• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.362-375
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• 2022

In this study, science teachers' NOS lessons were observed and the characteristics of the lessons were analyzed. Three science teachers who taught NOS in the 'Science Inquiry Experiment' developed under the 2015 revised curriculum participated in the study. Their NOS lessons were observed and interviews were conducted before and after lessons. The collected data were analyzed using analytical induction and constant comparative method. The analyses of the result revealed the teachers' naive views on NOS were also revealed during the lessons. There were some cases where they showed naive views during the lessons even if they showed informed views in the interviews. Although the domains of NOS taught by them were diverse, all of them taught 'tentativeness' and considered this an important goal. They tended to teach NOS with content related with their major, and teaching NOS was found to be deeply related to their major. In the activity where students learn NOS by inferring the unknown object, teachers disclosed the unknown object, which is unlike the rule of the activity. They thought that could help students' learning. At last, although they emphasized teaching NOS, they either did not assess NOS or assessed NOS in a limited way. Based on the results, some directions for teacher education and follow-up study are suggested.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.937-949
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• 2017

In this study, we investigated how science teachers perceive the changes in school systems, including infrastructure and curriculum, in the context of preparing for future education. And the changes in their perception of the educational environment, the challenges, and changes of science teachers' classroom practices were also explored. In-depth interviews and analysis were conducted with two science teachers in a middle school that is trying to innovative on changes compared with general schools. The results of the study are as follows: First, teachers perceived that their schools had factors that could change the science class in terms of school size and infrastructure, peer teacher culture, and students' abilities. Second, the enthusiasm of teachers who are trying various ways of teaching and the students' ability to adapt in a smart learning environment formed a synergistic circle that lowered entry barriers to trying changes. Third, science classes changed to activity-centered classes, and teachers realized that these changes promoted students' self-directed learning. Fourth, teachers perceived themselves as playing an independent role in curriculum management, and this perception promoted more varied attempts in improving their classes. Through the changes of the learning environment and systems of the school and the formation of a culture that shares their challenges and innovations with the voluntary learning community, teachers constantly try to change their classes and schools. The changes of school need to be understood in the context of the interaction of teachers, students, and infrastructure.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.303-315
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• 2016

Socioscientific issues (SSI), by their nature, are conceptually embedded in technology. Previous research reported that nature of technology (NOT), unlike nature of science, was quite explicitly manifested in SSI decision-making, and NOT could be a promising construct for promoting SSI reasoning. In this study, authors introduced an integrated conceptual framework for NOT, which consisted of four dimensions (i.e., artifacts, knowledge, practice and system) as diverse modes of technology. We adapted the framework to investigate students' conceptualizations of NOT in the context of various SSIs. Data was collected from 45 college students enrolled in a liberal arts course on science and technology. The students participated in a team project, where they prepared and led discussions for SSI topics in class. Seven topics concerning SSIs were selected by students themselves. The preparation and class discussion of each student group were audio-recorded, and final reports were also analyzed. As a result, NOT sub-components in the dimensions of artifacts and system were explicitly represented in most contexts of SSI with various ranges of understanding. Other sub-components under the dimensions of knowledge and practice were rarely or implicitly shown in the discussion. The depth of students' understanding on NOT varied. Implications for science education were discussed.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.165-181
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• 2018

This study compares and analyzes the characteristics and effects of various educational contextual variables according to students' achievement level and gender groups based on the results of PISA 2015 science domain. PISA 2015 included additional variables about teaching-learning and affective characteristics in the field of science, because science was the main domain of PISA 2015. The results of the mediation analysis using a multiple group structural equation model showed that the environment and strategy for the teaching and learning had a positive effect on the affective characteristics, and also positively affected science achievement through the mediator of the affective characteristics. Particularly, the environment and strategy for the teaching and learning was the most effective in improving the affective characteristics for the low achievement group. It was found that the difference of the mediated effect between achievement level groups was statistically significant, but that between male and female students was not. Therefore, the appropriate the environment and strategy for the teaching and learning will need to be emphasized consistently to improve students' cognitive and affective achievement. The implications and suggestions of these results were discussed.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.167-180
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• 2019

