• Journal of Science Education
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.718-736
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• 2014

This study was intended to determine PCK of the middle school science teachers on Mendelian genetics and factors influenced to form their PCKs. Two science teachers with biology major with a teaching experience over 5 years were chosen as the subject. Data were collected by class observation, semi-structured interview, teacher questionnaire survey, Content Representation and Pedagogical and Professional-experience Repertoire. The collected data were analyzed based on Magnusson's PCK for science teaching consisting of five components: (a) the orientation toward teaching science, (b) the knowledge of science curriculum, (c) the knowledge of students' understanding, (d) the knowledge of assessment, and (e) the knowledge and belief in the instructional strategies to teach science. Teachers could have the orientation toward teaching science served as an assisting role to support students' abilities. Both subject teachers seemed to focus on giving lectures. Their efforts to improve students' exploration methods and abilities were not expressed enough in their real classes and they found that students struggled to understand Mendelian genetics. Therefore, they should have explained them in an easier way and worked harder to make their students understood accurately and applied basic and advanced concepts of Mendelian genetics. They found students' preconception and misconception regarding Mendelian genetics and wished to enhance their learning effects by various teaching strategies such as correcting misconception, adding the history of science and simply assessing students' affirmative domains. It was also found that factors influenced to form PCK regarding Mendelian genetics by both teachers were as follows: teacher's personality and endeavor, textbooks and guidance books, schools and their circumstances, teaching experience, experience as a learner, interaction with their colleagues, and university curriculum. Both teachers said that it was important for teachers to make every efforts to give better classes.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.729-738
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• 2019

Research and Education(R&E) program has been emphasized for scientifically gifted students since it can improve scientific research abilities and problem solving abilities because it provides scientific research experiences with professional researchers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of R&E program on creative leader competency and science career orientation. For this study, 62 science high school students participated from 78 science high school students participating in an R&E program. Pre and Post surveys of creative leader competency and science career orientation were administered to the students. The results showed that R&E program improved students' creative leader competency in intellectual and affective characteristic. However, there are no differences in science career orientation because science high school students already had high science career orientation. The implications of this study were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.137-153
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• 2000

In this study. 'extended science investigation' was conceptualized as a comprehensive science investigation contrasted with exercise of process and skill component and cookbook style experiment. The extended investigations should be pursued for giving opportunity of more authentic science activities in school science. And one of important educational objectives in students' science investigations is to achieve motivation for investigation which drives and triggers further investigations. It can be discerned as positive and negative by its direction and also as internal and external by its cause. The purpose of this study was to describe change of students' motivation for investigation while they were performing the extended science investigations. The subject was 128 7th grader attending coeducational school in Seoul. Questionnaires and students' reports were analysed complementarily to describe students' motivation for investigation. The number of students who showed positive motivation for investigation did not increase in the developed extended investigations than in the directive investigations in textbook, but the cause of positive motivation for investigation has changed largely from task-exclusive factors to task-inclusive factors. In case of negative motivation for investigation, regardless of the kind of investigation task, task-inclusive factors were recognized as the main causes. Among those whose motivation changed during successive extended investigations, the students who showed change from negative to positive were more than the reverse. And the number of positive intrinsic motivation for investigation was increased at the second half of the extended science investigations. So it can be said that there was a desirable change of motivation for investigation at the second half the extended science investigations.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.155-169
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• 2021

This study aims at exploring the features of science teaching orientation (STO) and its relationships with other PCK (pedagogical content knowledge) components. To do this, based on the definition of STO by Friedrichsen, Driel, & Abell(2011) and PCK model by Magnusson, Krajcik, & Borko(1999), we observed one experienced elementary teacher's science lessons for 21 lesson hours (10 hours of 'Motion of Objects' and 11 hours of 'Light and Lens') and carried out qualitative analyses of the data obtained from lessons observation, teacher interviews, and CoRe (content representation) responses. We analyzed the teacher's three aspects of STO (i.e. beliefs about the goals and purpose of science teaching, beliefs about the nature of science, and beliefs about science teaching and learning) which can converge into an overall STO of 'inquiry'. And these aspects of STO appear to interact differently with four PCK components (i.e. curriculum knowledge, learner knowledge, instructional knowledge, and assessment knowledge) depending on the topic of the lesson. It is hoped that this in-depth understanding of the features of STO and its relationship with other PCK components would provide useful information on how to monitor and improve STO and PCK of elementary teachers.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.297-310
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• 2021

This study explores the characteristics of within-school and across-school science teacher professional learning communities (hereafter, PLC) qualitatively. In-depth focus group interviews were conducted with science teachers belonging to seven PLCs within the science core school and three PLCs across schools. Interview questions include identity and motivation, major activities, and outcomes of PLC, as well as shortcomings and support plans for PLC. The results include both within-school and across-school science teacher PLCs formed for professional development related to science teaching and learning. Both science PLCs participated in the study showed the characteristics of a 'practice community' that developed a cooperative relationship through reciprocal participation, focusing on shared issues among members. Regarding issues, within-school PLCs focused on microscopic problems such as curriculum reconstruction of subject-matter, while across-school PLCs focused on macro problems such as teacher professional development. Regarding activities and roles as PLC, within-school and across-school science PLCs shared such features as collaborative professional development, and interpersonal education such as mentoring for novice teachers. In terms of PLC's influence and outcomes, science teacher PLCs has a positive effect not only on the teachers themselves, but also on the students and the teacher culture in the school. In addition, science teacher PLCs need improvement of the physical conditions for community operation, and software support such as protocol provision for PLC operation and joint research or re-education with universities. In particular, joint research between universities and science teacher PLCs shows the future orientation of the PLC as an 'inquiry community'. Based on the results, the necessity of active support for science PLC, the necessity of developing a cooperative system between science teacher PLC and universities, and ways to spread the PLC of science core schools to that of general schools were proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.491-499
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• 2012

