• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.359-374
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• 2020

This study is a complex type consisting of survey study and self-study. The former investigated elementary teachers' epistemological beliefs on convergence knowledge and teaching. As a representative of the result of survey study I, as a teacher as well as a researcher, was the participant of the self-study, which investigated my epistemological belief on convergence knowledge and teaching and my execution of convergent science teaching based on family resemblance of mathematics, science, and physical education. A set of open-ended written questionnaires was administered to 28 elementary teachers. Participating teachers considered convergent teaching as discipline-using or multi-disciplinary teaching. They also have epistemological beliefs in which they conceived convergence knowledge as aggregation of diverse disciplinary knowledge and students could get it through their own problem solving processes. As a teacher and researcher I have similar epistemological belief as the other teachers. During the self-study, I tried to apply convergence knowledge system based on the family resemblance analysis among math, science, and PE to my teaching. Inter-disciplinary approach to convergence teaching was not easy for me to conduct. Mathematical units, ratio and rate were linked to science concept of velocity so that it was effective to converge two disciplines. Moreover PE offered specific context where the concepts of math and science were connected convergently so that PE facilitated inter-disciplinary convergent teaching. The gaps between my epistemological belief and inter-disciplinary convergence knowledge based on family resemblance and the cases of how to bridge the gap by my experience were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.93-101
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• 2013

This study investigated how the unique educational contexts in the Republic of Korea (RK) impacted two science teachers' teaching practices in a public middle school and what the science teaching experience means to them. In particular, we explored how the middle school science teachers decide pedagogical approaches to use in their teaching based on classroom climate, students' attitude toward learning science, school curriculum and classroom culture. Using a phenomenological research approach, we analyzed classroom observation data and interview data to interpret the teachers' science teaching experience. Results of the study showed that the teachers' practice was dominantly affected by two external factors. First, the teachers' teaching practice was affected by the amount of science content knowledge they need to cover within a given class time. Second, the teachers' teaching practice was affected by students' attitudes toward science learning and their science preparedness in private tutoring centers. Implications of the study results are discussed in the paper.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.499-518
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• 2004

This study focused on research that illustrates the important interplay between learners' epistemological beliefs about science knowledge, physics textbook knowledge and knowing physics in the classroom. Also this study investigated learners' conceptual changes on the value of mechanical energy. To explore these topics, six sophomores were chosen as participants. Three categories were introduced to classify how participants' understanding of the nature of science knowledge, physics textbook knowledge has been linked with epistemological beliefs of knowing physics. The three categories were (1)receiving physics knowledge as authority, (2)receiving physics knowledge as the perception of teacher's role and (3)understanding physics knowledge as the perception that science knowledge is a product of a variety of human ideas. These categories were also concerned with construction of individual conceptions of mechanical energy. The participants who understood physics knowledge as the perception that science knowledge is a product of a variety of human ideas naturally used metacognitive strategy in classroom compared to other participants. And they had scientific conceptions about the value of mechanical energy. Others who were passive in classroom had unscientific conceptions about the value of mechanical energy due to definition of energy and epistemological beliefs about the nature of science knowledge. In the process of their conceptual changes on the value of mechanical energy, it was important to understand an instrumental aspect of scientific knowledge and to think about the relation between formulae and physical phenomena.

• 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.26 no.6
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• pp.723-731
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• 2006

In this study, twenty-eight 7th graders were interviewed to explore their emotional responses and perceived teaching-learning strategies for effective conceptual change by the types of cognitive responses to a discrepant event. The results revealed that cognitive conflict was more induced by a discrepant event when its reliability and validity were emphasized. The students' cognitive responses to a discrepant event, the existence of alternative hypotheses, and their clearness influenced the patterns of emotional responses such as interest and anxiety. Many students perceived that emotional responses would have positive influences on concept learning processes. In the cases of the students exhibiting cognitive responses such as belief decrease, peripheral belief change, and belief change, opinions about teaching-learning strategies for effective conceptual change were different depending on whether they had alternative hypotheses or not. Educational implications are discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.475-491
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• 2006

