• The Mathematical Education
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.589-607
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• 2019

The study aimed to investigate what high-school students recognize mathematics textbooks and how they use textbooks in their learning mathematics in and out-of mathematics classrooms. For this purpose, we developed a set of interview questions in order to unpack what high-school students thought about mathematics textbooks and how they intended to use the textbooks for their learning mathematics. Eleven high-school students participated in the interview; the interview lasted for about an hour for each student. The data from the interviews were analyzed. The findings from the data analysis suggested as follows: a) the students seemed to consider mathematics textbooks as crucial medium for a mathematics classroom material and thus, they were likely to obliged to use the textbooks for preparing for not only tests and examination conducted regularly in schools but college entrance examination conducted nationwide; b) however, the students appeared to use the textbooks in limited ways in which they looked into the textbooks to prepare for mid-term or final exam only, not for their understanding mathematical contents as a main resource; and c) the students seemed to realize that they rarely have had an opportunity to develop mathematical thinking capabilities and understand mathematical ideas conceptually through the mathematics textbooks.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.466-477
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• 2002

It was proposed that proper problem solving practice should improve students' questioning in physics. In the previous researches, improvement in students' questioning was observed after practice of making questions given the examples of desirable questions. In this study, the problem solving strategies used by experts were introduced to students in the form of step-by-step guide to follow in problem solving practice. The directions in the guide were concrete and operational for students to understand the expected behaviors explicitly. It was assumed that students could pinpoint the difficulty specifically through this guide, which would result in positive effects on students' recognition and expression of their own questions. The subjects in this study were college freshmen enrolled in the introductory physics for science or engineering major. The physics problems from the textbook were solved and practiced in the traditional way for controlled group. Worksheets designed to follow experts' problem solving strategies were used for the experimental group. Two groups were taught in the same way during lecture part of the class. Students were asked to describe the difficulties they had during homeworks or tests. Questions in this study means these descriptions written by students although they were not necessarily in the form of interrogative sentences. The questions were analyzed both in quantity and quality. Quantitatively, more students spontaneously turned in their questions in the experimental group than in the controlled group. Regarding the quality, there were more students in the experimental group than in the controlled group who described their difficulties in detail or recognized the need for the procedural knowledge.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.901-919
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• 2010

We have examined the perception and the knowledge of science-gifted students and general students in middle school level about high technology related to the science. The subjects of the investigation were 113 gifted students belonging to the universities' science-gifted education center in Busan or Ulsan, and 159 general students belonging to 2 middle schools in Busan. The survey was conducted with questionnaires on the perceptions concerning the high technology related to the science and the knowledge of a cellular phone without an antenna, and an LED(Light Emission Diode). The results of this survey concluded that the gifted students were more interested and aware of the high technology than the general students, these results are statistically significant. It has been found that there are significant differences between the gifted students and the general students in terms of the areas they want to learn, the source of information and the preferred learning method in advanced science and technology. Also, the gifted students were recognized to be better than general students in understanding an electromagnetic wave related to a cellular phone without an antenna, and a semiconductor connection with an LED.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.254-264
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• 2003

Researches on laboratory work show that students often achieve little meaningful learning through laboratory work. One reason for this failure is that students often do not know the different types of laboratory work and the 'purposes' of them. Therefore, this study investigated middle school student' ideas about the purposes of laboratory work. To seventh grade students(n=147) of middle school in Seoul, Korea, we asked (Question 1) "Why do scientists do laboratory work?" and (Question 2) "Why do you do laboratory work in science classes?" It was required a short essay including the reasons and examples of them. From the results, it was found that 56.8% of the students had ideas that scientists do laboratory work for discovering new facts or inventing something, and 82.9% of the students responded that they do laboratory work for understanding and memorizing the contents of science textbook. In addition, the differences according to gender and to school achievement level, and the relationship between the ideas about scientists' laboratory work and about school science laboratory work were examined. The results showed that boys responded 'social usefulness' more frequently than girl, while girls mentioned 'personal pleasure' more frequently than boys in relation to the purposes of scientists' laboratory work(p<.05). According to the achievement level, it was founded that 'middle' level students replied 'to remember' more frequently than high and low levels in relation to school science laboratory work. Finally, students who had ideas that scientists do laboratory work for verifying a theory had the similar ideas about school science laboratory work. In conclusion, students are lack of diverse and proper views about laboratory work. It is recommended that teacher need to make clear the purpose of laboratory work and help students to understand of it.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.111-134
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to develop 'Silver Care Expert' STEAM Program for the elementary students and investigate the effects of the program on creative thinking activity, scientific attitude and leadership. Participants were 110 elementary school students. Before and after the program, the participants were asked to take the test about future time perspective, career awareness and scientific attitude. The major results of this study were as follows. First, the total score of experimental group's future time perspective and all 2 sub-domains was significantly improved than those of comparative group(p<.05). Second, total score of experimental groups' career awareness and all 4 sub-domains were significantly increased than those of comparative group after the STEAM program(p<.05). Third, the total score of experimental groups' scientific attitude and all 7 sub-domains were significantly improved than those of comparative group(p<.05). Fourth, according to students' post-program opinions, experimental group students showed very positive perception like that science class was very interesting and they became interested in science and technology. In conclusion, 'Silver Care Expert' STEAM Program was very effective to improve elementary students' future time perspective, career awareness, scientific attitudes.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.371-387
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• 2016

