• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.169-178
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• 2008

This study investigated the relationship between science high school teachers' beliefs of gifted education and classroom practices. The data of this case study were collected from three science teachers who worked in a science high school through qualitative research methods such as interviews and classroom observations. The other various data related to science high school management and the teachers' teaching were collected and analyzed using the constant comparative method. The results of the study are as follows: the teacher of long period in-service experience in science high school had teacher-centered belief, and his classroom practices were matched with his beliefs. The teacher of short period in-service experience in science high school had student-centered belief, and her classroom practices were matched with her beliefs, also. The teacher of medium period in-service experience in science high school had student-centered belief, but her teacher-centered classroom practices were mismatched with her beliefs. From the results, it could conclude that school culture affects on teachers' classroom practices stronger than beliefs. The longer career period of science high school changed easier teachers' beliefs into knowledge education for university entrance examination removed from gifted education. To solve these problems, we suggest the needs of teacher education programs for science high school teachers.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.223-234
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• 2014

Research shows that formative assessment has a more powerful effect on student learning than summative assessment. This case study of an 8th grade algebra classroom focuses on how the implementation of Formative Assessment Lessons (FALs) and the participation in teacher learning communities related to FALs changed in the teacher's instructional practices, over the course of a year, to promote students' mathematical reasoning and justification. Two classroom observations are analyzed to identify how the teacher elicited and built on students' mathematical reasoning, and how the teacher prompted students to respond to and develop one another's mathematical ideas. Findings show that the teacher solicited students' reasoning more often as the academic year progressed, and students also began developing mathematical reasoning in meaningful ways, such as articulating their mathematical thinking, responding to other students' reasoning, and building on those ideas leading by the teacher. However, findings also show that teacher change in teaching practices is complicated and intertwined with various dimensions of teacher development. This study contributes to the understanding of changes in teaching practices, which has significant implications for teacher professional development and frameworks for investigating teacher learning.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2019

In this paper, we articulate what is a lesson for all learners with different cognitive levels and what kind of teaching practices are required to implement this type of lesson. For all learners' own sense-making, open-ended tasks are the primary sources to bring their various mathematical ideas. These tasks can be meaningfully implemented by appropriate teaching practices: providing enough time (for thinking deeply and for preparing a reply), acting intentionally (alternative wrapping up activities and appointment of a struggling student), and cultivating collaborative classroom norms (respecting peer's thinking and learning from peers). This exploratory study has the potential to help practitioners and researchers understand the complexity of the work of teaching and clarify how to deal with such complexity.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.35-46
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• 2019

This study examines how open-ended tasks can be implemented with the support of redefined learning goals and teaching practices from a student-centered perspective. In order to apply open-ended tasks, learning goals should be adopted by individual student's cognitive levels in the classroom context rather than by designated goals from curriculum. Equitable opportunities to share children's mathematical ideas are also attainable through flexible management of lesson-time. Eventually, students can foster their meta-cognition in the process of abstraction of what they've learned through discussions facilitated by teachers. A pedagogical implication for professional development is that teachers need to improve additional teaching practices such as how to tailor tasks relevant to their classroom context and how to set norms for students to appreciate peer's mathematical ideas in the discussions.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1035-1046
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• 2009

The study was designed to explore mothers' and teachers' beliefs on children's literacy development by comparing their beliefs with the whole language approach. Also, their literacy practices at home and in the classroom were compared and how their literacy beliefs and practices were related was investigated. 176 mothers and 72 daycare teachers participated in this study in Kyunggi-do. Mean, standard deviation, frequency, t-test, and multiple regression were employed to analyze the data. The results showed that the mothers' age, mothers' education, fathers' education and family income mostly predict the mothers' literacy beliefs. Also the teachers' age, education, and their learning experiences with the whole language approach are the main predicting variables in the teachers' beliefs. In practices, the mothers' age, number of children, and fathers' education are independent variables predicting the mothers' practices. The teachers' age, education, interest about the whole language approach, learning experience, and number of children in the classroom are independent variables into the teachers' practices. Overall, teachers showed a higher level of beliefs on the whole language approach and did more literacy practices than the mothers.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-36
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• 1999

The case of four classrooms analyzed in this study point to many commonalities in the challenges of reforming mathematics teaching in Korea and the U. S. In both national contexts we have seen the need fur a clear distinction between implementing new student-centered social practices in the classroom, and providing significant new loaming opportunities for students. In particular, there is an important need to distinguish between attending to the social practices of the classroom and attending to students conceptual development within those social practices. In both countries, teachers in the less successful student-centered classes tended to abdicate responsibility fur sense making to the students. They were more inclined to attend to the literal statements of their students without analyzing their conceptual understanding (Episodes KA5 and UP 2). This is easy to do when the rhetoric of reform emphasizes student-centered social practices without sufficient attention to psychological correlates of those social practices. The more successful teachers tended to monitor the understanding of the students and to take proactive measures to ensure the development of that understanding (Episodes KO5 and UN3). This suggests the usefulness of constructivism as a model (or successful student-centered instruction. As Simon(1995) observed, constructivist teachers envision a hypothetical learning trajectory that constitutes their plan and expectation for students learning from the particular if the trajectory is being followed. If not, the teacher adjusts or supplements the task to obtain a more satisfactory result, or reconsider her or his assumptions concerning the hypothetical learning trajectory. In this way, the teacher acts proactively to try to ensure that students are progressing in their understanding in particular ways. Thus the more successful student-centered teacher of this study can be seen as constructivist in their orientation to student conceptual development, in comparison to the less successful student-centered teachers. It is encumbant on the authors of reform in Korea and the U. S. to make sure that reform is not trivialized, or evaluated only on the surface of classroom practices. The commonalities of the two reform endeavores suggest that Korea and the U. S. have much to share with each other in the challenges of reforming mathematics teaching for the new millennium.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.144-154
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• 2003