In physics education, the research on students' conceptions has developed in the discussion on the nature and the difficulty of conceptual change. Recently, mental models have been a theoretical background in concrete arguments on "how students' conceptions are constructed or created." Mental models that integrate information in the presented problem and individual knowledge in their long-term memory have important information about not only expressed ideas but also in the thinking process behind the expressed ideas. The purpose of this study is to investigate the forming process and the characteristics of high school student's mental models about circular motion, and how they were changed by instruction. We used the think-aloud method based on the instrument for identifying student's mental models about circular motion, pretest of physics concept, mind map and interview for investigating student's characteristics. The results of the study showed that instructions based on the mental model theory facilitated scientific expressed model, but several factors that affected forming mental models like epistemological belief didn't change scientifically after 3 lessons.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.267-275
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate relations between middle school science teachers' perception of students' learning styles and their teaching style. Data were collected by in-depth individual interviews with 20 experienced science teachers (14 years of teaching experience in average). Results indicated four categories of the relations: i.e. teachers implemented their teaching style (1) matching students' learning styles, (2) supplementing students' insufficient learning styles, (3) teacher-centered, but matching the diverse students' learning styles, and (4) based on their values and convictions. In general, teaching styles of the teachers did not match with their perceptions of students' learning styles. Instead, their teaching styles seemed to be more affected by their personal values and convictions.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.309-323
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• 2002

This qualitative study investigated preservice teachers' understandings of the ontology and epistemology underlying constructivist notions of learning through four in-depth interviews. Of the sixteen participants in a larger study, five significantly changed ontological and epistemological beliefs and eleven did not. This study focused on these eleven teachers who have hardly changed their philosophical beliefs throughout the teacher education program. Ten teachers who consistently maintained the scientific realist beliefs were presented as a composite case (Young's case). Among the eleven teachers, there was one outlier who had consistently maintained an idealist and relativist epistemological position from the beginning of the study and was subjected to another case analysis (Ben's case). These cases corroborated the assertion that each individual's deeply entrenched ontological and epistemological beliefs are very hard to change. For researchers, this study offers insights into the reasons that preservice teachers give for non-changes in their thinking about learning to teach. The study also examines preservice teachers' perceived constraints in implementing their ideal pedagogies and the influence of the teacher education program on their pedagogical beliefs changes. The benefits and influences of the M.Ed. program's theoretical coursework and the field experiences on these teachers' learning-to-teach experiences are addressed with rich data. The implications for teacher educators as well as for the instructional practices of preservice teacher education programs are discussed. This research emphasize necessity of the field-based teacher education program and the need of empowering experienced school teachers as teacher educators in teacher preparation and professional development.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.397-400
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• 2013

This research examines how e-PBL system affects 'self-directed learning ability' by applying it to "Science Cyber Conference" participants for 16 weeks. Participants' perception of PBL class process was also looked. After applying PBL program, participants' 'self-directed learning ability' has effectively changed statistically(p<.05). Especially, it showed significant change in 6 areas of 'self-directed learning ability' out of 7. Participants also showed positive response to PBL program (p<.05).

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.359-382
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• 2008

There are so many research literatures on conceptual change theory and the nature of concepts such as p-prims, mental model, ontological belief, and cognitive structure. Conceptual change means learning (Vosniadou, 1999; Duit;1999). It is necessary to review and elaborate existing conceptual change theories in order to explain the learning process and its implications. Therefore, we derived from reviewing literatures that learners construct new conceptual structure in response to given contexts at the same time activating their beliefs. We reviewed some mental theories that integrated cognitive and affective components and were based on framework/specific theory or information processing theory. We suggest learners' framework of conceptual structure and conflict model of conceptual structure. We expect to obtain effective ways of science teaching and learning and implications for cognitive conflict and conceptual change from using conceptual structure later.