• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.64-73
• /
• 1984

This study aimed at identifying the characteristics of current science curriculum in several countries in terms of its format, aims and objectives, contents and guidelines and discussed about therm. The curricula were collected from 9 countries- The United States of America(5 states), Canada(4 Provinces), England, West Germany, France, Australia, Newzealand, Japan and the republic of China. Each country had her own characteristics of science curriculum, but there also common characteristics among several countries. First, the format of science curricula in eastern countries were very different from those of western countries. The western countries had the curriculum format which included characteristics and needs of science education, philosophy and background, aims and objectives, contents, characteristics of learners, teaching and learning strategy, teaching materials, guide of experiments, evaluation methods, and other concrete informations while eastern countries had the curriculum format which included only objectives, contents and guidelines. I think that the format of science curriculum in western countries is more recommendable than that of eastern countries. Second, the aims and objectives of science curricula in eastern countries focused on scientific knowledges and concepts, while those of countries emphasized scientific methods and attitudes. Third, the contents of science curricula were very similar regardless of eastern countries or western countries. In other words, all the countries in this study emphasized life science and earth science at lower grade level and physical science at upper grade level. Especially the observation and concrete learning activities were suggested at lower grade level and logical reasoning was emphasized at upper grade level. I think that the integrated (topic-centered) science curriculum is more recommendable than our current non-integrated science curriculum in lower grade levels. Finally, the guidelines of science curriculum in eastern countries did not suggest specific information about teaching contents, experimental methods, teaching-learning activities, evaluation methods, teaching and learning meterals, while those of western countries provided more specific information which teachers could utilize very effectively.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.132-143
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of inquiry activities proposed in high school physics textbooks that were developed based on the 2009 science curriculum in Korea. The inquiry activities were analyzed using the notion of scientific practices introduced in the Science Education Framework (NRC, 2012). The results showed that the inquiry activities in the textbooks emphasized two of eight types of scientific practices including "Analyzing and interpreting data" and "Constructing explanations". In contrast, the activities required students to "ask questions" only once in a total of 291 science inquiry activities. The other types of scientific practices appeared less than 10%. Also found was that the types of scientific practices were not relevant to the way inquiry activities were used for textbook content. Implications for the curriculum and science teacher education were discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.164-176
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study was to find some suggestions for reorganization of contents about particle concept of matter in Korean science curriculum. For the purpose of this study, authors analyzed features of Korean science curriculum and compared science curricula of Korea, USA, UK, Japan and Finland. From the result of this study, authors find some features and important suggestions about reorganization of contents about particle in science curriculum. First, the sequence of contents about particle concepts in 2009 Revised National Curriculum was similar to that in the 6th National Science Curriculum. And the feature of 2009 Revised National Curriculum showed the articulation of contents about particle concept. If contents about particle concept is increased in elementary science curriculum, the total articulation would be increased. Second, the presenting sequence of atomic structure-first and laws about atom-later should be changed to laws about atomic-first and atomic structure-later. This presenting sequence is grounded by science curricula of other countries, history of science and developmental psychology. And science curriculum of Korea was required specific extended concept statement like science curricula of USA or UK. Also, Korean science curriculum could benchmark Finnish science curriculum if we want to develop some integrated learning activities such as those in STS or STEAM program.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.67-71
• /
• 2003

The present study examined the inquiry type, process, and context of activities presented in the matter field of the 7th grade science textbook based on the 7th curriculum. It was to investigate for educational suggestions in instruction and development of science textbook. Three units of ‘three states of matter', ‘motion of molecule', ‘the state change and energy' were analyzed. The result indicated that the types, processes and skills, and context of inquiry were not balanced, and learners should be educated with complementary inquiry activities. It is proposed that the inquiry activities presented in science textbooks be examined, and the framework to evaluate inquiry activities be reflected on the standard of science textbook authorization for development of the science textbook to accord with aims and objectives of curriculum.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.496-504
• /
• 2010

In this study, we analyzed request methods and demanding levels of drawing activities in teacher's guide and supplementary book (experimental observation). Student's drawing results were also compared to teacher's guide and supplementary books demanding. As a result, drawing activities of supplementary book were reached to 42.8% of all activities. Activity types were divided to writing, drawing, writing and drawing and writing or drawing activities. Writing and drawing activity type was 44.4%, and drawing activity was 37.8%. The level of teacher's guide were higher than normal needs. But answer examples and learning levels of teacher's guide were appropriate for curriculum levels. The students drawing activities were matched to requirements of the teacher's guide to 72.3% in grade 3 level and 64.5% in 4th grade level. In order to improve effectively learning, statement of supplementary book and teacher's guide should write more concrete words and creative sentences.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.17-22
• /
• 1988

Computer based instruction in the elementary science curriculum will be played an important role through the fifth curriculum reform from the 1989 school year. This is essential for the science instruction because the strategies on the problem-solvings and inquiry approaches can be utilized for the science classroom. Computer education can be thought as the education about the computer and the education using the computer. Of them the education using the computer means the computer assisted instruction(CAI) what is called all the possible activities using the computer in the classroom. Student achievement as the result of CAI depends on the learning activities of students and the instructional techniques and strategies of teachers using the computer. However, computer based education to enhance the student achievement is pointed out the lacks of the standardized Korean alphabet code and the compatibility of qualified software. These problems will be relieved according to the coding for the Korean alphabet of SUPER PILOT program language.

