• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.163-192
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• 2016

In this study, we analyzed what STEAM-related subject contents, except mathematical knowledge, are contained in 2009 revised elementary mathematics 6th grade textbooks and teacher's manuals. The STEAM-related subject contents in the textbooks and the teacher's manuals were examined by unit, by semester, and by strand of the content in the elementary school mathematics curriculum. The results are the following: First, in each unit and in each strand of mathematics, the most frequent STEAM-related subject content is storytelling, followed by the STEAM-related subject contents of technology and engineering, natural science, and social studies in order. On the other hand, the number of culture, physical education, music and fine arts contents is very small. Second, the number of STEAM-related subject contents in the textbook for the second semester(textbook 6-2) of the 6th grade year is 61 more than that in the textbook for the first semester(textbook 6-1). The number of non-storytelling STEAM-related subject contents in textbook 6-2 is 107, 2.7 times more than that in textbook 6-1. Third, the teacher's manual for textbook 6-1 is insufficient in complementing the textbook units which lack in STEAM-related subject contents, while the teacher's manual for textbook 6-2 is comparatively good in its complementing role. Therefore, it is recommended that we develop different STEAM materials for our 6th grade mathematics classes.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.169-179
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• 2017

The aim of this study is to see school science education from the perspective of CoP (Community of Practice) and to explore the possibility of strategic CoP in Korean school settings. To do this, we conducted a survey using SCaCoP instrument with more than 1600 students from 14 science core schools (SCSs), which were selected across the country, and analyzed their school curriculum, which can be summarized as follows: First, compared to other tracks in SCSs, like the Nature and the Humanity Classes, students of the Science Core Class (SCC) showed significantly higher scores of CoP features for all five factors of SCaCoP (i.e. responsibility of learning, common interest, mutual relationship, open participation, and practice). Second, students of SCC considered activities that require interaction and collaboration among community members (like experiments, hands-on activities, club activities, project works, R&E) to be very positive. Third, SCC students thought that the educational activities of SCSs were not only effective to CoP aims (i.e. self-driven learning, sharing learning outcomes, peer collaboration) but also positive to general aims of science education (i.e. acquiring knowledge, understanding scientific concepts, science-related attitudes). In other words, it appears that educational activities that were effective in vitalizing the CoP have positive effects on ordinary science education, too. These features of SCSs illustrate its possibility of forming strategic COPs in the context of often government-driven Korean education and of bringing in the innovations of school science education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.441-452
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• 2017

The goal of this study is to explore categories and components of science literacy and investigate the trend in the importance of each category of science literacy required for Koreans living in a future society in 2050 through survey analyses with the public. This study, as a preliminarily research, is a part of a larger project called 'developing science for all Koreans,' which investigates science literacy for all Koreans. According the survey result, the definition of science literacy should include scientific thinking and working methods, application of science, etc. in addition to existing science knowledge. We also suggested science literacy including knowledge and competencies, as well as organization of science subjects in 2050 future school education, and analyzed trends in the importance of science literacy domains. Based on the results, we suggested the scientific method, science knowledge, and science application as domains of science literacy. Discussed in the conclusion are implications and directions for developing 'science for all Koreans' living in a future society in 2050.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.1385-1402
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• 2013

This study analyzes pre-service teachers' PCK dealing with visualization of the contents related to boiling point elevation and teaching methods in mock-lessons. As a result of analyzing pre-service teachers' knowledge based on PCK factors, most of the pre-service teachers accentuated on understanding boiling point elevation conceptually, whereas some of the others inclined to make students understand boiling point elevation in a scientific way, let the kids use numerical formulas to describe the concept, and motivate them to learn through the examples in real life. The pre-service teachers represented majority of the important facts of boiling point elevation as the knowledge required to understand things conceptually. However, they did not focus on improving the scientific thinking and inquiring levels of the students. Also, the pre-service teachers tended to teach at the level and order of the textbook. In some other cases, they considered the vocabularies and materials in the textbook (which could have been highlighted in the editing sequence) as the main topic to learn, or regarded the goal as giving students the ability to solve exercises in the textbook. It turned out that the pre-service teachers had a low level of knowledge of their students. It is recommended that they should make use of the materials given (such as data related to the misconception of students) during the training session. The knowledge of teaching and evaluating students was described superficially by the pre-service teachers; they merely mentioned the applications of models, such as the cyclic model and discovery learning, rather than thinking of a method related to the goals, or listed general assessment methods.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.741-750
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• 2009

