• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.770-782
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• 2022

This study analyzes the depictions of scientists and teachers' thoughts on the 2015 revised elementary school science authorized 3rd-4th grade textbooks from the perspective of gender equality, and suggest improvements for the 2015 elementary school science authorized 5th-6th grade textbooks as well as a 2022 revised elementary school science curriculum. The data consist of representations of scientists found in seven elementary science textbooks provided to 3rd- and 4th-grade students in 2022 as well as in-depth interviews conducted with three elementary school teachers and responses from 32 teachers in Gyeonggi-do. Of the 23 scientists depicted in the textbooks, three (13.0%) are female and 10 (43.5%) worked in the inquiry domain, which was the largest group. When the teachers were asked about their perceptions of the gender ratio of scientists in the textbooks, their answers revealed that they had lower perceptions of female scientists compared to male scientists; moreover, they had no or very little teaching experience concerning female scientists. Furthermore, the teachers' thoughts on improving the gender ratio of scientists depicted in the textbooks differed considerably by the teachers' gender. Based on these findings, it was concluded that during the process of producing textbooks, writers and members of society need to agree on the gender ratio of scientists to be represented, and a social consensus is needed to identify and introduce the achievements of previously unknown female scientists towards gender equality.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.253-269
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• 2020

This study aims to develop items to diagnose pre-service physics teachers' understanding of the conceptual knowledge of modern physics, based on the achievement criteria presented in the 2015 revised national science curriculum, and to identify the validity and reliability of the newly developed items. Data were collected from 467 pre-service physics teachers in the Physical Education Department or Science Education Department (Physics Education Major) of 15 universities across the nation. In this study the content validity, substantive validity, the internal structure validity, generalization validity, and the external validity proposed by Messick (1995) were examined by various statistical tests. The results of the MNSQ analysis showed that there was no nonconformity in the 23 items. The internal structure validity was confirmed by the standardized residual variance analysis, which shows that the 22 items was unidimensional. The generalization validity was confirmed by differential item functioning (DIF) analysis about groups lectured or not modern physics/quantum mechanics. In addition, item analysis and test analysis based on classical test theory were performed. The mean item difficulty is 0.66, mean item discrimination is 0.47 and mean point biserial coefficient obtained was 0.41. These results for item parameters satisfied the criteria respectively. The reliability of the internal consistency of the KR-20 is 0.77 and the Ferguson's delta obtained was δ = 0.972. By Rasch model analysis, the item difficulty (item measures) was discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze the current status of the second year of application of Integrated Science and Science Laboratory Experiments, which are common courses of high school, and to explore suggestions for curriculum development in the future. To this end, the results of the survey of a total of 244 science-core and general high schools were compared with the survey result of 2018 school year. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine science teachers of the focus group to discuss the current state of curriculum implementation. According to the results, as in the first year, most of the Integrated Science courses were implemented in 6-8 units, and in most schools the number of teachers in charge of Integrated Science per class were 3-4. In the teacher's focus group interview, teachers insisted that Integrated Science requires integrated teaching approaches and is good for generating students' interest, but it is difficult to implement process-based assessment due to issues such as ensuring fairness of assessment. Most of Science Laboratory Experiments courses were implemented in two semesters, one unit per semester, and there was little link between Integrated Science and Science Laboratory Experiments because of the different teaching staff. The school life record entry method of Science Laboratory Experiments has been changed to criterion-based assessment starting in 2019, so students' satisfaction or flow of classes is much better than expected, and teachers can teach without burden. Based on the research results, ways to support the settlement of Integrated Science and Science Laboratory Experiments as common subjects, and ways to improve those subjects in the next curriculum revision were suggested.

• 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.5
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• pp.799-812
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• 2017

Energy as a powerful and unifying concept to understand natural world has been regarded as one of the key concepts of the science curricula in many countries. However, concerning learning and teaching of energy, various difficulties have been reported widely. This study aimed at analyzing and comparing science curricula of Korea, the U.S., England, and Singapore regarding energy to identify the potential issues for energy curriculum in the future. 2015 revised Korean science curriculum, Next Generation Science Standards of the U.S., Science programmes of study of England, and the Science syllabus of Singapore were compared based on six basic elements of the concept of energy: energy form, energy resource, energy transfer, energy transformation, energy conservation, and energy dissipation. Achievement criteria that include energy were extracted from all curricula and categorized into the six elements. The frequency and distribution of the six elements in the four curricula were compared in terms of school levels and disciplinary areas. Contents of six energy elements were also compared. Though all curricula emphasized energy as a key science concept, we found many differences in the degree of emphasis of basic ideas and specific contents and approaches. Korean curriculum is characterized by 1) high frequency concerning energy form among the elements of the concept of energy, 2) introducing energy forms of unclear meaning, which are not linked with other physical quantities, 3) emphasis on energy conversion in comparison of energy transfer, 4) focusing on mechanical energy conservation instead of more general energy conservation, and 5) absence of the concept of 'system' concerning energy. Issues for energy curriculum development were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.67 no.5
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• pp.353-361
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• 2023

