• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.119-130
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• 2019

The TIMSS assessment is conducted every four years, and Korean fourth grade cohort in TIMSS 2011 participated in TIMSS 2015 again as eighth graders, which produced the first achievement data of the cohort group of elementary and middle schools. In this study, in order to investigate the causes of the decline in Korean students' science achievement with grade changes from the fourth to the eighth grade, we analyzed educational context variables such as characteristics of students, teachers, and classroom instructions of the top 5 achievement countries participated in both TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015. According to the results, students' sense of school belonging increased, whereas students' positive attitudes toward science teaching decreased with the grade change from the fourth to the eighth. As for the teacher characteristics, the teacher's professional development activity increased, and the teacher's confidence in science teaching showed similar tendency to the international average. Regarding classroom instruction characteristics, the frequency of inquiry-related science activities was highest at the fourth grade, and lower than the international average at the eighth grade. Based the results, we suggested implications for science teaching and learning as well as further studies including development of differentiated strategy by the school level to improve students' achievement, the necessity of converting into more student-engaging science classes, and the necessity of in-depth study on the teacher related educational contextual variables.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.103-116
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perception on video material making and the effect on science teaching ability after conducting non-face-to-face teaching material making activity for elementary pre-service teachers. This activity consisted two processes. One is that elementary pre-service teachers conduct inquiry, understand related science concepts, analyze science textbooks and then make video material. The other is that they watch video materials produced by colleagues. This study was conducted on 89 elementary pre-service teachers for 8 weeks. After this activity was completed, the perception on video material making and the effect on science teaching ability of elementary pre-service teachers were investigated, and the results were analyzed. In the process of making and watching non-face-to-face teaching materials, elementary pre-service teachers showed positive results in teaching-learning, video production, and emotion and attitude toward video material making. In addition, it was found that they improved their science teaching ability through this activity and were very satisfied with this activity. However, they also mentioned several disappointments such as exclusion of learners' right to self-determination, lack of various communication channels, and errors in content of materials. This suggests that if these problems are solved, non-face-to-face classes can also be a good form of class.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.59-72
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• 2023

This study analyzed a group interview with six earth science teachers and eight middle school students to find out the evaluations and criteria they use to evaluate VR/AR contents (two virtual reality content and two augmented reality contents) in middle school science digital textbook. The study found the VR/AR contents were evaluated on four criteria as follows: VR/AR media characteristics; technical operation; user interface; and teaching-learning design. The evaluations can be summarized by each criterion. First, regarding VR/AR media characteristics, interesting features of VR/AR contents were considered relatively advantageous compared to other media like videos. However, its shortage of visual presence and inconvenience of using markers were mentioned as shortcomings. Second, in the technical operation criteria, teachers and students found the following conditions as technically challenging: failing to properly operate on a particular OS; huge volumes of contents in the application; and frequent freezing when using the application. Third, poor intuitiveness and lack of flexibility were found as negative aspects in user interface. Fourth, regarding teaching-learning design, the teachers evaluated whether the VR/AR contents delivered scientifically accurate information; whether they incorporated class goals set by teachers; and whether they can help students' inquiry. It turned out teachers gave negative feedbacks on VR/AR contents. The students evaluated VR/AR contents by assessing whether they help them with learning science but concluded they did not regard them necessary in science learning at school. Based on the findings, this study discusses which development direction VR/AR contents should take to be useful in teaching and learning science.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.149-160
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• 2007

