• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.268-283
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• 2020

In this study, we aimed to look at what dilemmas of science teaching elementary school teachers experience and how they cope with their dilemmas in everyday science classes. Three elementary school teachers participated and qualitative data such as class log, class video, and interview materials were analyzed in inductive ways. The main findings are as follows. First, the dilemmas were classified based on the four factors that make up the science class; teacher, student, learning content, environment. However the dilemmas appeared to be not only one factor involved, but the rest of the factors intertwined. Thus, it was interpreted how the main factors causing the dilemmas conflicted with other factors. Second, the types of teachers' coping strategies to the dilemmas could be largely divided into 'give-up', 'stick to' and 'modified'. In some cases, teachers gave up on what they valued and did not take active action ('give-up'), teachers chose what they valued and made decisions to actively realize it ('stick to'), and in others, conflicts were adjusted by introducing new methods or elements to their classes ('modified'). Based on these results, we discussed that the teacher's dilemmas could facilitate the teacher's learning or professional development.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.219-227
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to analyze field application of science subject competences of the 2015 revised curriculum for the second year of application. For this purpose, a survey with 133 elementary school teachers, and in-depth interviews with 10 teachers were conducted. According to the results, elementary school teachers had a positive awareness toward the science subject competence, which is a characteristic of the 2015 revised science curriculum, and teachers were applying the science subject competence to their own classes. This tendency was stronger in teachers in science-leading schools than in teachers in regular schools. Teachers wanted support for applying science subject competencies to their classes. To support this, it is necessary to provide the curriculum materials focused on science subject competencies, reinforce teacher training on competence-related curriculum, and activate the professional teacher community.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.162-177
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• 2011

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the 'structure' of an elementary school teacher's practical knowledge concerning science experiment lessons. A female elementary teacher in the early career years participated in the study, and video recordings of her science experiment lessons as well as audio-taped interviews with her were analyzed by means of Elbaz's framework. The teacher expressed six images of science experiment lessons: 'Science is difficult', 'Experiments are dangerous', 'Experiments are accurate', 'A science experiment takes a long time', 'Science experiments are interesting', and 'Children are little scientists.' These images were supported by several principles and rules, most of which were clearly described. Among the images, principles, and rules, there were complex relationships with some working in synergy and some conflicting. In case of the image 'Children are little scientists', its subordinate principles and rules were not fully realized in the classroom. Implications for science teaching reform and science education research were discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.386-397
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to find a way to improve the science textbook graph through analyzing teachers' interpretation process with eye movement tracking when they try to read the science textbook graph. Participants in this project were 10 elementary school teachers while bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts in 2007 revision science textbooks were used as materials. SMI (SensoMotoric Instruments)' iView X TM RED 120 Hz was used in order to collect eye movement data. Although subjects paid attention to the title of the graph at first, the consequence of the eye fixation was changed by the composition of the graph in case of the rest of areas. In particular, the flow of visual attention and fixation time were affected by the form and configuration of the graph. The diversity of graph construction caused confusion in interpreting graphs; the manner of presenting title, the difference of background colors, size of characters, the name of X-axis and Y-axis. Out results showed that the conformation of graphs as well as the presentation of each factor should be composed in accordance with the educational purpose for helping users to easier understanding.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.358-371
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• 2012

The main purpose of this study was to examine elementary teachers' visual attention that appears in science textbook tables. This paper proposed that teachers' cognitive effectiveness can be different by the presence or absence of the title of tables. The eye fixation data of participants are collected by the eye tracker apparatus. Participants in this study were 10 elementary school teachers and the table on the 2007 revised science textbooks were selected as experimental stimuli. Information about eye-fixations are recorded when subjects are given 4 tables by eye tracker. Eye-fixation time as well as the ratio and the number of fixation can be obtained by using the eye tracker but also we can acquire a significant conclusion through these outcomes. As the result of the experiment, it took less time to interpret in the presence of the title than in the absence of it. However, this result is only effective only for the interpretation of simple stimulus; the presence of title does not influence on fixation time in the analysis of complicated stimulation. This study showed that it is better to insult the title in the tables because it helps teachers to recognize contents of the tables effectively.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.93-101
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the internal factors whether teachers execute experiments at the science classes in the elementary school. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with 9 elementary school teachers who have served for more than three years. In-depth interviews were performed individually and all the interviews were recorded. Data sources were analyzed by grounded theory. The results were as follows: The internal factors that they did experiments at the science classes were science teaching faiths in experiment, self confidence in experiment, interest in science. and the internal factors that they did not experiment at the science classes were lack of science content knowledge, lack of science education knowledge, memory of failure at experiment, and so on. The investigation results imply inquiry activities should be more strengthened in elementary teacher education program and pre-service teacher curriculum. And it needs to give a materials of receiving information and guidance detailed about the experiments.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.350-363
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• 2010

