• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.736-750
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• 2014

The purposes of this study were to investigate concepts of Korean and American elementary school pre-service teachers on combustion, and to compare the concepts of Korean pre-service teachers with those of American pre-service teachers. For this study, concept test on combustion was administered to 23 Korean and 18 American elementary school pre-service teachers. The test composed of 6 items: 'Definition of combustion', 'The reason why a candle in a glass bottle is blown out when the bottle was closed', 'The change of gases in the bottle when a candle burns in it', 'The combustion products of a candle', 'The combustion products of steel wool', and 'The combustion products of a substance'. The results showed that the rates of elementary school pre-service teachers who had scientific concepts on combustion were very low in both Korean and American pre-service teachers' groups, although they were a little different from items. However the rates of pre-service teachers who had partial concepts and misconceptions on combustion were high in two groups. The levels of Korean elementary school pre-service teachers' concepts were a little higher than those of American elementary school pre-service teachers' concepts. The contents and activities on combustion which are in Korean and American science textbooks seem to affect building up their concepts on combustion.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.729-737
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• 2016

Natural selection is the core idea of evolution that pre-service biology teachers need to understand to solve diverse biological problem. This study aims to investigate the level of Korean pre-service biology teachers' understanding of natural selection by comparing their knowledge with their Chinese, American, and German biology major undergraduate counterparts. In particular, this study focuses on two conceptual components of natural selection (i.e., ecology and genetics). This study used a total 1226 pre-service biology teachers and biology majors' data. The instrument measuring the understanding of natural selection concepts was Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection, which consists of ten ecology concept items and ten genetics concept items. The Rasch model analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and univariate analysis of variance were used for the statistical tests. The result reveals that the level of Korean pre-service biology teachers' understanding of natural selection were similar with Chinese undergraduates' understanding and significantly lower than American and German undergraduates.' In the first year student data, the level of genetics concept of Korean pre-service biology teachers were significantly lower than Chinese and German students. In the fourth year student data, the level of ecology concept of Korean pre-service biology teachers were significantly lower than American and German students. Based on these results, the ecology concept education and balanced natural selection concept education are discussed.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.83-109
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• 2021

In the early stage of lesson enactment process, teachers use textbooks and other resources to select tasks and activities. It follows that discrepancies between textbooks and research-recommended pathways for learning may lead to concerns or issues with pacing in the classroom. To explore this idea further, this study examined the alignment between three popular standards-aligned textbooks series and volume learning trajectories. The results indicated that the standards-based textbooks examined may lack attention to important topics in the pacing of volume instruction, and suggest the need to inform both pre-service and in-service teachers about the gap between textbook lessons and volume learning trajectories so that they will be able to reflect students' thinking in volume learning trajectory to their lessons.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.43 no.12 s.214
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• pp.97-111
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• 2005

Early Head Start (EHS) can provide services to a child and family from pre-birth until the child is three years old. Services are comprehensive, intensive, individualized and flexible according to child and family needs, and integrated with community service delivery systems. The local program designs and operations were developed and carried out within the framework of the Head Start Revised Performance Standards, which included specific provisions for services to pregnant women, infants and toddlers and emphasized prevention, early intervention, safety, and health education. As with preschool Head Start, EHS programs are required to make available 10 percent of their enrollment for infants and toddlers with disabilities as defined by Part C regulations of the state in which the program operated. Quality child care has become a priority for EHS. A majority of EHS children need child care, and the quality is important to their development. An evaluation of EHS in 17 programs selected from the first program cohorts showed that the program had significant and positive impacts on a wide range of parent and child dimensions, some with implications for children's later school success. Among the issues for policy attention identified by American EHS for the Korean system are: - The need to create a comprehensive infant/toddler care system - The need to address access of teachers for young children - The need to improve quality.