This study was conducted to investigate the relationships between the patterns of elementary school teachers' explanations and the patterns of students' questions types on scientific phenomena. for the purposes of this study, we collected questions related to scientific phenomena from 255 $3rd{\sim}6th$ students in 2 elementary schools. Classifying the students' questions collected, 20 representative questions for each type were selected. Data regarding teachers' scientific explanation from 62 teachers of 3 elementary schools were also collected. The results of the analysis of the questions for each science field show that the students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades have the most questions regarding biology, and those in the 6th grade have more questions regarding earth science. Regarding question types, object exploration questions and explican exploration questions formed the majority. Moreover, the higher the students' grades, a decrease in the number of conjectural questions and an increase in the number of causal questions were observed. As a result of the analysis of the teachers' explanation, the following explanation types could be discerned; conjecture, hypothesis, prediction, teleological explanation, information given to feed exploration questions, as well as verification and information supply fer verification purposes. There were 4 kinds of relationships between question types and explanation types. One was the explanation fitting to each question type, a second was the explanation with additional content than the question required, a third was where the explanation was inappropriate to the question, and a forth was where the teacher responded that they "don't know." This study, investigating the relationships between questioning as a scientific inquiry process and explanation, will help to promote discussion regarding science classes in elementary school.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.290-307
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the research trends related to qualitative research on science education, to provide basic data of qualitative research on science education and to select the direction of follow-up research. The subject of the study is the level of Korean Citation Index (KCI-listed, KCI listing candidates), that can be searched by the key phrase, 'qualitative research', 'science education' in Korean language through the RISS service. In this study, the Descriptive Statistical Analysis Method is utilized to discover the number of research articles, classifying them by year and by journal. Also, the Sementic Network Analysis was conducted to the frequency of key words, Centrality Analysis throughout a variety of research articles using krkwic and Ucinet6.0. The results show that first, 138 research papers were published in 14 journals from 2005 to 2017. Second,, the analysis showed the highest frequency of appearance keyword in each article, 'elementary school teacher', 'gifted student', 'science teacher', 'class' were higher than others. third, according to the results of the whole Network Analysis, 'Analysis', 'elementary school', 'class' were analyzed as a highly influential node. And 'Comparison', 'inquiry', 'recognition', 'gifted students' were not close to the center of network. Fourth, keywords that appear in all sections are analysis, gifted students, and elementary school students, and can be analyzed continuously based on studies, lessons or recognition, and characteristics. Based on the results of this study, we explored the past and present of the study subjects related to the study of science education quality and discussed future direction of study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.99-108
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• 2010

This study lays its purpose on examining the effects of lessons with the application of drawing tasks on changes in conception among gifted science students. The lesson with the application of drawing tasks means the lesson where students express key concepts regarding lesson subjects in drawings which are then applied to the lessons to develop conception among the learners. This study analyzed the effectiveness of lessons by comparing conception scores before and after experiments between an experiment group with the application of drawing tasks and a control group with normal lessons for the gifted in general for 8 months from March to October, 2008. In addition, the researcher examined how the effectiveness of the developed lessons show differently according to levels of meta-cognition, creative problem-solving abilities, and scientific inquiry skills among the gifted students. The results from this study are as the following. First, lessons with the application of drawing tasks were effective in changing conception among the gifted science students. It is possibly because in the process where one student compare his/her own drawings with the others' ones and discuss them, changes in conception occurred effectively among the learners. Second, it was revealed that lessons utilizing drawing tasks have equal effects on changes in conception among both student groups irrespective of their levels of meta-cognition. Accordingly the lesson for changing perceptions utilizing drawing tasks developed in this study is a program which can be applied to all gifted science students in order to change conception among them. Third, lessons utilizing drawing tasks have the greatest effects on the gifted science students at a 'middle' level of creative problem solving abilities. Fourth, lessons utilizing drawing tasks have the greatest effects on the gifted science students at a 'middle' level of scientific inquiry skills. Putting these results together, it is thought that if lessons utilizing drawing tasks are applied to gifted science students, not only their concepts would be changed effectively but also their attitudes toward science would be changed positively.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.13-35
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• 2023

Ocean currents play the most important role in causing and controlling global climate change. The water depth of the Yellow Sea is very shallow compared to the East Sea, and the circulation and currents of seawater are quite complicated owing to the influence of various wind fields, ocean currents, and river discharge with low-salinity seawater. The Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) is one of the most representative currents of the Yellow Sea in winter and is closely related to the weather of the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula, so it needs to be treated as important in secondary-school textbooks. Based on the 2015 revised national educational curriculum, secondary-school science and earth science textbooks were analyzed for content related to the YSWC. In addition, a questionnaire survey of secondary-school science teachers was conducted to investigate their perceptions of the temporal variability of ocean currents. Most teachers appeared to have the incorrect knowledge that the YSWC moves north all year round to the west coast of the Korean Peninsula and is strong in the summer like a general warm current. The YSWC does not have strong seasonal variability in current strength, unlike the North Korean Cold Current (NKCC), but does not exist all year round and appears only in winter. These errors in teachers' subject knowledge had a background similar to why they had a misconception that the NKCC was strong in winter. Therefore, errors in textbook contents on the YSWC were analyzed and presented. In addition, to develop students' and teachers' data literacy, class materials on the YSWC that can be used in inquiry activities were developed. A graphical user interface (GUI) program that can visualize the sea surface temperature of the Yellow Sea was introduced, and a program displaying the spatial distribution of water temperature and salinity was developed using World Ocean Atlas (WOA) 2018 oceanic in-situ measurements of water temperature and salinity data and ocean numerical model reanalysis field data. This data visualization materials using oceanic data is expected to improve teachers' misunderstandings and serve as an opportunity to cultivate both students and teachers' ocean and data literacy.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.212-224
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• 2011

