• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.415-428
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• 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything, even education. Last year when distance learning was introduced, science teachers faced many challenges to overcome. However, teachers adapted quickly, and in this year, it became the 'new normal'. In this situation, teachers are likely to habitually repeat past practices, but the context of the second year of distance learning is changing constantly, and teachers are asked to interpret the problem occurring in a situation and to adjust their practice for solving the problem with their teacher agency. In this study, we explore the emergence of science teacher agency and factors shaping teacher agency in the second year of distance learning and we focus on teachers' agentic practice that did not follow their past practice without reflection. For this purpose, we mainly analyze the semi-constructed interview of three science teachers. In the first year of distance learning, two teachers maintained their practice, not much different to face-to-face learning. However, one teacher reflected upon herself and started to recognize and solve her problems. Reflection for her practice can support this process. Another teacher changed her practice due to external suggestions, but it evolved her practice to fit the situation better, and her experience of last year helped her to adapt to the change. The other teacher who modified her practice to persist her professional purpose last year was consistently practicing in the second year and collaboration and autonomy can support her. This study shows the teachers' dynamic change of agency and the emergence for the relational interaction between teacher and context.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.27-44
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• 2021

This study is to identify the concept of action from the critical science perspective and to explore the agency of home economics teachers for the purpose of teacher education. The context and various characteristics of home economics teacher' agency were identified in terms of philosophy and teacher education. The results of the study indicates, first, the concept of action refers to an activity of individuals involving one's own intentions, and include the ability to reveal a unique identity that aims to reach a set purpose and decision, and this can be identified by mutual meaning in the public sphere. Second, teacher agency is influenced by a teacher's professional experiences and cultural and structural aspects, and it can create an environment which can promote self-directed and cooperative relationships among individuals and communities. Therefore, home economics teachers should be able to reasonably judge, contemplate, and act through reflections on the circumstances and consequences in which their agency is exercised. Third, home economics teachers can reflect and think critically about the values, roles, and sense of purpose of home economics education based on agency. Teachers should focus on the process of achieving their agency rather than on completing it, and they can continuously develop it through a perceived shared understanding among teachers. Therefore, the conceptualization of the agency of home economics teachers is to understand the practice revealed in a teacher's actions. This requires environmental support in school settings because it acts as a mechanism for strengthening the thinking and reflection of teachers through the creation of interactive environments in which professional knowledge and experiences can be shared.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.237-250
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• 2021

Teachers play a key role in designing a students' learning experience. Teachers are asked to interpret the context in which they are located and to adjust their practice to fit circumstantial needs based on their teacher agency. In this study, we explore the emergence of teacher agency in distance learning caused by COVID-19 and we analyze factors shaping the teacher agency. For this purpose, we interviewed six secondary science teachers who practiced distance learning in 2020. Semi-constructed interviews and their artifacts were collected and analyzed. This study shows that teacher agency is captured when they respond to circumstantial change and modify their practice to achieve their professional purpose or adjust their practice in space for maneuvering or keep their practice consistent. This study also analyzes the factors that affect the emergence of teacher agency in two dimensions. One is individual and the other is contextual. In the individual dimension, educational values shaped by his/her experiences and short/long-term goals for the future support the emergence of teacher agency. In the contextual dimension, there are collaborative and flexible culture shared by the community, co-operation within the teacher community, and material support. On the other hand, in the individual dimension, the teachers' sense of their role, and no reflection for own practice constrain the emergence of teacher agency, and in the contextual dimension, performativity discourse and strong requirement without guidance constrain the emergence of teacher agency. We suggest an effective lens for establishing a strategy that support teachers' professional practice and the emergence of teacher agency.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.47-57
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• 2021

This study aims to explore the epistemic goals that pre-service elementary teachers can construct in their biology-related knowledge construction activities, how these goals are constructed, and how the shaping of the knowledge construction activities around the goals was afforded or constrained. The research participants were 26 pre-service teachers, divided into 11 groups of two or three to engage in the activity. Their discussions and products were collected and used as data for this study. The analysis revealed that the teachers constructed three types of epistemic goals: making sense of natural phenomena, proposing the most effective course of action, and proposing solutions to problems based on their causes. Construction of different types of goals depended on the conclusions the pre-service teachers expected to draw based on the explored natural phenomena. It was found that the elicitation of the pre-service teachers' epistemic goals could facilitate their shaping of the knowledge construction activity as an evidence-based justification. The participants planned the construction of mechanistic explanations of natural phenomena with the epistemic goals of 'making sense of natural phenomena' or 'proposing solutions to problems based on their causes.' However, enacting their knowledge construction plans with sophisticated epistemic features was constrained due to the limited resources available. This study can contribute to developing instructional strategies that facilitate learners' epistemic agency and addressing epistemic agency in the development of pre-service teacher education methods.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.339-358
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• 2021

