• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.38 no.6
• /
• pp.865-874
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to explore the process of inquiry problem finding in high school students' small group free-inquiry. For this purpose, 91 second grade high school students took part in small group free-inquiry. We conducted interviews with students (48 students in 15 groups) who were relatively successful in the inquiry performed for one semester (about 4 months). Based on the results of the interviews, we analyzed the characteristics of the inquiry problem finding through the steps and strategies in the inquiry problem finding process. The main results are as follows: First, in the inquiry problem finding process, steps such as selecting keyword, presenting an inconvenience, presenting a question, and finding an inquiry problem were found, and in particular, the process of selecting the keyword that correspond to the subject of inquiry, such as the material and situation of inquiry, is very important step in inquiry problem finding. Second, the strategies that students used in the process of finding inquiry problem included searching information, review of prior research, sharing of knowledge and experience, linking and extension of knowledge and experience, environmental awareness, expert consultation, discussion of suitability, elaboration, etc. Third, finding an inquiry problem was relatively easy in the inquiry for finding out problems (i.e. inconvenience) in everyday life and investigating ways to solve them. Fourth, the review of prior researches through the internet was useful in the process of selecting keyword and elaboration. Fifth, the factors that students consider when selecting one of several candidate inquiry problems are feasibility, real-life applicability, and economic condition. Sixth, the current affairs had a positive impact on the inquiry problem finding. Based on the above results, we discussed some ways to increase students' inquiry problem finding ability.

• Journal of Science Education
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.168-181
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to monitor evaluation in science education at primary and secondary school in Korea. In order to do this, the survey was administered. The subject was 518 teachers; 292 elementary school teachers, 110 middle school science teachers and 116 general high school science teachers. It was found that the ratio of paper examination increased while that of performance evaluation decreased according to the grade of school. In the science paper examination, the ratio of selection type item was higher than that of supply type item, and the ratio of item belonging to knowledge area was higher than that of item belonging to the inquiry area regardless of the grade of school, teaching career, and teacher's gender. The teachers recognized the necessity of supply type item, but they suffered from the reliability of the result of that item. And it was hard for them to do performance evaluation because it took much time and effort. This study suggested that the high-quality in-service teacher training be provided and laboratory assistants who help the science experiment and grading test papers be employed in order to fulfil the performance evaluation and increase the ratio of supply type item and items belonging to the inquiry area.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.441-447
• /
• 1999

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship among science process skills. mental capacity and cognitive styles of elementary students. For the study 264 fifth-grade students were sampled. The Test of Science Process Skills(TSPS) was used as a measure of science process skills. Figural Intersection Test(FIT) was used as a measure of mental capacity. Group Embedded Figure Test(GEFT) was also used as a measure of cognitive styles. The results of this study showed that the science processskills increases progressively as the mental capacity increases. The field independent students showed significantly higher(p<.05) science process skills than the field dependent ones. There was no significant interaction between mental capacity and cognitive styles on science process skills. The findings indicated that there may be evidence to argue that mental capacity and cognitive styles play a important role in development of science process skills. The present study provided a possibility of Neo-Piagetian approach in science education research, and also showed an importance of cognitive development in the performance of science inquiry task.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.17-29
• /
• 2013

High school 'science' in the 2009 revised curriculum in Korea was developed for the purpose of enhancing students' scientific literacy needed for citizenship in a democratic society. For this analysis, 'science' includes a variety of scientific topics from the origin of the universe to the birth of life, and the relationship between technology and modern society. It aims to make students understand the process of scientific inquiry and foster interest and curiosity about science. On the other hand, interest has been studied as a psychological construct to affect academic achievement and career selection of students. In this study, the authors investigated students' interest in high school 'science' in view of the 2009 revised curriculum. To carry this out, a survey tool was developed according to previous research, with 997 high school students' responses analyzed with descriptive statistics and factor analysis. The result showed that the students' interest in high school 'science' in view of the 2009 revised curriculum can be interpreted into three dimensions such as motivation, activity, and topic, which has several sub-dimensions. Students' interest in motivation dimension was higher than in activity or topic dimension, while the average value was slightly higher than the middle value. They showed different distribution of interest by gender and job orientation, especially in activity and topic dimensions. From this study, the authors can infer the multi-dimensional property of students' interest in high school 'Science' and the different distribution of interest by dimensions.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.303-319
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study is to investigate theoretically the meaning and features of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) based on the views of Peirce and Dewey, and to explore the implications of CoI in science education. The meaning and features of CoI are: (a) inquiry in CoI is initiated with faithful doubt; (b) inquiry in CoI finishes with faithful belief; (c) inquiry in CoI attempts to find out the best explanation and solution regarding the practical effects of objects; (d) as an ideal community, CoI is required to be one that inquires continuously without definite limits; (e) as an actual community, CoI requires its members' open communication to find the best explanation and solution. Based on these features of CoI, the Community of Inquiry in Science Classroom (CoI-SC), "the classroom community for the purpose of transforming the state of faithful doubt into the state of faithful belief, in relation to natural phenomena or objects, and where the members share objectives as participants continuously attempt to find out the best explanation and solution by open communication, considering fallibility and the practical effects of objects", was suggested. The condition for implementation of the CoI-SC, "'interest', 'openness', 'rigor', 'fallibilism', 'participation', 'inquiry without definite limits'", were also suggested. Finally, several suggestions for the science curriculum were given.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.91-105
• /
• 2001