This study was to analyze the educational objectives of evaluation of practice quizzes and learning objectives of chemistry I textbooks for the 2009 revised curriculum by Klopfer's taxonomy. The result revealed that the objectives of science education indicated in the 2009 revised curriculum were contained the educational meaning of all categories except 'manual skills' of Klopfer's taxonomy of educational objectives. The learning objectives of chemistry I textbooks laid mostly on 'the knowledge and comprehension' and 'the process of scientific inquiry'. It showed that 'the objectives of scientific knowledge and methods', 'manual skills' and 'scientific attitude and interest', 'orientation' seemed to be taken in a relatively careless way. The result on the practice quizzes in textbooks, they also laid stress on 'the knowledge and comprehension' were covered much, even though they were emphasized in the other objectives of the curriculum. It was concluded that the educational objectives of the science textbooks did not reflect much on educational objectives of the 2009 revised curriculum.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.137-155
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• 2009

The purpose of the present study was to analyse the effectiveness of a gifted education program. To analyse the effectiveness of an education program for the gifted affiliated with a university, the study carried out a quasi-experimental design to compare the 153 gifted students who enrolled in an education center for the gifted and the 131 potentially gifted students who were nominated by teachers for their high achievements and interests in science but without any education services for the gifted. These two groups of students were compared in the aspects of problem finding ability in science, motivation, self regulation, science-related attitudes, and science anxiety through the pre- and post-treatment settings. The results indicated that the gifted group showed a significant improvement in originality and elaboration of problem-finding ability, but the potentially gifted group showed significant decrease in most variables of problem finding. Related to motivation and self-regulated learning, gifted students showed an increase in cognitive strategy use and decrease in intrinsic value, but the potentially gifted students showed significant decreases in most variables related to motivation and self-regulation, except intrinsic value. Related to the scientific attitudes and science anxiety, there were no significant changes between pre- and post-tests in the gifted group, but significant decreases in most variables were found in the potentially gifted group. The results of paired t-test and Ancova indicate that significant differences between the gifted and the potentially gifted groups are mainly due to the significantly lowered performance in post tests in the potentially gifted group, rather than a significant increase in gifted group.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1077-1098
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• 2013

Science gifted students enrolled in a program, where classes had either explicit or implicit instruction about self-directed learning, were asked to write what was satisfying after each class. This process was part of the evaluation of the program. Students' descriptions related to self-directed learning are compared in these two classes, one with explicit instruction and the other with implicit instruction. First, most of the components related to self-directed learning, which were reported in the previous research articles, were mentioned in students evaluation. If there was any specific description regarding what was satisfying, there were components of self-directed learning. Students descriptions were consistent with list of self-directed learning components, which was constructed based on the previous research. Therefore it may be concluded that students recognized most of the reported self-directed learning components and satisfied with them. Second, There were differences in the evaluation of two types of classes. The evaluation of class with explicit instruction contained more self-directed learning components more frequently. For example, students worked in small groups in both classes. However more students mentioned small groups in classes with explicit instruction. As a result the explicit instruction appears to be more effective for students to recognize the self-directed learning components. However some of the components mentioned in classes with implicit instruction were not mentioned in the classes with explicit instruction. Therefore classes with explicit and implicit instructions are complimentary with each other and both instructions are necessary.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.255-284
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• 2007

This study explored the ESL college learners' perceptions on integrating reading and writing in the context of the reading-to-write composition classroom. Using the panel survey (N=60) that repeatedly measured the same set of individuals at three different times during a semester, this study examined whether students' perceptions on reading-writing integrations were reshaped over the course of classroom practices. The survey instrument was developed to assess the perception scores from less integrative continua to more integrative continua on a 5-point Likert scale. A two-factor ANOVA with repeated measures was performed to evaluate mean differences across the perception groups and over the three treatment times. The results do not demonstrate a significant treatment effect, suggesting that L2 learners' integrative perceptions were stable over the course of the semester. The dynamics in the perception changes differed widely across the perception groups. This result provides insights into understanding students' reading-writing practices and thus into instructional practices applicable to the classrooms. The present study argues for 12 learners' perceptions on integrating reading and writing as a key construct to understand their literacy practices involved in the composing process.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.198-209
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• 2011

In this study, pre-service science teachers' reflective thinking in their journal writing was investigated. To do this, the authors used pre-service science teachers' journal writing abilities, wherein they not only reported data and result formally, but also wrote their feelings and reflections about an inquiry-based physics experiment they performed. Pre-service science teachers' writings were decomposed into sentences and each sentence was analyzed into a framework with 4 dimensions: knowledge, procedure, orientation and attitude. Reflective thinking in knowledge dimension included reflection on what they know before the experiment, what they still do not know and what they learned from the experiment. Reflective thinking in procedure dimension included recalls of experiences about general experimental procedures and specific experimental skill. Reflective thinking in orientation dimension included their views about the nature of science and science teaching and learning, and reflective thinking in attitude dimension consisted of interests, motives and values about the experiment they performed. While there were some variations in frequency distribution of reflective thinking by the topic of experiments, pre-service science teachers' reflective thinking in journal writings revealed their metacognition on their knowledge and learning, epistemological belief about science and science learning, and affective domain related to experiment. This study can infer that such kind of writing with 'their own language' in an informal way followed by formal 'scientific' reports in a scientific experiment has a significance not only as a mediator representing reflective thinking but also as an instructional activity to facilitate reflective thinking in science learning and teaching.