Learning at the elbow of scientist is a well-known educational approach to improve students' understanding of science and scientific practice. This study, in the perspective of legitimate peripheral participation in a community of practice, explores how students' scientific practice and perception could be shifted through R&E program with the development of participation. Data from participant observation for 18 months and in-depth interviews were analyzed based on constant comparative method to extract common characteristics of students' participation and major shifts in their scientific practices and perceptions. Students' development of participation was categorized into three stages: legitimate, peripheral, and full participation. In the stage of peripheral participation, students perceived themselves as mere students and showed passive engagement. They just followed the directions of researchers and didn't know what they should be doing. But through continuous participation, students showed enhanced engagement like voluntary article reading, role assignments, and establishing norms in a community of practice with the reference of scientists'. In this stage of transitional participation, students also showed a deepened perception on everyday life of scientist and the community of scientist. And finally in the stage of full participation, students showed responsibility and ownership on research and continuous efforts to refine their research. They recognized themselves as beginning scientists. With these findings, this paper highlighted the dynamic processes of students' development of scientific practices and identity through R&E participation. It also suggests implications for research programs for education, especially for students who have already articulated a science-related career but still have only foggy notions about science.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

In this study, a science writing heuristic class with emphasis on social interaction and tool improvement for 10 middle school students at the National University Science-Gifted Education Center in Jeollanamdo was conducted to investigate the perception of STS (science technology society) relationship and students' perception of the effects of class. After science writing heuristic class emphasizing social interaction and tool improvement, the students became aware of the STS relationships as follows: Science-gifted students have come to perceive that experimental tools and technology contribute to the development of scientific theory, that it is difficult to solve all social problems with only science and technology, and that science is a social interaction activity. In addition, science-gifted students responded that they became aware of the relevance of STS through intensive inquiry conducted on the same subject for several hours, communications with colleagues in another group through peer reviews, communication to solve problems with colleagues in the same group, activities to improve tools in the process of inquiry, inquiry using familiar materials and phenomena. In order for students to effectively recognize the relationship of STS in science-gifted class for middle school students, it is necessary to provide experience to solve problems using various experimental tools, experience to have trial and error in the process of solving inquiry problem under the same subject, experience to improve tools in the process of solving inquiry problem, experience to communicate with colleagues who conduct inquiry activities under the same subject, experience to share the results with other groups, and inquiry activities using familiar materials and phenomena.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.147-154
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to analyze epistemological beliefs in science as perceived by elementary school students and to examine the purpose of science, the nature of scientific knowledge, the source of scientific knowledge, and the role of experimentation. The subjects of this study were 99 elementary school students. As a tool for examining epistemological beliefs in science, we used adapted questionnaires comprising elements constituting epistemological beliefs, as proposed by Elder (1999). The results of the analysis are as follows: First, in terms of the purpose of science, sixth graders had the most modern beliefs compared to other grades. Second, a statistical significance was found between fourth graders and students in other grades based on the analysis of the nature of scientific knowledge. Third, there was no significant difference in each grade's beliefs concerning the source of scientific knowledge or the role of the experiment.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.585-604
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• 2013

This study is based on the problem that most middle school students cannot recognize the generality of geometrical theorems even after having proved them. By considering this problem from the point of view of empirical verification, the particularity of geometrical representations, and the role of geometrical variables, we suggest that some experiences in dynamic geometry environment (DGE) can help students to recognize the generality of geometrical theorems. That is, this study aims to observe students' cognitive changes related to their recognition of the generality and to provide some educational implications by making students experience some geometrical explorations in DGE. To do so, we selected three middle school students who couldn't recognize the generality of geometrical theorems although they completed their own proofs for the theorems. We provided them exploratory activities in DGE, and observed and analyzed their cognitive changes. Based on this analysis, we discussed the effects of DGE on studensts' recognition of the generality of geometrical theorems.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.161-172
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to compare students' perception shaped by two different university classrooms: Traditional Classroom and ALC(Active learning classroom). We conducted survey of 71 university students who were taught by an identical instructor using same pedagogy. The survey questionnaires asked respondents about their perceptions on teaching and learning and physical environments relations, teaching proficiency, social context, student satisfaction and immersion. The data was analyzed using Student's T-test. The results showed that ALC group, compared to the traditional classroom group, demonstrated statistically higher awareness on teaching and learning and physical environments relations, teaching proficiency, and instructor-student unofficial relations. Based on these findings, implications and limitations of this study were discussed.