This study investigated the common features of the best practices in the science classroom, which is the core of school education. The underlying assumption of this research is that the fulfillment of school education is possible with substantial instruction of school curricular areas. The substantial learning of any curricular area depends on each classroom lesson. Data from classroom observations in-depth interviews with teachers and a group of students, a collection of instructional materials were used to extract common characteristics of best practices implemented by 10 exemplary secondary-school science teachers. Common features of best science practices were analyzed in terms of (1)reorganization of science content, (2)pedagogical skills, (3)evaluation, and (4)teachers' efforts for professional development. Results indicated that exemplary science teachers adapted curriculum and textbook content according to students' level and learning context, were able to use a variety of instructional methods and strategies, provided cooperative and intellectually challenging learning environment, and improved their instruction based on assessment results. Also, these exemplary teachers not only improved their own classroom practices, but also participated actively in various professional community of science teachers to share their practical knowledge with their colleagues. They took an active role in teachers' in-service education.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.19
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• pp.411-444
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• 2010

This paper explored the academic socialization of a group of Mongolian college students, learning Korean as their L3 (Third Language), by focusing on their uses of an electronic communication channel. From a perspective of the continua of bi-literacy, this case study investigated how Mongolian students who had limited exposure to a Korean learning community overcame academic challenges through the use of a written communication channel as a tool in the socialization process. Data were collected mainly through three methods: written products, interviews, and questionnaires. The results from this study were as follows. Interactional opportunities for these minority students were seriously constrained during the classroom practices in a Korean-speaking classroom. They also described the lack of communicative competence in Korean and the limited roles played by L2 (English) communication as key barriers to classroom practices. However, students' ways of engaging in electronic interactions differed widely in that they were able to broaden interactional circles by communicating their expertise and difficulties with their Korean peers through the electronic channel. More importantly, the communication pattern of "L2-L2/L3-L3" (on a L2-L3 continuum) emerging from data demonstrated how these students used a written channel as a socialization tool to mediate their learning process in a new community of learning. This study argues that a written communication channel should be taken as an essential part of teaching practices especially for foreign students who cannot speak Korean fluently in multi-cultural classes.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.24
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• pp.170-183
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• 2011

This study explored how a Chinese college student who previously had not reached a threshold level of Korean proficiency used L1 (Chinese) and L2 (English) as a tool to socialize into Korean (L3) culture of learning over the course of study. From a perspective of language socialization, this study examined the cross-linguistic influence of L1 and L2 on the L3 acquisition process by tracing an approach to language learning and practices taken by the Chinese student as a case study. Data were collected through three methods; interview protocols, various types of written texts, and observations. The results showed that the student used English as a means to negotiate difficulties and expertise by empowering her L2 exposure during the classroom practices. Her ways of using L2 in oral practices could be characterized as the 'Inverse U-shape' pattern, under which she increased L2 exposure at the early stage of the study and shifted the intermediate language to L3 at the later stage of the study. When it comes to the language use in written practices, the sequence of "L2-L1-L3" use gradually changed to the "L2-L3" sequence over time, signifying the importance of interaction between L2 and L3. However, the use of her native language (L1) in a Korean-speaking classroom was limited to a certain aspect of literacy practices (i.e., vocabulary learning or translation). This study argues for L2 communication channel in cross-cultural classrooms as a key factor to determine sustainable learning growth.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.82-92
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• 2003

This qualitative research describes unique features of seven exemplary science teachers' professional development activities. Description of excellence in effective teachers' professional development efforts will provide some insights into required inservice initiatives and support systems for teachers' professional learning. Exemplary science teachers' professional development activities can be classified into four types: (1) practicing classroom supervision, (2) participating in voluntary communities of teachers, (3) playing instructional leader roles in teacher training programs, and (4) continuing one's studies at a graduate school. One of the common features of these exemplary teachers was that they can both articulate what makes teachers professionals and practice in accordance with their perspectives. These exemplary teachers not only improved their own classroom practices, but also participated actively in various professional communities to share their practical knowledge with their colleagues. The teachers have formed special-interest groups to investigate better ways of science teaching. They also took an active role in teachers' in-service education. Teachers' quality practices lie at the heart of classroom change. However, it's important to remember that there must be a support system that sustains and encourages teachers' initiatives. The implications for the support system to encourage teachers' professional development efforts are discussed.