This study explores the agency of a student leader, expressed through efforts to distribute power and encourage participation in elementary scientific modeling classes. The study also analyzes the context in which the leader's agency was expressed and the context in which the development of a collective agency was constrained. The participants were 22 fifth-grade students. The leader's agency was analyzed by examining his words and actions. As a result, at the outset of the study, the leader had the most power, performing all the activities as the sole authority in a non-cooperative participation pattern. However, with reflection and help from the researcher, the leader recognized the problem and facilitated the participation of other students. He developed an identity as a teacher and demonstrated the agency. The leader's agentic behaviors can be categorized into three aspects. First, regarding the cognitive aspect, the leader helped other students participate in modeling by sharing his knowledge. Second, regarding the normative aspect, he made rules to give all students an equal voice. Third, regarding the emotional aspect, the leader acknowledged the contribution of the students, increasing their confidence. The leader's agency temporarily helped the group to overcome the student hierarchy, facilitating a cooperative participation pattern. However, the development of a collective agency was constrained. The power of the leader was partially redistributed, and the other students did not position themselves as equal to the leader. To support the leader's agency to develop into a collective agency, it is necessary to redistribute the power of the leader more equally and to change the recognition of students.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.115-131
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• 2021

As the global climate change emergency is escalating, the need for 'Social Action-Oriented SSI (SAO-SSI) on climate change topics' in science education that can change society through social activity is increasing. By employing sociocultural theory, this study explores the challenges of limiting teacher's agency in implementing SAO-SSI on climate change topics in science education. Data from participant observation for 46 lessons, in-depth interviews with participants, field notes, and teacher reflection notes were analyzed by the structure of into micro- (classrooms), meso- (school), and macro- (Korea society) level. At the micro-level, the teacher's new attempts of SAO-SSI on climate change topics class made it difficult for him to identify students' understanding of climate change, because they have a low sense of perception that climate change is also their problem. In addition, the teacher had difficulties leading students' into an engagement for social action because students were skeptical about the feasibility of planned social behavior by positioning themselves as children or had difficulty in understanding social action and sympathizing with its values. At the meso-level, a school culture that encourages the implementation of a curriculum similar to that of colleagues, it was difficult to implement one's own curriculum. And it was difficult to develop expertise without the support and communications with colleagues who revealed the burden of unfamiliar science topics of climate change. In addition, conflicts arose in the process of implementing out-of-school social actions with the principal's passive support. At the macro-level, the insufficient proper material resources for SAO-SSI on climate change topics class, and negative perceptions on the students' social action in the society were acting as constraints. We offer implications for what kind of structural support and efforts from various subjects in the educational community should be provided to implement SAO-SSI on climate change topics class in science education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.265-275
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• 2022

In this study, focusing on science education in the future society, we explored students' key competencies to be cultivated for the future society, and the role and PCK expertise necessary for science teachers, who are the main agents of competency-based education to nurture these key competencies. A survey conducted among earth science teachers across the country results in 105 valid responses being obtained. The research results are discussed in terms of students' key competencies to be nurtured for the future society, the role and the expertise of science teachers required for competency-based education, and the structural relationship between the teacher role and teacher expertise. We also conducted network analysis to examine the relationship between student competency and teacher expertise, and the structure between the teacher's role and expertise. Main results include that communication and collaboration skills are the most important for students in the future society as core competencies. For science teachers, providing opportunities for collaboration-oriented activities are deemed as the most important. Regarding the structural relationship between the teacher's role and the teacher's expertise, there is a clear relationship with roles such as providing opportunities for collaboration-oriented activities and utilizing various materials and contents in relation to the expertise related to the science teaching practice. Based on the results, ways to promote student's agency based on raising teachers' awareness of the student's competencies, the inter-relatedness of the teacher's role and the teacher's expertise, and the totality of teachers' expertise were suggested.

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