• Research in Mathematical Education
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2018

While the utility of the number line is considerable, articulating its conceptual foundation is often neglected in school mathematics. We suggest that it is important to build up strong conceptual foundations in the earlier grades so that number lines can be used in a more meaningful way and that any misconceptions associated with the number line can be prevented or intervened. This paper addresses unit, direction, and origin as the key elements of number lines and presents activities from Davydov's curriculum for early grades that promote exploration of those key elements and may resolve some students' misconceptions. As shown in sample activities from Davydov's curriculum, this paper suggests that students can broaden their perspectives on the number line and use it versatilely in various areas of mathematics learning when they deeply engage in the construction of a number line and have flexibility in interpreting the relationships between key number line elements.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.61 no.6
• /
• pp.388-401
• /
• 2017

In this study, we investigated the characteristics of curriculum design of pre-service chemistry teachers who participated in educational program for teaching in science museum. Three pre-service chemistry teachers at a college of education in Seoul participated. The educational program was composed of workshop, lesson planning and practice, and critique. After the workshop, we conducted semi-structured interviews based on pre-visit, during-visit, post-visit activities planned by the pre-service teachers. We observed and recorded their teaching practices in Gwacheon National Science Museum and following critique by their classmates. We also conducted final interviews. We used a framework for museum practice to analyze their curriculum design. The analyses of the results revealed that all planned their lessons in accordance with the National Science Curriculum, and considered geographical and psychological aspects in their pre-visit activities. They encouraged students to make joint products through small group activities, and gave students autonomy in choosing exhibits to facilitate spontaneous participation. However, they did not consider continuous aspects of pre-visit, during-visit, and post-visit activities. They did not effectively induce students to engage during-visit activities cognitively. They did not make post-visit activities connect students' experiences in science museum to personal experiences.

• Journal of Science Education
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.43-63
• /
• 2019

The types of inquiry activities included in Life Science II textbooks under the 2015 revised science curriculum were extracted and compared with those of six major and five different publishing companies. The fact that the number of investigation discussions and presentations (IP) increased and the expressions (EX) were included in each unit was interpreted as sufficient to transform the classroom instruction in the 2015 revised science curriculum into student-centered activities. The type of inquiry activities in student-centered activities such as experiment observation, simulation activities, investigation discussions, and presentations accounted for about 41% more than the 27% of 2009 revised science curriculum. However, since data interpretation type is still the largest, it is necessary to reduce the types of data interpretation and to increase the number of types of simulation activities and expressions in order to expand students' creativity and thinking ability when textbook development is needed in the future. In addition to the development of biotechnology, teachers need to reconstruct diverse science materials for each textbook and then use them for students to induce balanced thinking, and try to expand expressive power, creativity, logic, and critical thinking skills.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.211-220
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to analyze the frequency and contents of horticultural activities in 696 individual activities listed in 11 teacher's guidebooks of Nuri Curriculum for 5-year-olds, and to find out the perceptions of horticultural activities in the formal curriculum. The target horticultural activities that were selected were those using natural objects like potted plants, water, wind, soil, stones, etc. as the topic or subject of activities, and those with different topics but are mentioning plants or natural objects as an example at least twice. The 150 selected horticultural activities were classified by life-based theme, activity type, activity domain, and medium. As a result of examining horticultural activities by life-based theme, there were 150 horticultural activities (21.55%): 40 in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (5.75%), 34 in Animals, Plants, and Nature (4.89%), 22 in Environment and Life (3.16%), 19 in Our Country (2.73%), and nine in Our Neighborhood (1.29%), nine in Various Countries of the World (1.29%), four in Health and Safety (0.57%), four in Living tools (0.57%), four in Transportation (0.57%), three in Kindergarten and Friends (0.43%), two in Me and My Family (0.29%; χ²=130.427, p < .001). As a result of examining horticultural activities by activity type, there were 61 free choice activities (40.67%), 80 large and small group activities (53.33%), and nine outdoor play activities (6.00%), indicating that outdoor play was the fewest activity type (χ²=54.040, p < .001). The results of analyzing horticultural activities by activity domain showed that there were 25 in conversation (16.67%), 19 in science (12.50%), 14 in art (9.33%), 14 in cooking (9.33%), 10 in fairy tales (6.00%), nine in music (6.00%), eight in language (5.33%), eight in number operation (5.33%), eight in others (5.33%), six in children's plays (4.0%), six in games (4.0%), four in body and movement (2.67%), three in stacking (2.00%), three in roles (2.00%), three in rhythm (2.00%), two in children's poems (1.33%), two in field experience (1.33%) and one in outside play (0.67%; χ²=87.600, p < .001). As a result of examining the mediums used in the horticultural activities, 46 activities (30.67%) directly used plants as the mediums, 11 activities (7.33%) used soil such as stones, gravel, and earth as the mediums instead of plants, four activities (2.67%) used dry plants such as branches and dry leaves as the mediums, and 89 activities (59.33%) used videos, photos of plants, and pictures of plants as the mediums (χ²=121.307, p < .001).