This study analyzed the uses of visual representations of particles in the matter units of the middle school science textbooks developed under the 2015 Revised National Curriculum. The material units in four textbooks were divided into explanation, inquiry, and evaluation sections, and visual representations of particles presented in the science textbooks were analyzed by the use type, the activity type, and the level of activity. In the explanation section, the visual representations of particles were mainly presented in the auxiliary use type, and in the inquiry and evaluation section, they were mainly presented in a direct use type. In terms of the activity types of the direct use of visual representations of particles, the interpreting activity was mainly presented in the explanation and evaluation sections, while the generating activity and completing activity were presented in relatively higher proportion in the inquiry section than the other two sections. In terms of activity level, identifying was the most common activity level in the explanation section, and inferring was the most common activity level in the inquiry and evaluation sections. Based on these results, the implications for the presentation and uses of visual representations of particles in science textbooks are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.74-83
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• 2017

Objectives: This study aimed to develop dietary education textbooks for elementary school students by focusing on the three core values of environment, health and gratitude from the National Food Education Plan. Methods: The contents of textbooks and teacher's guidebooks were developed with brainstorming of the authors as well as consultation with experts and by considering not only the three core values of environment, health, and gratitude, but also the performance indicators of the 2nd National Food Education Plan and the key competencies and creative convergence approach of the 2015 revised national curriculum. Results: A total of 12 different dietary education textbooks named 'Good Dietary Life Guide' and the teachers' guidebooks from the first to the sixth grade of elementary school were developed. The textbooks were fundamentally developed connecting the three core values, the outcome indices of the 2nd National Food Education Plan and the key competences of the 2015 revised national curriculum. Various educational activities such as thinking, debate, writing, cooperative learning, experience, practice were included to promote students' participation. These books could be utilized in every field of dietary education targeting elementary students such as creative experiential activity, convergent classes (integrated subjects, Practical arts, Social studies, Science, Moral education and Korean), after school classes, rural experience, general agricultural education, after-school child care services and community child care centers. Conclusions: The continuous and repetitive use of the textbooks from the first to the sixth grade would contribute to the improvement of food habits and the personalities of elementary school students, and consequently make the students grow up as healthy citizens.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.267-282
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• 2022

This study aims to analyze the continuity and sequence between the intelligent life curriculum for grades 1-2 and the science curriculum for grades 3-4 with a focus on knowledge and inquiry process skills. The results demonstrate that contents related to science in the intelligent life curriculum consisted of only 10 out of 32 elements. Five elements were related to the science curriculum for grades 3-4 and limited to the 'life sciences' area. Particularly, the intelligent life curriculum did not address topics related to 'matter' and 'motion and energy'. Developmental connection was established in the 'life sciences' area and dramatic changes were noted for the topics related to 'earth and space' area. In terms of inquiry process skills, the levels of observation, measurement, inference, and communication naturally increased, whereas a developmental connection was noted between the intelligent life and science curricula. Classification can be viewed as a developmental link; however, viewing the classification as scientific from the epistemic perspectives was insufficient. In the case of expectation, a gap was observed in both curricula due to the absence of expectation activities in the intelligent life curricula. The study discussed the implications for securing the connection between the intelligent life and science curricula on the basis of these results.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.805-815
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• 2015

The Korean education curriculum is making efforts to improve education to foster competencies that the future society demands through the 2007 and 2009 revised curriculum. The revised curricula focus on enhanced articulation for the quality curriculum. In this study, the curriculum is analyzed for vertical and horizontal articulation. In addition, the study found a problem in Korea's curriculum through international comparison and sought improvement. Furthermore, the study compared internationally articulation of the concept of photosynthesis, of which the results are as follows. First, our science curriculum focuses on vertical articulation and has relatively neglected the problem of horizontal articulation. To compensate for this problem, curriculum design should introduce aspects of 'nature' and 'environment' and should consider the interests and concerns of students, as countries with high horizontal articulation do. Second, the actual education field has a problem with the a lack of continuity and sequence because of concentration of concept in a specific grade or simply repeating the concept across multiple grades. These results have led to alternative proposals that should arrange basis of concept configuration such as 'Big Idea' and should establish the adoption of 'systems' frequently appearing in the other curricula. Finally, there may be mentioned a lack of research on students' learning progression, which can be a common standard of horizontal and vertical articulation. Research on learning progression has been a trend overseas, but there exists no study to fit Korea's situation, so education fields need to conduct the appropriate research on learning progression as part of the commitment to high-quality curriculum.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.426-441
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was getting the information for successful application to the national curriculum and students' core competencies enhancement, through investigation about competencies discussed in 2015 revised national curriculum development process and analysis about perception of 150 elementary school teachers in study. The results were as follows : Communication skill is considered to be the most important. Thinking ability what has been important traditionally is the middle of the rankings. Elementary school teachers think that a competency is specific to a subject. From this point of view, Creative/Scientific Problem-Solving Ability is the most important in science. They think that the enhancing of the ability of inquiry performance is highlighted in current science class. On elementary school teachers' awareness, inquiry model is the most effective in enhancing of scientific thinking and the ability of inquiry performance. And STS instruction model is in the other. PBL learning model and experimental inquiry model is the most effective in enhancing a competency has the highest feasibility like scientific thinking or the ability of inquiry performance.