• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2020

In this study, we analyzed the written and drawn explanations of thirty elementary school pre-service teachers in order to examine their perception on the seasonal length of day and night. The main findings are as follows: First, pre-service teachers used the most common term in the description of the texts, such as meridian altitude, axis of rotation, and revolution, and there were more misconceptions in the drawn explanation than in the written explanation. Second, by analyzing the pre-service teachers' perceptions by combining written and drawn explanations, it is possible to detect scientific errors that the distance between the Earth and the Sun is closer when the axis of rotation is tilted in relation to the revolution and seasonal changes due to changes in the orbital radius of the Earth. In addition, there have been types of explanations such as seasonally changing meridian altitudes related to the rotation of the Earth but no change in the location of the Sun. Based on the results of the analysis, we discussed the lack of experience in constructing an explanatory system of specific phenomena using scientific knowledge, lack of observational experiences about natural phenomena, and lack of exposure to other explanatory systems that cause cognitive conflicts. We hope that it will be concrete and practical help to improve the understanding of pre-service teachers in the science domain of primary teacher training program.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.50-60
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate elementary students' perception on science-related career and teachers' perception on science-related career education. The subjects of this study were 196 5^th and 6^th elementary students and 100 elementary teachers. The results show that 28% of the students desire to have science-related career. More Boys desire science-related careers than girls, and more students with higher level of perception in their science achievement also do than lower level students. The reason students did not desired science-related career were that they were not interested in science and did not have fun in science. Students' perceptions in the factors of science-related career choice were mostly negative except socio-cultural factors. The results of teacher's perception show that 42% of the teachers conducted science-related career education. A lot of teacher did not conduct science-related career education since they perceived the career education were not necessary or important. Students' negative perception on the factors of science-related career choice and the teachers' low perception on necessity of science-related career education can negatively influence students' science-related career choice. The more efforts were required in order to increase positive perception on science-related career.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.61-73
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• 2020

Teachers are the most important factor contributing to determining the quality of education. Therefore, the quality of teachers should be improved to enhance the quality of education. Teacher's competencies are defined as the skills required for teaching profession, that is, the ability to perform not only in teaching activities, but also in guidance and class management. The purpose of this study is to analyze the competencies of science teachers that elementary, middle and high school students want. To this end, 332 elementary, middle and high school students were asked to describe their preferred science teacher's competencies and avoiding science teacher's competencies as an open questionnaire. The resulting concepts were analyzed by semantic network analysis (SNA). The results of this study are as follows: 1) The competencies of science teachers that students prefer varied. This suggests that most students think positively about science teachers. In addition, it is possible to show students the positive or preferred competencies of teachers in various ways. 2) The students wanted teachers to explain the theories and concepts related to scientific phenomena through experiments. They also preferred hands-on activities and experience in science class. 3) The students put emphasis on the class-related contents in the competencies of science teachers. Accordingly, the image of science teachers and science itself should be enhanced through the improvement of science teaching methods and positive attitudes toward students. It is expected that further research on the image according to specific teaching methods of science teachers will be conducted based on the findings of this study.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.74-83
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate motivation to learn physics in order to understand engineering college students' physics learning. Therefore, in this study, 374 engineering students at the university located in Seoul were studied using the Physics Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ), which was a Science Motivation Questionnaire II modified into the context of learning physics. The PMQ is composed of five factors: intrinsic motivation, career motivation, self-determination, self-efficacy, and grade motivation. It involves 25 Likert scale items. Through exploratory factor analysis, PMQ confirms that the five factors are structurally valid in measuring the motivation of engineering students to learn physics. In addition, item fit (MNSQ) was also confirmed using a Rasch model analysis. The results show that grade motivation has the highest mean with 4.2, followed by job motivation mean with 3.76. The mean of intrinsic motivation was 3.42, the self-efficacy was 3.38, and self-determination was 3.32. The results of this study confirm that the physics learning motivation of engineering college students is characterized showing high external motivation related to job and grade. Therefore, we should try to develop the teaching strategy to increase intrinsic motivation by developing mastery goal orientation of physics learning for engineering students.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.12-26
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• 2018

