy, but science state curiosity level of the students with high interest in the content of the task were high when they perceived the task as difficult. This study was meaningful in that it empirically verified that interest in the content of the tasks has an effect on the stimulation of science state curiosity, and that the effect of interest on the stimulation of science state curiosity varies according to the level of the perceived difficulty.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.225-237
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of elementary pre-service teachers regarding their interest in science. A survey was conducted among 187 elementary pre-service teachers enrolled at Non-Metropolitan Area A University of Education. Data collection was carried out concurrently with three elementary pre-service teachers who agreed to participate in online interviews. The survey responses provided by the elementary pre-service teachers were analyzed using a qualitative text analysis method. Interest in science was observed to decrease during middle school, followed by the upper grades of elementary school and then the lower grades. The reasons for the decline in interest in science were interpreted as stemming from negative experiences with science education within the context of individual circumstances in the school setting. Strategies to address the decline and enhance interest in science were discussed across individual, family, school, teacher, local community, and national levels, considering both short-term and long-term perspectives. These strategies encompassed various inquiry activities and experiences related to the field of science, engagement in science-related activities, student-centered instruction, teacher professional development, support for elementary students and teachers, and policy measures. The multifaceted approach and efforts aimed to open avenues for positive feedback regarding science on an individual level and foster experiences related to science were interpreted as part of an effort to counteract the decline in interest in science. Lastly, given the current situation of declining interest in science and the need to enhance students' interest, it was implicitly and explicitly discussed that pre-service teachers should focus on improving their expertise in curriculum instruction. This research, by exploring the conceptual characteristics of interest in science, perceptions of changes, and educational needs related to interest in science among elementary pre-service teachers, is expected to have academic significance as foundational research data for the current status of declining interest in science.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.338-347
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• 2013

The purposes of this study were to develop the activity based STEAM education program and to investigate the effects of the developed program on students' interest in science learning. The program was applied to 7th grade science club. This study was planned to single group pre-post test design. Test tool was the questionnaire of interest on science learning. In the results of t-test, there was statistically significant difference on the pretest and posttest of interest in science learning. Also there was significant difference on attitude toward science, recognition and strategy on science learning that were subdomains of interest on science learning. The results indicated that activity-based STEAM education program was effective in improving students' interest in science learning. In future, studies should be conducted that examine the effect of STEAM program on creativity and problem-solving activity. Therefore studies on the effectiveness of activity-based STEAM education programs should be made continuously.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.600-616
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to explore how primary school students develop their interest in science. A survey questionnaire was used to investigate students' interest, change of their interest, and engagement in science related activities three times a year. 201 students of two primary schools in Seoul Metropolitan City initially participated in this study. A follow-up case study was conducted with students who showed an increased interest in science. Finally, seven students were chosen in the case study. They were asked to keep a photo journal for 12 weeks, and were interviewed in every other week by one of the researchers. Among these seven participants, two (TK and QQ) were chosen for analyzing their data in this case study because they showed positive changes in developing science interest throughout the study. The results of two participants' survey, photo-journal and interview were analyzed qualitatively. First, TK, whose science interest developed from situational interest II to individual interest I, engaged in doing experiments at home, doing mathematics activities, raising pets or plants, observing phenomena, and visiting informal educational centers. He tended to participate in hands-on activities by himself in out-of-school settings. Second, QQ who developed from situational interest I to situational interest II, engaged in taking pictures as a representative activity at home and school. He tended to participate in activities with either his father or one of the researchers. Both students showed personal characteristics such as doing place-based activities, interaction with others and activity subjectivity. The goal of TK's interactions with others on the various places was to develop in cognitive domain. On the contrary, QQ's goal of interactions with others was to develop in emotional communication. This study reported the cases of characteristics of students who developed their interests in science including activities in- and out-of-school settings and their accompanying people.

• The Journal of Korean Association of Computer Education
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to examine how time management, usefulness, and interest predict m-learning outcomes. For this study, 144 high school students participated in m-learning activities during science classes. After 5 week of classes, they responded the following surveys: time management, usefulness, interest, satisfaction, perceived achievement and learning persistence. Multiple regression analyses with correlation applied to this study as a data analysis method. The results showed that time management, usefulness, interest significantly predicted learning satisfaction and persistence. In addition, time management and usefulness significantly predicted perceived achievement, Therefore, these findings imply that time management, usefulness should be considered for designing m-learning activities in high school science class.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.198-215
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• 2012

Purpose of this study is to clarify the effect of creative science writing for interest of biology and scientific attitude on high school student. Creative science writing is a learning method to enhance comprehension and expression of thinking of science contents related to daily life. 148 students were recruited and divided into two groups, experimental group were experience creative science writing lessons. On the other hand, contrary group were applied interest enhancement lessons excepted creative science writing activity. To investigate the effect of creative science writing, interest check of biology was used, and scientific attitude test was used to understand changes in student's scientific attitude. Experimental group had taught using creative science writing and their awareness of the instruction was analyzed with questionnaire. As a result of this study, the class based on creative science writing was effective in improving high school students' interest in biology and in particular it was helpful in promoting interest in biology and learning of biology. It suggested that the class based on creative scientific writing used a new teaching method unlike existing methods, caused them to have interest in the instruction by making them express their daily life freely not to memorize learning contents, applied learning contents to daily life through many kinds of writings and then enhanced their interest in biology. Indeed, the class based on creative science writing had the positive influence on changes in the scientific attitude of high school students. Since creative science writing is writing one's own idea through extensive thinking based on learning contents, it was effective in arranging the process of thinking and changing their scientific attitude into positive one. Consequently, it was concluded from the above results of the research that the teaching using creative science writing was available as the effective teaching methods to improve high school students' interest in biology and change their scientific attitude into positive one.