• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.895-910
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to explore secondary students' progression in group norms and argumentation competency through collaborative reflection about small group argumentation. The progression is identified as the development of group norms and an epistemic understanding of argumentation with the enhancement of group argumentation competency during collaborative reflection and argumentation lessons. Participants were four first grade middle school students who have different academic achievements and learning approaches. They participated in ten argumentation lessons related to photosynthesis and in seven collaborative reflections. As a result, the students' group norms related to participation were developed, and the students' epistemic understanding of argumentation was enhanced. Furthermore, the students' group argumentation competencies, identified as argumentation product and argumentation process, were advanced. As the collaborative reflection and argumentation lessons progressed, statements related to rebuttal increased and different students suggested a range of evidence with which to justify their claims or to rebut others' arguments. These findings will give a better idea of how to present an apt application of argumentation to science teachers and science education researchers.

• School Mathematics
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.613-631
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate how the small group activity system influences individual to form concepts of prime number and composite number through activity theory on learning process of mathematically gifted 5th-grade students. Student's worksheets, recorded video, and interview were gathered and transcribed for analyzing data. Process of concept formation and using symbol behavior were used to derive the stage of mathematical concept from students, and the activity system and stage of concept formation process were schematized through analysis of whole class activity system and small group activity system based on activity theory. According to the results of this study, two students who were in different activity groups separated into the state of semi-concept and the stage of complex thinking respectively, and therefore, social context and the activity system had effects on process of concept formation among the students.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.499-507
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• 2002

In this study, students' perceptions on small group activities in science classes were investigated. The relationships among students' values of and attitudes toward small group activities, gender, prior achievement level, and personality were also studied, Subjects were 226 students from four middle schools in which group activities were frequently used in science classes. In their classes, groups were mainly formed by teacher on the basis of grade and student number, or by drawing lots. Many students were dissatisfied with the grouping methods, preferred to make a group based on their friendship, and hoped that there would be different levels of knowledge among the members. Regardless of their gender or prior achievement level, students perceived positively on small group activities. Students with higher agreeableness and extraversion had higher values of and positive attitudes toward small group activities. Among five personality variables studied, agreeableness was the only one that significantly explained both values of and attitudes toward small group activities.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.307-319
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the verbal interactions of earth science gifted depending on their communications structures and group status in small group activities. To this end, a small group activity was conducted to measure the density of the earth, and 8 small groups were selected, including 4 co-ownership type and 4 monopolistics type groups with different communication structures. And then, the framework was developed for analyzing verbal interactions to compare the differences in characteristics between small groups. The results are as follows. First, regardless of the communication structures, there were showing a simple pingpong-type communication structures for all small groups. Second, negative interactions such as 'restraint', 'command', 'complaint', and 'lack of confidence' predominantly appeared in all small groups. Third, the students in the status of out-lookers in small groups were mainly verbal interactions, such as instructing the other person, acting against the other person's actions, and expressing dissatisfaction with the attitudes and abilities of members. Therefore, teachers should guide students to use higher-level verbal interactions in their group activities in small group activities, and engage in students communication to prevent negative interactions from occurring. The teachers also need to check the level of achievement for students in the status of out-lookers in advance and guide them to participate more actively in small group activities. This study is meaningful in that it can be sued to design teaching and learning to improve students' problem solving and communication skills.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.1037-1049
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to explore how the flow of discourse move and their reasoning process in dialogic argumentation during group modeling on excretion. Five groups of three to four students in the second grade of a middle school participated in the modeling practice of a Gifted Center. Analysis was conducted on argumentation during the modeling activity in which students should explain how the waste product (ammonia) leaves the body. It was found that there was a sequential argumentative process-tentative consensus, solving the uncertainty, and consensus. There were several discourse moves - 'claim' and 'counterclaim' in the stage of tentative consensus, 'query' and 'clarification of meaning' in the stage of solving the uncertainty, and 'change of claim' in the stage of consensus. Students participated in the dialogic argumentation by constructing argument collaboratively for reaching a consensus. Critical questioning in the stage of solving the uncertainty and reasoning in the stage of consensus were the impact factors of dialogic argumentation. By answering the critical questions, students changed their claims or suggested new claims by defending or rebutting previous claims. Students justified group claims with diverse argumentation scheme and scientific reasoning to reach a group consensus. These findings have implication for science educators who want to adopt dialogic argumentation in science classes.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.406-417
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• 2014

