• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.3-11
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the learning experiences of high school mathematics and science subjects of new students in science and engineering, and to provide basic data and respond to strengthen basic knowledge of science and engineering students in the future. The subjects of the survey were 481 freshmen in science and engineering at S University. First, as a result of analyzing the learning experiences of freshmen, the geometric subjects were significantly lower, which is the result of students' sensitive responses to transitional changes in the curriculum and SAT system after revision. In science, general elective subjects were higher than career elective subjects, and there was a deviation between science subjects, which is a result of reflecting the diversity and hierarchy of science subjects. Next, as a result of analyzing the difference in learning experience after revision compared to before the revision of the curriculum, the learning experience of Mathematics II increased significantly and the geometry decreased significantly. Both Chemistry I and II increased significantly compared to before the revision, and Earth Science I decreased significantly. This can be seen as a result of strategic choices based on obtaining grades in the CSAT and disadvantages in college entrance exams. As a result of the study, students' sensitive reactions to changes in the high school education environment were confirmed, basic mathematics and science-related courses were opened to alleviate variations in the academic ability due to elective courses, and countermeasures tailored to each university's situation.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.87-98
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• 2023

In this study, we investigated the change in science core competency perception of high school students and the reason for change when science inquiry classes were conducted using eight 'skills' of the 2015 revised science curriculum. Fifteen first-year high school students in Jeollanam-do participated in the science inquiry class of this study, and the class was conducted for 20 hours (5 hours a day for four days). The inquiry activities used in the class consisted of four activity stages (research problems, research methods, research results, and conclusions) and each stage was constructed to include at least one 'skill (Problem Recognition, Model Development and Use, Inquiry Design and Performance, Data Collection, Analysis and Interpretation, Mathematical Thinking and Computer Application, Conclusion and Evaluation, Evidence-based Discussion and Demonstration, and Communication)'. As a result of the study, students' perception of the five science core competencies increased statistically significantly at the significance level of 0.01 through inquiry classes and more than 93% of students recognized that their science core competencies improved through the classes. However, since the class of this study was conducted for a small number of students, it is difficult to generalize the effect of the class, and so it is necessary to conduct a quantitative study for many students.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.401-414
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to explore the cognitive achievement characteristics by group of achievement levels in the PISA 2018 science domain compared to the results of the PISA 2015, and to compare and analyze the 'epistemic' knowledge in the revised curriculum 2009 and in the revised curriculum 2007. The average correctness rates in PISA 2015 and PISA 2018 were analyzed by sub category of the evaluation frame in the PISA scientific domain. In the competencies domain, especially, the average correct answer rates of 'evaluating and designing scientific inquiry' were the lowest in medium and lower groups, but the rates rose in all achievement groups compared to PISA 2015, which is encouraging. Although the answer rates were low for both 'living system' knowledge and 'epistemic' knowledge in the knowledge domain, the average answer rates of the upper and middle groups increased in 'epistemic' knowledge compared to PISA 2015. The changes in the curriculum experienced by students participating in PISA were analyzed in relation to the 'evaluating and designing scientific inquiry' competency and 'epistemic' knowledge, which increased in average correct answer rates. In terms of understanding science, the "What is science?" unit that explicitly presents epistemic knowledge, and nature of model in inquiry activities, were explicitly presented in the revised curriculum 2009. In terms of understanding the process of justifying scientific knowledge, the number of inquiry activities increased, scientific explanations based on experimental results strengthened, and the "Science and Human Civilization" unit was introduced to help students to understand STS while simultaneously conducting arguments. These findings confirm the educational performance of groups by achievement level in the PISA 2018 scientific domain and suggest that the direction of education relates to epistemic knowledge in Korea's Science curriculum.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.625-633
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• 2018

The goal of this study is to investigate the features of Korean eighth graders' achievement and its trend in Chemistry in TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015, and to explore its implications for Korean science curriculum and in teaching science. With three science educators and six science teachers, we analyzed the characteristics of Korean eighth graders' achievement in Chemistry by test-curriculum matching analysis. According to the trend analysis of science topics with released items for Chemistry in TIMSS 2015, Korean students' percentage for correct answers has dropped in topics such as regularities in chemical reactions, oxidation-reduction, etc. since these topics are covered after the ninth grade in the 2009 revised curriculum. For science cognitive domains, Korean students showed weaknesses in 'applying' domain in TIMSS 2015. Based on the results, we suggested implications for improvement in middle school chemistry curriculum and how to improve science teaching and learning for students' better science competencies and real-world application of science knowledge.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.94-118
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore the multi-faceted understanding and issues of science subject matter competencies from the trends of competency-based curriculum discourse, and to examine the relationship between general core competencies and science subject matter competencies. First, we examined the theoretical background of competency-based curriculum focusing on behaviorism, humanism, and its comprehensive synthesis. After that, we reviewed OECD's competency-related projects (DeSeCo; OECD Education 2030), US Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Korea's 2015 Revised National Curriculum from the viewpoint of competency-based curriculum. After that, we summarized and systematically analyzed a list of competencies, 105 general core competencies and 45 science subject matter competencies proposed by 15 important documents from home and abroad. The results of this study are as follows: First, the issues of the proper number, appropriate dimension, and how individual competencies should be unique and independent were pointed, in terms of defining and categorizing competencies. Second, it was suggested that the competency items are presented in various dimensions such as personal-micro dimension, community meso-dimension, and social-macro dimension. Meso-dimension was placed on both general core competencies and subject matter competencies. Third, in the relationship between general core competencies and subject matter competencies, the former emphasizes macro-dimension, and the latter emphasizes micro-dimension, revealing an existing gap, and where the two can meet each other is the meso-dimension. These discussions are thought to provide insight into the understanding of competencies in the national curriculum, including the 2015 Revised National Curriculum.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.61-75
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• 2020