In school science class, actual geological field trips tend to be restricted due to a number of problems including travel distance, cost, safety, and so on. Therefore, alternative way should be sought to provide students with the benefits of actual field trip. The purpose of this study is to develop web-based virtual field trip (VFT) about Jeju island in Korea by using flash panorama, and to explore a variety of ways to utilize the VFT. The characteristics of Jeju VFT are as follows: it provides virtual space for secondary school students to learn about volcanic topography and geology; students can access contents in a non-sequential order by virtue of web-based system, and students can control learning pace according to their ability; it is possible to investigate the same field site repeatedly, not limited by time and space; it presents differentiated worksheets for different school grade; it provides diverse complementary web contents, e. g., closeup features, thin sections, inquiry questions, and explanations of outcrops. We proposed several ways with instructional models to utilize Jeju VFT in science class and extra-school curricular as well.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.461-473
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• 2002

Concept mapping is a device for representing the conceptual structure of a subject discipline in a two dimensional form which is analogous to a road map. In the teaching and learning of earth science, each concept depends on its relationships to many others for meaning. Using concept mapping in teaching helps teachers and students to be more aware of the key concepts and relationships among them. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the use of concept mapping on science achievement and the scientific attitude in ocean units of earth science. The results of this study are as follows; first, the science achievement of a group of concept mapping teaching is significantly higher than that of the group of traditional teaching. Also, when the achievement levels are compared among different cognitive ability groups, the effect is more significant in mid or lower level student groups than in high level groups. The use of concept mapping is more effective when the concepts have a distinct concept hierarchy. Second, the scores of the test of ‘attitude toward scientific inquiry’ and ‘application of scientific attitude’ of the group of concept mapping teaching are significantly higher than those of the group of traditional teaching, whereas the scores of the test of ‘interest in science learning’ of concept mapping teaching is not different from those of group of traditional teaching. Third, the survey on the use of concept mapping shows a positive response across the tested groups. The use of concept mapping is more beneficial in fostering the comprehension of the topic. A concept map of student's own construction facilitates the assessment of learning, thus promising the usefulness of concept mapping as a means of evaluation. In regard to retention aspect, concept mapping is considered to be more effective in confirming and remembering the topic, while less effective in the aspects of activity and interest. In conclusion, the use of concept maps makes learning an active meaningful process and improves student's academic achievement and scientific attitude. If the concept mapping is more effectively as an active teaching strategy, more meaningful learning will be attained.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1158-1174
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• 2011

In this study, we examined the compositions, basic principles, and the area of the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (GaoKao) in 2009, we also analyzed the categories and characteristics of items. Also, the GaoKao was analyzed in terms of test specifications, the number of items, item patterns, difficulty levels, and implications of the College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT) were explored. Results show Natural Science section of the National Test 1, 2 are 300 points per 150 min, and Natural Science, and Chemistry of Shanghai is 150 points each per 120 min. Also, the GaoKao contained multiple choice and fill in the blanks questions, and the description items are composed of experiments of various types. The GaoKao Natural Science section is composed of physics, chemistry, biology but not earth science, which is different from the CSAT. GaoKao requires basic understanding or the observation ability to reasoning, the complex thinking ability, especially emphasized on the experiment ability. The range of possible questions is in the examination outline, not the curriculum, and the ratio of questions from the University level is high. In the analysis of the behavioral domain, the ratios of the understanding and application items is higher than the CSAT, and inquiry items is lower, but the inquiry items are deeper. In case of the ratio of the expected correct answer, National Test 1 and National Test 2 is similar, but the difficult items or about 20~39% of the test is 4~5 times to that of the CSAT, making the GaoKao very difficult. The peculiar characteristics of GaoKao is the emphasis on the experiment, and even though the practical items is of lower ratio, they are very useful in life.