Recently there has been increasing emphasis on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for fostering science teachers' teaching professionalism that needs to be done from teacher training courses systematically. We investigated what were the PCK factors considered in planning instruction and the difficulties encountered in implementing it by pre-service teachers. In this study, 26 sophomores at an university of education in Gyeonggi province were asked to perform teaching demonstrations using scientific instruction models. They were also requested to write reflective journals and interview. Analyses of the results revealed that many pre-service teachers considered the teaching strategies such as the instruction organization and implementation when planning instruction. They had also regard to the learners' cognitive affective aspects, whereas the pre-knowledge of them was not properly considered. Especially, the curriculum and assessment were almost disregarded. Most of the difficulties encountered in planning instruction and implementing it were appeared in terms of the teaching strategies. For example, they had difficulties in considering the characteristics of each stage presented by the instruction models when planning instruction and implementing it. The frequencies of the difficulties in implementing experiment were especially higher than those of the other PCK factors. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.102-111
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• 2010

This study examined the instructional influences of MBL programs on elementary school students' science achievement, scientific inquiry skills, and science learning motivation. The perceptions of students and their teacher toward science classes using MBL programs were also examined. The subject of this study was sixty four 4th grade students from two classes. The experimental group engaged in science classes that applied MBL and the control group engaged in traditional science classes based on the textbook and experiment workbook. As results, there was no significant difference in academic achievement, scientific inquiry skills, however, were significantly higher for the experiment group compared to the control group. There was also significant difference in the relevance and confidence, the sub-categories of science learning motivation. In the analyses of students' perceptions toward science classes using MBL, students showed positive perceptions in aspects of interests of science classes, content comprehension, and convenience of experiments. The teacher also showed positive perceptions using MBL in elementary science classes. Educational implications of appling MBL in elementary science classes were discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.494-505
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• 2020

In this study, we surveyed characteristics of the science related collaborative problem solving competency of pre-service elementary teachers, especially required in the digital age. The participants in online survey were 119 pre-service elementary teachers of National University of Education located in Gangwon province. The analyzed results of survey were as follows: First, pre-service teachers performed their task responsibly in collaborative problem solving context related to science. However, they lacked competencies in making rubrics for problem solving processes or outcomes, and setting up rules about team activities. Second, in using ICT technology, the competencies of utilizing tools such as app and software lacked compared with the competencies of searching data in online and using ppt. Third, there was no statistically significant difference among groups by their intensive major in university or selective subject in high school. Nevertheless, pre-service teachers majoring in natural science showed more persistence than those majoring in humanities in problem solving context. Finally, there was no significant gender difference except 'clear communication and accomplishment'. That is, female pre-service teachers performed more responsible in their task and showed more fluency in communication and presentation within their group than male counterparts. Based on these results, implications in the field of pre-service teacher education were discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.522-532
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• 2020

The aims of this study were to do a survey on teachers' perception and operational state for elementary science online remote classes and suggest ways to improve the elementary science online remote classes. The survey was based on responses from 100 teachers who have taught elementary science online remote classes for the first semester of 2020 for COVID-19. The questionnaire used in this study consisted of four parts: general informations of participants, the operation status of elementary science online remote classes, teachers' perceptions on the operation of elementary science online remote classes, ways to improve elementary science online remote classes. As a result of this study, elementary teachers taught elementary science online remote classes on the main use of content utilization type. And they had a difficulty in conducting elementary science online remote classes because of lack of contents, absence of elementary science online remote classes teaching methods, learner management and heavy workload. Therefore, to improve elementary science online remote classes the Ministry of Education and regional offices of education have to develop and provide high-quality contents reflect the characteristics of elementary science subjects, introduce a rent-an-experiment equipment system, and build a science class platform providing frequent real-time interaction between teacher and student.