This study examined the effects of SSI argumentation program on the preservice biology teachers' decision-making types and communication ability. The SSI argumentation program was developed based on 'Social Decision-Making & Problem-Solving strategy' and Toulmin's argumentation pattern. The preservice teachers had opportunities of SSI argumentation through small group discussions. They were asked to identify the issues regarding SSI, think of solutions, and make a decision along with claims, warrants, data, and rebuttals. The preservice biology teachers experienced four SSI topics of abortion, euthanasia, gene manipulation, artificial intelligence. The results indicated that the preservice biology teachers significantly improved the communication ability after the intervention, but they did not change their types of decision-making. In addition, after the intervention, the Pearson correlation results indicated that 'the logical type' of decision-making significantly relates to the communication ability(p<.01). The preservice biology teachers mentioned that they improved their ability of considering warrants, data, background information, context, and rebuttals. Further, the preserivce biology teachers mentioned that they became take an interest in socioscientific issues and improved their ability of accepting criticism from others as well as caring about others when they argue each other. This study implicated that the SSI argumentation program has effects on improving personality education in school science.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.66-79
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the effects of the educational context variables on 8th-grade science achievement of 5 top performing countries(Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan) in TIMSS 2015. TIMSS 2015 science data and questionnaire results were used for fitting Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) in this study. According to the results, such student-level variables as home resources for learning, students' interest in science learning, valuing science, Students' Educational Expectations gave significant influence on the science achievement of Korean students. School-level variables including Student Economic Background, and School Emphasis on Academic Success gave significant influence on the science achievement of Korean students. Comparing 5 countries, home resources for learning, students' interest in science learning, Students' Educational Expectations gave significant influence on the science achievement in all 5 countries. At the school level, Student Economic Background is statistically significant in explaining students' science achievement gap in all countries except Japan, and Teaching Limited by Student Needs gave significant influence on the science achievement in all countries except Korea. Discussed in the conclusion are ways to improve middle-school science teaching and learning including reducing the education divide among socioeconomic status, teaching innovation for competency education, inquiry and reinforcement of lab activities in science classes, and so on.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.226-247
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to develop the exhibition model of children's science museum for children and to present the guideline for the exhibition of children's science museum. To this end, we proposed an exhibition of 'body', 'surrounding things', and 'natural phenomenon' as exhibition topics based on the exhibit evaluation framework and kindergarten curriculum. The direction and color elements are important for the exhibition of 'the body', and the presentation of the 'natural phenomenon' is suitable for the use of contextual media applying color and lighting. And it can be said that it is important to provide clues and fixtures for exploring objects based on the theme of 'surrounding objects'. In addition, in order to secure the validity of the developed exhibition model, we developed an exhibition link program for the 'mirror' exhibition of the exhibition model and applied it to visitors to the Gwangju Museum of Science. Therefore, it is meaningful that it provides the basic guidelines for exhibition planning, and it is necessary to plan exhibition to maximize the exhibition effect by directing exhibition contents, exhibition media and exhibition space suitable for the audience.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.167-178
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• 2017

It has been suggested that character education, taught only in ethics and social science, should be integrated into other subjects including science education. In terms of inquiry and the nature of science, science education is related to character education, which is emphasized by SSI (Socioscientific Issue) education. Followed by necessity of character education, the Character Education Promotion Act was established in 2015. To investigate what and how character education is conducting in schools, analysis of curriculums and textbooks is needed in terms of elements underlined in the Character Education Promotion Act. For this purpose, this research analyzed general remarks and science sections in the 2009 revised and the 2015 revised curriculums and science textbooks based on the 2009 revised curriculum with regard to essential virtues in the Character Education Promotion Act. Results showed that parts of essential virtues were included in both curriculums, of which elements were inconsistent with those of science textbooks. Curriculums and textbooks reflecting whole elements faithfully need to be developed.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.248-266
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to present various examples of collaborative learning based on the Instruction of Internet in the 6th grade elementary school mathematics class. So we introduce the design method of classroom environment for classroom Internet and give example of various teaching methods. This study was conducted for nine months from March to November, 2016, one sixth grade of elementary school in D area. During this period, we conducted Instruction of Internet-based collaborative learning to classify typical teaching cases. We classified into 5 type collaborative learning. First, collaborative learning in the classroom. Second, remote collaborative learning between classroom and classroom. Third, Live participation classes. Forth, project collaborative learning. Fifth, using virtual reality in collaborative learning. In addition, we could identify that there is a difference compared to the conventional learning. It became possible to conduct collaborative learning with other students simultaneously or have opening class with both parents and teachers by using Youtube. These examples can be presented as a case to depart from traditional mathematics class in one classroom. In this regard, we will be able to provide several implications about teaching methods utilizing smart device and Internet in future classroom.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.179-194
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to construct two equivalent science relevance recognition test tool after confirming the reliability and validity of the CARS(Changes in Attitude of Relevance to Science) questionnaire to determine the applicability of the items to Korean students and to compare gender and school differences. For this study, 59 items of the CARS scientific relevance test were translated and assigned to 787 middle and high school students (analyed the answer of 300 middle school students and 431 high school students). In order to determine the fit of the CARS question to Korean students and to overcome the limitation of the number of questions, we used the item-linking method of the Rasch model. By analyzing the results of the research, we constructed two equivalent scientific relevance recognition questionnaires of CARS-A and CARS-B with 25 items. The Pearson correlation coefficient of the Rasch scores of the two equivalent test was 0.78. The two types of scientific relevance recognition test tools generated through this study can be used to confirm students' attitude of scientific relevance to daily life, or to confirm the change after a certain class or grade. Through this study, we will discuss the implications of students' perceptions of science associations in science education, and the development and application of tools.