• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.265-278
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate research trends about convergence and integrated science education through the analysis of theses published from January, 2000 to June, 2011 in the scientific journals. For the analysis of the theses, we set standards of analysis including the number of theses, integrated types, research methods, the designs of study and the objects of study. The number of theses used for the analysis were 110 volumes and these were limited to the Journal of KASE (The Korean Association for Science Education) and Journal of KESES (The Korean Society of Elementary Science Education). The results of the study are as follows. First, in the analysis of theses according to the published year, we discovered that the volumes of theses related to convergence and integrated science education were only about 10% of theses published in the journals. Second, the theses about STS education and integration type were the most common type in the integrated types, and the next things were integration type with other scientific fields, and integration type with other subjects. Third, 50% of theses have focused on the 'analysis of effect' as research methods and 45.5% of the theses have used 'quantitative research' as the designs of study. Fourth, the most common study in the theses was to target elementary school students, then it was middle school students, then high school students, literature, teachers, would-be teachers, and the general public. On the basis of the results of this research, we suggest that various studies can develop student's creativity and teacher's recognition through STEAM education and must be presented for the successful STEAM education.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.273-288
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• 2020

This study aims to investigate the presentation of the Nature of Science (NOS) in integrated science textbooks of the 2015 revised curriculum. The five integrated science textbooks published by the revised 2015 curriculum were analyzed with the conceptual framework of the four themes of the Nature of Science (NOS) (Lee, 2013) based on scientific literacy. The four themes of the NOS are 1. nature of scientific knowledge (theme I), 2. nature of scientific inquiry (theme II), 3. nature of scientific thinking (theme III), and 4. nature of interactions among science, technology, and society. The reliability of the textbooks analysis was measured between two coders by the Cohen's kappa and resulted in between 0,83 and 0,96, which means the results of analysis was consistent and reliable. The findings were as follows. First, overall theme II, nature of scientific inquiry emphasized on the integrated science textbooks of the 2015 revised curriculum by devoting the contents over 40 % in the all five publishing companies' textbooks. Second, while the theme II, nature of scientific inquiry was emphasized on the textbooks regardless of the publishing companies, other themes of the NOS were emphasized in different portions by the publishing companies. Thus, the focus among other three themes of the NOS was presented differently by the publishing companies except that in theme II, nature of scientific inquiry was most emphasized on integrated science textbooks. Third, the presentation of the NOS was identified similarly across the topics of integrated science textbooks except on topic 4. Environment and Energy. The theme IV, nature of interactions among science, technology, and society was emphasized reasonably only in the topic of Environment and Energy of the textbooks. Finally, the presentation of the NOS in the integrated science textbooks of the 2015 revised curriculum were more balanced among the four themes of the NOS with focus on the scientific inquiry compared to the previous curriculum textbooks.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.97-109
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• 2022

In this study, we investigated pre-service teachers' reflection of questions during science instruction in teaching practicum from the perspective of productive reflection. The productive reflection used in this analysis has four aspects of learners and learning, subject matter knowledge, instruction, and assessment. Five pre-service teachers participated in this study. They reflected on their questions with one class video by using think-aloud method. Semi-constructed interviews were also conducted. The analyses of the results reveal that the aspect of 'instruction' and the 'learners and learning' were frequently included in their reflections. 'subject matter knowledge' was often included in their reflection while 'assessment' was hardly included. The integrations of the two aspects appear most often, those of three aspects appear only sometimes. However, four aspects appear very rarely. The integrations of 'learners and learning' and 'instruction' with the other aspects were most frequent, and the integrations of 'content knowledge' with the other aspects were often. However, the integration of 'assessment' was very few. There were more productive reflections from pre-service teachers who reflect on several questions in context than who reflected on questions one by one. In addition, they exhibited some difficulties in suggesting alternatives to improve their questions. They tried to modify the teaching method related to the questions rather than revise the form of questions. Based on the results, practical implications to improve expertise related to the questions of pre-service teachers were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.763-777
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• 2013

This is a case study on two schools practising integrated science education (hereafter ISE). The purposes of this study are to investigate the types and features of ISE in the schools actively practising ISE, to identify the contextual factors of the schools, and to give implications for implementing ISE in schools. This study investigated the contextual factors in practicing ISE with a focus on the two schools, a middle school in Gyeonggi-do and a high school in Busan. They were breaking down the boundaries among teaching subjects and providing student-oriented instruction with problems in the real world. The data were collected by observing classes, by interviewing teachers, and by reviewing school documents and students' reports. The research findings are as follows: first, the two schools took part in ISE actively. They teach science to students providing integrated experiences mainly by using interdisciplinary knowledge and/or by solving the problems pertaining to the real world. While the former integrated subjects centering on topics, the latter focused on a project-based learning driven by students. They have differences in regard to the role of teachers and students, the level of integration and the type of integration. Second, the contextual factors that enabled ISE to be implemented there were found. The previous studies revealed six contextual factors in practising ISE: small and stable learning environment, leadership, team activities, in-school planning time, flexible timetable and community links. This study also found similar factors. However, the cases of this study provided ISE on a large scale and in a short period of time, instead of a small and stable learning environment. Teachers viewed the process of ISE not only as a tool to overcome the conservative culture of teachers but also as a pursuit of innovation.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.379-388
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to derive implications for support plans for the settlement of the Integrated Science subject based on observations and analyses of integrated science lessons implemented in schools since 2018. For this purpose, we observed and analyzed the lessons for the same achievement standard [10 Integrated Science 07-01] implemented by four science teachers with different science majors. The features of integrated science classes were analyzed in light of curriculum reconstruction, science competency development, learner-centered participatory instruction, and process-centered evaluation aspects. For example, in terms of curriculum reconstruction, science teachers have been reorganizing achievement standards into three/four lessons, optimizing learning contents based on core concepts, and helping students' understanding of cross-cutting concepts between science areas. Regarding science competency development, teachers focused their instruction on students' cultivation of diverse science competencies closely related to the achievement standard and development of the epistemology of science. In addition, teachers emphasized student activities and teachers' role as facilitator of learning to create learner-centered participatory classes, as well as assessment during lessons with feedbacks, etc. Based on the results, we suggested and discussed ways to support the settlement of the integrated science curriculum including the need for a teacher learning community, support for process-centered assessment, and the need to develop an authentic integrated science curriculum.