Modem science education was introduced to Korea in the enlightenment period. The science textbooks which were published at that time were important to modem science education in Korea. Therefore, the translators and publishers of science textbooks were the leader of the science education in the enlightenment period. Hyun Chae and his son as a translator were one of the leaders in science education at that time. Hyun Chae was born to a Middle class (中人)family and succeeded to pass the national examination for translators (譯科). He worked as a translator and author at the Ministry of Education (學部). Also, he was the associate teacher in a foreign school and the Hansung normal school (漢城師範學校). He published 26 books. One of them, Rikwa (理科) as the science textbook covering all the areas of science, physics, chemistry, biology and earth science. That presented the knowledge, which students should know by proper method, induced students' interest and included various experiments. Hyun Chae's activity in science education as the author and translator of science textbooks was an important role on the forming science education in the enlightenment period because it was caught short of science textbooks. The author, translator, and publisher of science textbooks was of great significance to make science popular, which was the new culture. Therefore, the role and activities in science education of Hyun Chae was a part of the history of science education, he knew a foreign language and was the leader in facilitating exchange with foreign countries.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.478-485
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• 2013

"GukMinSoHakDokBon", published in 1895, is the first national textbook designated by the Education Institute. Ten of the 41 chapters consist of scientific contents. In this thesis, some the contents are reviewed in detail and studied to see what significance it has in view of science education. The scientific contents described in "GukMinSoHakDokBon" include Plants Change, Clock, Camels, Wind, Hive, Respiration, Crocodiles, Nature of Animals, and Chemical Elements. For that kind of diversity, it was told that "GukMinSoHakDokBon" was not considered for normal students, and there were many ambiguities due to in sufficient explanations. Some of the contents were even technically wrong. So it has been noted that the scientific contents of "GukMinSoHakDokBon" have more significance in providing new information at that time but not in understanding newly-organized scientific knowledge. However, it is obvious that the early science education in Korea is composed of the methods of reading "GukMinSoHakDokBon". This is a common figure, which can be found in "Willson's Reader", the elementary reading textbook in the U.S. in the 1860's or "小學讀本" by the Ministry of Education in Japan. One thing remarkable is "GukMinSoHakDokBon" induced students' interests through the use of storytelling method for introducing some unfamiliar scientific knowledge. There is no doubt that "GukMinSoHakDokBon" has a very positive role in increasing students interest and intelligence. These advantages are being actively applied in the present model of storytelling education these days. Therefore, "GukMinSoHakDokBon" can be regarded as both a language textbook and an early figure in science education, and it can be also considered that "GukMinSoHakDokBon" has a significance not only in approaching scientific substances theoretically but in using storytelling methods to deliver unfamiliar and strange knowledges to students.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.38-49
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to find out how pre-service teachers who have gone through training have thought about teaching practice. Specifically, I analyzed the relationship between college curriculum and teaching practice, and what they had felt in teaching practice. The study included 20 third grade students in teacher's college. The results of this study were as follows: First, it was found that the content knowledge and the pedagogical knowledge of the subjects taught at the university were helpful for the teaching practice. Second, they were thought that teaching practice would be helpful just to watch the class. And pre-service teachers felt that class demonstration was a necessary part of becoming a teacher. Third, pre-service teachers said that it is necessary to have a lecture in the university that can have opportunity for class demonstration for teaching practice. And also they wanted to open a lecture to learn various teaching techniques and the newest teaching methods. Fourth, pre-service teachers said that it is important to form relationships with students in order to complete the lessons through the teaching practice. And they said that they felt that the education scene was more powerful and harder than they thought. In addition, they said that through this exercise, it became a moment to feel the importance of thorough preparation and experience. In this way, teaching practice is an essential process for pre-service teachers to become teachers and it can be seen that they have many influences. Based on these results, it is necessary to review and revise the curriculum of the training colleges in relation to the teaching practice.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.826-839
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to examine science education researchers' views on what and how much science educational theories would be needed for pre-service science teachers, and to investigate the relationship between their views and the Examination for Appointing Secondary School Science Teachers(EASST). For this study, the views of science education professors on science education theories have been analyzed in terms of their priorities for contributing to the improvement of science teacher competency and literacy. Their views have been compared with proportions of questions related to science education theories of the EASST in terms of what kinds of science education theories have been used for solving each item. As results of this study show, they have perceived that more essential things are needed for the improvement of science teacher competency and literacy including science inquiry process, methods of experimental equipments and tools, laboratory safety, misconception of students, discussion, writing, evaluation of scientific knowledges, and evaluation of scientific inquiry ability other than science philosophy, changes of science curricula, science curricula of foreign countries, Bruner's instructional theory, Karplus's Learning Cycle model, generative learning model, discovery learning model, and Klopfer's taxonomy of educational objectives. There is a higher proportion of questions related to science curriculum and Ausubel's learning theory in the EASST. They are hardly correlated with science education professors' selections of science educational theories for EASST questions. This study advocates the needs of exploring a new method of narrowing down the gap between science educators' opinions and questions of ESSAT in terms of science educaiton theories.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.736-745
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• 2005