This study analyzed the effects of the educational contextual variables on fourth grade students' mathematics achievement in five East Asian countries(Singapore, Hong Kong Taiwan, Japan and Korea) using TIMSS 2015 data. There are four findings of this study. The first is that the common student-home-level variables that give significant influence on the mathematics achievement in all 5 countries are 'Home resources for learning' and 'Parents' educational expectations'. But 'Literacy and numeracy activities before entering a school' and 'Parents' attitude for mathematics and science' are not common variables. The second is that 'Students' interest in math learning' gave significant influence on the mathematics achievement of in all 5 countries. The third is that 'Teaching limited by student needs' does not give significant influence on the math achievement in Korea, Taiwan, and Japan but in Singapore and Hong Kong. The fourth is that 'Student economic background' gave more significant influence in Korea, Taiwan, and Japan than Singapore and Hong Kong. Suggestions to improve elementary school mathematics teaching and learning are discussed in the conclusion.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.87-111
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate practical problem-based Home Economics lesson plans applying to the multiple intelligence teaching learning strategy, focused on the unit 'Nutrition & Meals' of middle school Home Economics subject matter. To achieve this purpose, the lesson plans were developed and evaluated from the 72 middle school students in Chongju after implementing the instruction. The data from the questionnaire were analyzed by SPSS/WIN 12.0 and content analysis. The results were as follows: First, the objectives of practical problem-based 'Nutrition & Meals' Instruction using multiple intelligence teaching strategy were to understand the importance of nutrition and health in an adolescent period and to develop good eating habits. The Practical Problem was 'What should I do for good eating habits?' and the learning contents were healthy life, the kinds and functions of nutriments, food pyramid and a food guide. The learning activities were progressed by various types of teaching and learning methods including 8 types of multiple intelligence teaching strategy. The lesson plans were developed according to the process of practical problem solving model. 6 periods of lesson plans and worksheets were developed. Second, the practical problem-based instruction using multiple intelligence teaching-learning strategy were evaluated to increase students' positive learning attitudes, motivation, and good eating habits.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.85-94
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• 2015

Constructivism gave many implications to science education but at the same time it has brought confusion about its implication to the field of science education. Hermeneutics has possibilities of being able to reduce confusion as well as opening a new horizon. Hermeneutics seeks the meaning of 'real understanding' through the concepts of horizon, hermeneutical circle, and fusion of horizons. Both hermeneutics and constructivism have positive attitude to students' pre-understanding and accept contextualization of knowledge. Thus, they both can criticize traditional teaching method and propose an alternative. Moreover, hermeneutics approaches human understanding holistically with the concept of horizon, and pays attention to the circularity of the process of human understanding. As a result, hermeneutics can open a new horizon and give new discourse to science education and contribute to the development of research and practice of science education.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.30-43
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• 2022

In this study, elementary students' science communication competence was investigated based on the grammatical features expressed in their language-use in classroom discourse and science writings. The classes were designed to integrate the evidence-based reasoning framework and traditional learning cycle and were conducted on fifth graders in an elementary school. Eight elementary students' discourse data and writings were analyzed using lexico-grammatical resource analysis, which examined the discourse text's content and logical relations. The results revealed that the student language used in analyzing data, interpreting evidence, or constructing explanations did not precisely conform to the grammatical features in science language use. However, they provided examples of grammatical metaphors by nominalizing observed events in the classroom discourses and those of causal relations in their writings. Thus, elementary students can use science language grammatically from science language-use experiences through listening to a teacher's instructional discourses or recognizing the grammatical structures of science texts in workbooks. The opportunities in which elementary students experience the language-use model in science learning need to be offered to understand the appropriate language use in the epistemic context of evidence-based reasoning and learn literacy skills in science.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.388-401
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• 2012

This study attempted to propose a theoretical model for STEAM education, entitled to the Ewha-STEAM education model, which could provide more concrete guidelines for science educators and curriculum developers to execute STEAM ideas. We identified key knowledge and key competencies to nurture future creative/convergent human resources. Key knowledge included an understanding of core ideas cutting across traditional disciplinary boundaries as well as the nature of different disciplines. And additionally, key competencies implied such abilities as to explore the scientific world, to resolve problems, and to communicate and collaborate with others. We also added creativity and character as an essential part of key competencies. In order to provide more specific guidelines when developing, implementing, and evaluating STEAM curriculum, we suggested three elements of convergence to consider: 1) unit of convergence (i.e. concept/skills, problem/phenomenon, activity), 2) degree of convergence (i.e. multi-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, extra-disciplinary), and 3) context of convergence (i.e. personal, societal, global). It is expected that the Ewha-STEAM education model would contribute towards diverse education communities understanding the direction of STEAM education and its educational potentials.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.197-211
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• 2022

In this study, we tried to find a way to improve the pedagogical decision-making practices related to the presentation order of 'large number' and 'small number' in problem situations of subtraction of the natural number. For this purpose, the elementary school teachers' perception about problem situations in real-life context of subtraction of natural numbers was investigated, and the collected data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively to identify teachers' pedagogical perceptions. As a result of this study, it was confirmed the need for consideration on how to set up a problem situations in real-life context of subtraction so that students can develop their ability to solve various types of problems. To this end, not only in a problem situation of subtraction where you have to think of 'large number' first and 'small number' later, but also about the introduction of problem situations in real-life context of subtraction in which you think about 'small number' first and 'large number' later, which often appears in real-life. You will need to recognize the need. And you should have a pedagogical view on this. The results of this study will be able to contribute to the preparation of pedagogical method that can expand the understanding of various problem situations where subtraction is applied from the lower grades of elementary school.