This study was to analyze science process skills related to 'state of matter' and 'state change of matter' in the kindergarten, elementary and middle school science textbooks. On the base of articulation, we analyzed science textbooks of the 5th kindergarten curriculum, the 6th elementary school science curriculum and the 6th middle school science curriculum. The findings indicated that the scientific inquiry abilities of predicting, classifying, hypothesizing and designing investigations are not enough in all grade science textbooks. Also, while young children have measuring ability theoretically, it was represented only in high grade textbooks. We concluded that these were inappropriate from the viewpoint of articulation which is related to scientific inquiry ability.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2001

The extended science investigations, comprehensive investigations contrasted with exercises of process skill components and cookbook style experiments, should be pursued for giving opportunity of more authentic science activity. The characteristics of the extended investigation tasks were emerged from critical argument on school practical work. And one of important educational objectives in students' investigations is to achieve motivation for investigation. The purpose of this study is to explore how the characteristics of the extended investigation tasks, that is practical context, openness and continuity, affect middle school students' motivation for investigation. On the basis of questionnaire results and students' school science achievement, ten students were interviewed to see the change of motivation for investigation and its causes while they perform two textbook investigations and four extended investigation tasks. Among the interviewees, the students who showed positive motivation for the extended investigations were critical about textbook experiments as they are just confirmations of theories and perceived practical context and openness as the main causes of their positive motivation. The students who showed negative motivation for extended investigations preferred textbook experiments as there was enough guidance from teacher and textbook-centered learning. They recognized the openness of the tasks as a main reason of their negative motivation for investigation. Some students showed negative responses about continuity of the extended investigation tasks but continuity was not recognized as a main cause for their motivation for investigation.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.300-312
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study is to develop an astronomical observing education program that enables high school students to inquire the distance of astronomical bodies based on the research methods (observing open clusters and exploring collected big data) using small telescopes and DSLR cameras. After analyzing the 2015 revised science curriculum, we developed science club activity materials and teacher-student learning contents suitable for high school earth science education. A panel of six teachers and researchers of earth science education and astronomy, participated in developing the educational materials. The validity of the program was verified through establishing the agreement among the panels after in-depth discussions and clarifications. The program, developed with 10 lessons in total, showed high satisfactory content validity (CVI, .89) and conformity of school class (Likert's 5 point scales, 4.17). The feedback of the panels and the Delphi analysis continued to improve the quality of the program. The pilot testing result with high school students (N=9) showed that the students' satisfaction rate was high as 4.48. Using the astronomical observational education program of this study is expected to contribute in improving the convergence educational activity, interest, curiosity, and inquiry ability of students in the universe and the astronomical bodies.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.499-508
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the features of the standards of classification, prediction and reasoning in foreign national science standards and the characteristics of these inquiry processes in the Korean science textbooks. The inquiry process of classification was found less frequently rather than observation and measurement. 'The classification of one character' was much more contained than the higher level of classification, 'the classification of composit character'. For the inquiry process of prediction, most of prediction was 'prediction from experiment result'. In the level of prediction, 'basic prediction' was found more frequently than 'operation prediction'. The inquiry process of reasoning was found more frequently than classification and prediction and was increased in the higher grade textbooks. In the level of reasoning, the higher grade textbooks included 'secondary reasoning' rather than 'simple reasoning'.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.67 no.2
• /
• pp.106-115
• /
• 2023

The purpose of this study was to investigate the errors in science inquiry research reports written by students who won the encouragement award at the National Science Fair, and analyze the frequency of error types by school levels. The framework for analysis was constructed based on the table of contents of the students' science inquiry research reports, and the reports were analyzed for errors in six stages: Research question/hypothesis, prior research, experimental procedure, results, conclusions, and references. The study identified several types of errors at each stage, such as unreasonable research questions and wrong hypotheses in the research question/hypothesis stage, and limited considerations under certain conditions and selection of inappropriate experimental instruments in the experimental procedure stage. The study found that the frequency ratio of experimental procedure error was the highest across all school levels, and the order of errors varied by school level. Frequency ratio of error types of school level was: in the elementary school students' reports, errors were analyzed in the order of experimental procedure (36.88%), prior research (17.02%), conclusions (16.31%), research question/hypothesis (13.48%); In the middle school students' reports, experimental procedure (42.86%), conclusions (20.00%), prior research (14.28%), results (11.43%), research question/hypothesis (10.01%); In the high school students' reports, experimental procedure (45.16%), research question/ hypothesis (16.13%), conclusions (16.13%), and prior research (11.83%). The findings could be used to guide teachers in helping students conduct scientific inquiry research or write reports.