The purpose of this paper was to develop and execute self-appraisal test items on secondary science teachers. Test items included 6 sub-fields-subject knowledge, teaching strategies, teaching skills, assessment, laboratory management, and professional development - and 77 items. Using these test items, science teachers were able to evaluate their ability as prescribed by a 5-point Likert scale. Furthermore, teachers were able to comprehend fields showing their highest and lowest scores among the 6 sub-fields. They could then place special attention on the lowest field insuring self-growth as a science teacher. Self-appraisal test items were developed by analyzing related references on teacher evaluation criteria and standards. 220 subjects composed the sample on which these test items were executed. The results of this study were as follows. First, content validity of the test items was 80.8%. The range of sub-field reliabilities was .76 - .86 and the reliability coefficient of the entire test was .95. The range of correlation coefficient between each subfield was .54 - .69 and that of subfields and entire test was .54 - .79. The correlation coefficient between professional development and the whole test was .79, the highest coefficient observed. Second, significant difference was found according to teaching experience. More experienced teachers had higher scores in all 6 sub-fields (p<.05). In addition, a significant difference according to gender was observed in subject knowledge and laboratory management (p<.05); male teachers had higher scores than female teachers. Also, the higher the level of experience, the higher the scores for subject knowledge (p<.05). Lastly, the teacher's major did not result in any significant differences.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.658-672
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• 2022

The unique teaching and learning difficulties of speed-related units in elementary school science are mainly due to the student's lack of mathematical thinking ability and procedural knowledge on speed measurement, and curriculums and textbooks must be constructed with these in mind. To identify the implications of composing a new science curriculum and relevant textbooks, this study reviewed the structure and contents of the speed-related units of three curriculums from the 2007 revised curriculum to the 2015 revised curriculum and the resulting textbooks and examined their relevance in light of the literature. Results showed that the current content carries the risk of making students calculate only the speed of an object through a mechanical algorithm by memorization rather than grasp the multifaceted relation between traveled distance, duration time, and speed. Findings also highlighted the need to reorganize the curriculum and textbooks to offer students the opportunity to learn the meaning of speed step-by-step by visualizing materials such as double number lines and dealing with simple numbers that are easy to calculate and understand intuitively. In addition, this paper discussed the urgency of improving inquiry performance such as process skills by observing and measuring an actual object's movement, displaying it as a graph, and interpreting it rather than conducting data interpretation through investigation. Lastly, although the current curriculum and textbooks emphasize the connection with daily life in their application aspects, they also deal with dynamics-related content somewhat differently from kinematics, which is the main learning content of the unit. Hence, it is necessary to reorganize the contents focusing on cases related to speed so that students can grasp the concept of speed and use it in their everyday lives. With regard to the new curriculum and textbooks, this study proposes that students be provided the opportunity to systematically and deeply study core topics rather than exclude content that is difficult to learn and challenging to teach so that students realize the value of science and enjoy learning it.