In this study, external representation presented in two units, 'Property of Gas' and 'Changes of States of Matter,' in seventh grade of 2015 revised science curriculum, were analyzed to suggest educational implications. External representations presented in five science textbooks were analyzed according to the six criteria, which were 'type of representation,' 'interpretation of surface features,' 'relatedness to text,' 'existence and properties of a caption,' 'degree of correlation between representations comprising a multiple one,' and 'function of representation.' The characteristics of typical representations related to each achievement standard of two units were also analyzed. The results were as follows: The macro representations for 'type of representation', and explicit representations for 'interpretation of surface features' showed highest frequency. For 'relatedness to text' criteria, 'completely related and linked' and 'completely related and unlinked' representations showed the highest frequency. It means that most representations were properly related with the text. There were appropriate captions for most representations. The degree of correlation between representations comprising a multiple one was largely sufficiently linked with regards to the criteria 'degree of correlation between representations comprising a multiple one'. The complete representations for 'function of representation' showed the highest frequency in the aggregate, however incomplete representations showed more frequencies in the inquiry parts. The typical representations for each achievement standard differed in terms of the type, contained information, used symbols and so on. The educational implications with the use of representations presented in seventh grade textbook were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.441-454
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• 2021

In this study, we propose the composition of contents on the area of astronomy for high school Earth Science elective courses for the 2022 revised curriculum based on high school students' perceptions of changes in Earth Science core concepts over the curriculum revisions, and analysis of learning elements in the area of astronomy for domestic and foreign Earth Science curriculum. Four Earth Science education experts compared and analyzed the astronomy contents presented in Korea, the US, British Columbia (BC) in Canada, Japan, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) curriculum. According to the survey results, high school students who answered that they were most interested in the core concepts of astronomy expressed a lot of regret that the contents related to astronomical observation were eliminated from the 2015 revised curriculum. As a result of comparing domestic and foreign curriculum, Korea and IBDP curriculum dealt with the largest amount of learning elements in astronomy. In the case of BC in Canada and IBDP, astronomy was offered as an independent subject, and the curriculums of Japan and Korea dealt with astronomy in the Earth Science subject. According to the results, it is necessary to develop general elective courses in Earth Science with astronomy-related contents with high discriminating power in order to strengthen astronomy education. Since astronomy requires background knowledge from various disciplines and inter-disciplinary learning was required, it is necessary to organize the career-related elective courses in Earth Science so that astronomy can be dealt with according to the knowledge structure of general Astronomy. Based on the research results, ways to organize astronomy contents for Earth Science elective courses were suggested.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.418-431
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• 2022

In this study, we analyzed the form, presentation, and interactivity of external representations presented in the matter units of elementary school science digital textbooks developed under the 2015 Revised National Curriculum. The analytic framework of the previous study was modified and supplemented. The matter units in the 3rd-6th grade science digital textbooks were analyzed by dividing them into "body texts" and "inquiries" area. The results revealed that visual-verbal and visual-nonverbal representations were presented the most. Conversely, audial-nonverbal representations were presented at a high frequency only in the body texts, and audial-verbal representations were presented at a low frequency in both the body texts and the inquiries. Regarding the presentation, when verbal and visual-nonverbal representations appeared together, visual-verbal and visual-nonverbal representations were primarily presented together. In some cases where visual-verbal, audial-verbal, and visual-nonverbal representations were presented together, information on visual-verbal and audial-verbal representations was presented redundantly. Audial-nonverbal representations unrelated to contents were presented along with other external representations, and the frequency was particularly high in the body texts. Regarding the contiguity, no visual-verbal and visual-nonverbal representations were presented on different pages, and no audial-verbal representations were presented asynchronously with visual-nonverbal representations. Regarding the interactivity, explanatory feedback and low-level manipulations were mainly presented. Based on the results, implications to improve digital textbooks are discussed from the perspective of multiple representation-based learning.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.791-797
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• 2019

In this study, we investigated the influences of Integrated Science and Science Inquiry Experiment developed under 2015 Revised National Science Curriculum on students' interest in science, scientific attitude, views on STS, and the nature of science (NOS). 223 tenth graders in Seoul metropolitan area participated in this study. We conducted the survey prior to and after the Integrated Science and Science Inquiry Experiment course using same instruments and compared the results of the pre-test and post-test. The analyses of the results reveal that there were significant improvements in the scores of the pre- and post-test on the interest in science and scientific attitude. In the case of views on STS, there were significant improvements in items related to science research ethics, however there were no significant differences in the remaining items. Also, there were no significant differences in the scores of the pre- and post-test on views on NOS. On the bases of the results, we discuss educational implications and suggest further studies.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.64-78
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to investigate how Integrated Science, a new subject introduced under the 2015 revised curriculum, was implemented in 2018 when it was first enacted at the school level. Through a survey of 258 high school science teachers, we explored how Integrated Science was organized and implemented at the school level, how teaching & learning and assessment were conducted in Integrated Science courses, how teachers' learning communities were operated, what kinds of support are required for the settlement of Integrated Science, etc. Major results are as follows: A similar ratio is found between schools with eight units and schools with six units of integrated science, and in about 2/3 of surveyed schools, multiple teachers are in charge of Integrated Science lessons per classroom. In addition, lecture-type teaching methods are still dominant in the majority of the classes, and science teachers have difficulties with lack of understanding of non-major areas or burden of designing integrated teaching depending on their teaching experiences, and so on. Discussed and suggested in the conclusion are ways to raise awareness of curriculum integration, ways to support for activation of teacher learning communities, ways to support the settlement of Integrated Science, and reexamining the system of science teacher certification.