The importance of small group activity has recently been emphasized in the gifted education in science because of the increased needs to foster the human resources that could explore through the communication and collaboration. In this study, we investigated the characteristics of the verbal interaction according to the learning styles of the gifted-students in science in the small group activity and examined how learning style affected the interaction within a group in order to seek an effective grouping strategy. The competition, cooperative, and dependent students with learning style in the small group 1 and the cooperative, cooperative, dependent students in the small group 2 were assigned by the 6 science high school students. The analyses of the results revealed that the small group 1 showed the asymmetric interaction of the low level, whereas the small group 2 showed the symmetric interaction of the high level. In other words, the frequencies of in-depth interaction in the small group 2 were higher than those in the small group 1, and also students in the small group 2 were equally involved in the activity rather than the small group 1. These results suggested that the grouping by the students' learning styles in the small group activity should affect significantly the participation decision in activity and the level of verbal interaction. Educational implications of theses findings were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.59-72
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to show that epistemic considerations can be used meaningfully in the argumentation of elementary students, and to provide data on students' epistemic considerations that will be the basis for designing and evaluating scientific argumentation. The epistemic considerations in students' small group argumentations were explored based on Epistemic Considerations in Students' Epistemologies in Practice: EIP' suggested by Berland et al. (2016). The major results of this study are as follows: First, epistemic considerations in elementary school students' small group argumentation appeared in all four aspects: Nature, generality, justification and audience. The epistemic considerations varied according to context in each discussion situation. Second, epistemic considerations did not exist independently. They influenced each other and helped to reveal new types of considerations. The results of this study confirmed that argumentation can be used in elementary school science class. Understanding how students are involved in argumentation and how these epistemic considerations can affect students' argumentation can be helpful to teachers who design and evaluate small group argumentation. Students' achievement level affected epistemic considerations but learning approach types did not affect on. In addition, epistemic considerations may have a positive or negative effect on each other depending on the discussion situation in the process of interaction. So consideration of normative argumentation rules and teaching strategies should be considered in order for epistemic considerations to positively affect each other.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.349-368
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate the small-group instruction of mathematics in elementary schools. For this, a sample of 742 teachers of elementary schools completed the survey. As a result, about 27.8% of the teachers reported using small group instruction while they worked with one group or they assigned to other groups worked alone. Only 2% of the teachers reported using small group in which students were encouraged to participated cooperatively. This study discusses the five issues about small group instruction in elementary school. The five issues were investigated in this survey. First, major teaching method in mathematics classroom and using of small group instruction were described. Second, frequency and period of small-group instruction were reported. Third, grouping method in small-group instruction was described. And Fourth, effect grouping practices of small-group instruction were described. Fifth, the model of small group instruction and assessment in small-group instruction were reported.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.407-416
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• 2017

In this study, we investigated the processes of analogy change and the characteristics of discussions in collaborative activity of self-generated analogy. Twenty-four high school students in Seoul participated in this study. We implemented science instructions based on collaborative activity of self-generated analogy. We compared personal analogies, group analogies, and modified group analogies in order to analyze the processes of analogy change. We also analyzed the characteristics of group and classroom discussions in the science instructions. The analyses of the results indicated that the processes of analogy change were categorized into three patterns; adding shared attributes, recognizing unshared attributes, and revising mapping errors. They selected a group analogy from analogies of their group members by considering inclusiveness, originality, and familiarity. They perceived the activity of self-generated analogy as subjective and creative. Therefore, they felt little pressure of self-generated analogy and there were little conflicts in group discussions. On the other hand, various analogies were suggested in classroom discussions and the competitive atmosphere of classroom discussions led students to focus on unshared attributes. At the stage of modifying group analogies, they added unshared attributes as limitations of the group analogy and changed their group analogy not to have unshared attributes. There were no cases of generating a new analogy. Some suggestions to implement collaborative activity of self-generated analogy in science teaching effectively are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.519-529
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• 2003

This study investigated the characteristics of verbal interactions of various small groups based on previous achievement in paired think-aloud problem solving. Two classes of a high school were assigned to the homogeneous and heterogeneous groups, and taught on chemistry. Students from homogeneous groups (high${\cdot}$high, mid？id) and heterogeneous groups (high${\cdot}$mid, high${\cdot}$low) were selected, and their algorithmic problem solving on chemical equation and stoichiometry were audio/video taped. In high${\cdot}$high group, solver's 'require agreement' and listener 'agree' were frequently exhibited. On the other hands, listener's 'point out' and solver's 'modify' were frequently exhibited in mid${\cdot}$mid group, which was also observed in the heterogeneous groups (high${\cdot}$mid, high${\cdot}$low). Many verbal interactions were analyzed to be in symmetrical type. In this type, 'require agreement-agree' of high${\cdot}$high group was the most frequent. 'problem solving-agree' of high${\cdot}$high group was the most frequent in the solver-dominant type, while 'point out-modify' of high${\cdot}$low group in the listener-dominant type. The verbal behaviors related to the solving stage were frequently observed, but there were few related to the reviewing stage.