• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.234-265
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• 2013

Oceanic current maps in the secondary school science and earth science textbooks have played an important role in piquing students's inquisitiveness and interests in the ocean. Such maps can provide students with important opportunities to learn about oceanic currents relevant to abrupt climate change and global energy balance issues. Nevertheless, serious and diverse errors in these secondary school oceanic current maps have been discovered upon comparison with up-to-date scientific knowledge concerning oceanic currents. This study presents the fundamental methods and strategies for constructing such maps error-free, through the unification of the diverse current maps currently in the textbooks. In order to do so, we analyzed the maps found in 27 different textbooks and compared them with other up-to-date maps found in scientific journals, and developed a mapping technique for extracting digitalized quantitative information on warm and cold currents in the East Sea. We devised analysis items for the current visualization in relation to the branching features of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) in the Korea Strait. These analysis items include: its nearshore and offshore branches, the northern limit and distance from the coast of the East Korea Warm Current, outflow features of the TWC near the Tsugaru and Soya Straits and their returning currents, and flow patterns of the Liman Cold Current and the North Korea Cold Current. The first draft of the current map was constructed based upon the scientific knowledge and input of oceanographers based on oceanic in-situ measurements, and was corrected with the help of a questionnaire survey to the members of an oceanographic society. In addition, diverse comments have been collected from a special session of the 2013 spring meeting of the Korean Oceanographic Society to assist in the construction of an accurate current map of the East Sea which has been corrected repeatedly through in-depth discussions with oceanographers. Finally, we have obtained constructive comments and evaluations of the interim version of the current map from several well-known ocean current experts and incorporated their input to complete the map's final version. To avoid errors in the production of oceanic current maps in future textbooks, we provide the geolocation information (latitude and longitude) of the currents by digitalizing the map. This study is expected to be the first step towards the completion of an oceanographic current map suitable for secondary school textbooks, and to encourage oceanographers to take more interest in oceanic education.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.832-859
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• 2011

The importance of scientific education on accurate oceanic currents and circulation has been increasingly addressed because the currents have played a significant role in climate change and global energy balance. The objectives of this study are to analyze errors of the oceanic current maps in the textbooks, to discuss a variety of error sources, to suggest how to produce a unified oceanic current map of the East Sea for the students. Twenty-seven textbooks based on the 7th National Curriculum were analyzed and quantitatively investigated on the characteristics of the current maps by comparing with both the previous literature and up-to-date scientific knowledge. All the maps in the textbooks with different mappings were converted to digitalized image data with Mercator mapping using geolocation information. Detailed analysis were performed to investigate the patterns of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) in the Korea Strait, to examine how closely the nearshore branch of the TWC flows along the Japanese coast, to scrutinize the features of the offshore branch of the TWC south of the subpolar front in the East Sea, to quantitatively investigate the northern range of the northward-propagating East Korea Warm Current and its latitude turning to the east, and lastly to examine the outflow of the TWC near the Tsugaru Strait and the Soya Strait. In addition, the origins, southern limits, and distances from the coast of the Liman Current and the North Korea Cold Current were analyzed. Other erroneous expressions of the currents in the textbooks were presented. These analyses revealed the problems in the present current maps of the textbooks, which might lead the students to misconception. This study also addressed a necessity in a bridge between scientists with up-to-date scientific results and educators who needed educational materials.