• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.127-140
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of children's interactive learning focusing on the Vygotsky's ZPD (the zone of proximal development) in a natural history museum as a representative free-choice learning context. We focused on the understanding of peer dyadic discourses and data were collected from 13 peer groups of children (3rd and 4th graders) who were videotaped all conversations occurred as they visited around the exhibits with no predetermined path. The transcribed data were analyzed by the developmental level of ZPD system and the discourse within an ADL (an actual developmental level) was overwhelmingly common in the conversations between child-child dyads. The representative discourse by discourse types were parsed according to three constructs of ZPD. Children formed the intersubjectivity through semiotic mediation such as conversations and exhibits and ended up with the similar situation definition. In conclusion, the details of discourses of the most impressive dyad were looked into focusing on the scientific concept. The study implies that a natural history museum becomes a meaningful resource to offer a deeper understanding of the nature of children's learning as an informal learning setting.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.25
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• pp.293-313
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• 2009

A general sequence of moral instruction in elementary school is advanced to understanding of contents, application of understanding, reflection of application. The understanding of contents as first stage of instruction is related with abstract moral concepts. A model of concept analysis as one of the moral instruction models could be applied to understand on abstract moral concept. We can find rationale of that model from the 'analysis of concept' that is proposed by John Wilson. His 'analysis of concept' is thinking technique based on informal logics of ordinal language. These technique is constituted of 'Isolating questions of concept', 'Right answers', 'Model cases', 'Contrary cases', 'Related cases', 'Borderline cases', 'Invented cases', 'Social context', 'Underlying anxiety', 'Practical results', 'Results in language'. And these techniques could be categorized some of stages like finding a concept for analysis, finding a cases for understanding, concerning on the contexts about using context, concerning on the verification of defined concept. But it has difficulties that directly applicate these stages and technique to elementary school students. For instruction in elementary school, teacher should be translated these terms about each stages and technique to terms suited for students. And it is good for students that these activity can inspire students' interests. In this thesis, I'm trying to translate original terms about concept analysis technique to terms that elementary school students can understand. And then, I'm intending to propose of moral instruction method about truth telling as a example.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.1431-1449
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• 2013

This study is based on the assertion that science museums should consider visitors' views and expectations as they are not satisfied in many cases. In this study, we investigated 31 scientifically gifted students and 177 science high school students about their image of science museums. Using the questionnaire, it was found that only 51% of students visited science museums; however, the average number of visits was 4.2. This means that students tended to re-visit after the first visit of the science museum. Students had a 'good' image of science museums when they incurred hands-on experiences and observed new, interesting, curious and funny exhibits. And students had a 'bad' image of science museums due to the following aspects: lack of new and interesting exhibits, information and guide, diverse contents, and hands-on experience; deficiencies in environment; and inadequacy of the management, operation and composition of exhibits. Therefore, they hoped that science museums will provide more hands-on experiences and experiments, new and interesting exhibits, systematic management and composition of exhibits, information and guides, and a good environment. So science museums need to pay special attention to aspects like management, information guides and environment for the first-time visitors. Based on the above results, we suggested "Directions for a good science museum based on students' views". While asking students what topics they wanted to know and learn in a science museum, each student was given the choice of four topics; eventually, 2.9 answers overlapped for each topic. When classifying students' topics into four main themes for the Gwangju National Science Museum, the order from the most popular theme to the least one was 'science in everyday life', 'ocean/space/future science', 'light and science', and 'culture, art and science'. Among the topics mentioned by students, only 37% are exhibited in Seoul, Gwacheon, Daejeon, or Gwangju science museums. We hope that the results and research methods will be used for evaluation, re-construction, and reinvigorated presentation of science museums.

• 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.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.499-510
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• 2014

The purpose of this research is to understand interactive learning during docent-led tours in a science museum focusing on scaffolding. We developed a scaffolding framework by collating the work of other researchers in related fields. The results show that scaffolding included three dimensions: purpose, interaction, and domain. The purpose dimension, divided into six categories, is related to the intention of the scaffolder and what the scaffolding are for: strategic, social, procedural, conceptual, verbal, and metacognitive. The interaction dimension reflects students' interaction with the scaffolder in two ways: dynamic (situation specific) and static (planned in advance). The domain dimension is related to two contents: domain-general and domain-specific (such as science). The scaffolding framework was applied to dynamic interactions between docents and visitors. The data was collected from elementary school students' family visits with the guidance of two docents at the Seodaemun Museum of Natural History. The data collected consisted of surveys, interviews, video-recordings, and transcripts. The analysis shows that five guiding contexts and scaffolding phases were recognized; 1) strategic scaffolding in a poorly illustrated exhibit; 2) conceptual scaffolding in a thoroughly explanative exhibit; 3) verbal scaffolding in misleading interpretation; 4) procedural scaffolding in a manipulative exhibit; and 5) metacognitive scaffolding with inaccurate content. In addition, the results show that the docents used the dynamic and static scaffolding synthetically so that the docent-led tour was effective. In conclusion, this study presents the usefulness of understanding visitors' science learning through the scaffolding framework, as well as the how docents can scaffold actively.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.613-624
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• 2014

The aim of this study is to explore why Korean 4th graders' interest in science was not connected to career aspirations in science using the perspective of science identity. Forty-five students with a high interest in science but with low science-related aspirations have been chosen from 488 elementary school students who have completed a questionnaire exploring students' interest and career aspirations in science. Among them, 19 who have received parental permission participated in in-depth interviews examining students' science identities (interest, competence, and recognition by others in science) and their experiences and perceptions of science-related activities. The results showed that most students have limited or situational interest in science, a gap between the perception of their competence in science and their competence for a science-related career, and negative recognition by others in science. Also, participants' science identities and low aspirations for a science-related career constrained their attention and participation in science-related activities. Students' negative science identities and low aspirations for science-related careers were based on the high standards of science-related careers. It seems that these erroneous perceptions and expectations led them to differentiate themselves from students pursuing science-related careers, as well as to perceive that their interest, competence, and recognition by others in science were not enough to pursue a science-related career. This study has implications for understanding the current condition of young students with low aspirations for science careers and exploring desirable objectives and strategies to promote activities to raise their aspirations for science-related careers.