• The Journal of Korean Association of Computer Education
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.79-91
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• 2015

Future society demands a personal who is equipped with personality as well as creativity. In this study is developed an creativity personality-integrated programing education model combining CPS(Creative Problem Solving) method for creativity and narrative approach for personality. The developed model was applied to the 5th, 6th grade students in elementary school. As a result, there were effects of improvement in cultivating both personality as well as creativity. The result may offer implications in developing a creativity personality-integrated education model and curriculums in computer science education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.1007-1020
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• 2013

This study investigated the perceptions and the characteristics of elementary teachers on teaching science-arts integrated activities. Twelve elementary teachers who have taught in the third to sixth grade science lessons participated in this study. Data was collected by individual interviews lasting 60 to 90 minutes. Interview questions were composed of three aspects: 1) how elementary teachers perceive science-arts integrated activities, 2) in what ways elementary teachers address science-arts integrated activities, and 3) what difficulties elementary teachers experienced in addressing science-arts integrated activities. The results showed that, first, elementary teachers agreed that science-arts integrated activities have educational value in science learning. Second, most teachers focused on improving understanding of science knowledge through teaching science-arts integrated activities, while several teachers put emphasis on having experience of arts as well as understanding of science knowledge. And third, teachers experienced difficulties due to insufficient teaching materials and time to prepare for teaching science-arts integrated activities. Based on the results, we suggested educational implications for utilization of science-arts integrated activities in elementary education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.1041-1054
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• 2013

Big ideas are overarching principles that help students to build a holistic understanding of domain-specific knowledge and assimilate individual facts and theories. This study aims to design a standard-based integrated science curriculum framework based on Big Ideas. The core contents were extracted by analysing the 2009 National Science Standards curriculum of primary and middle schools. Four Big Ideas, 'diversity,' 'structure,' 'interaction,' and 'change,' were generated after the process of examination and categorization of core contents. The scientific facts, disciplinary concepts, and interdisciplinary concepts of every scientific domains included in each Big Idea are represented as a knowledge pyramid. Essential questions guiding the direction of curriculum design were proposed on each Big idea. Based on the framework, teaching modules for 'structure' were developed for grades 5~6.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.208-227
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to analyze secondary science teachers' planning process for an integrated science lesson. For this study, relevant references were collected from various sources, including literatures, previous studies regarding integrated science education, and individual studies. Two teachers (one from middle school and the other from high school) participated and 'the five-step instructional design' was adopted from former studies in this subject. The teachers were asked to develop an instructional plan based on 'the design' provided. While the consultation provided a framework for an instructional plan, the teachers were asked to take a leading role in terms of selecting the chapter to be taught; analyzing the course structure; and making detailed teaching plans. In the course of consultations, discussions, records, and analysis were organized into a journal. Based on the journal, the aspects of the planning process, including difficulties and problems faced by teachers, were analyzed in-depth. From the study, it could be observed that both high school and middle school teachers face various difficulties in preparing for the integrated science lesson. Among other things, the teachers emphasized the difficulties in the stages of selecting the topic, collecting the relevant information, and restructuring and organizing the lecture contents.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.115-127
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• 2012

This is a survey research which investigated perceptions of 85 elementary and secondary school science teachers on inter-disciplinary teaching in general. It is expected that the results of this survey will help to find out the necessity, the appropriate time, the proper approach and the obstacles of inter-disciplinary education. Results indicated that 49.5% of the teachers were aware of inter-disciplinary teaching and 61.2% of the teachers agreed with the necessity of implementing inter-disciplinary strategy. However, considering difficulties in objective assessment and burdens of college entrance exam preparation, they responded that inter-disciplinary teaching could be more appropriate and feasible to be implemented for lower graders at elementary schools than secondary school students. Of the answers to the integrated approaches, 57.6% of teachers chose the theme-based approach, and 16.5% chose the problem-based approach. When they chose the theme-based approach, they stated the reason of educational readiness. On the other hand, when they chose the problem-based approach, they stated the reason of educational obligation which assumes that a problem solving needs inter-disciplinary approach. The teachers also selected 'lack of knowledge on other subjects' and 'lack of time to prepare teaching materials' as major predicaments in implementing inter-disciplinary approach. This suggests that there needs a clear and specific teaching strategy along with a guidance to teaching materials for inter-disciplinary teaching.