• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2004

In this study, we investigated the effects of using concept mapping as an instructional tool on 4th graders' achievement, science learning motivation, and attitude toward science classes. Two classes (38 students) from an elementary school were respectively assigned to a control group and a treatment group. Students were taught about "expansion of matter by heat" and "heat transfer". These topics were chosen because they require students to understand more concepts as well as relationships among them. A science learning motivation test and an attitude toward science classes test were administered as pretests. A researcher-made achievement test, the science learning motivation test, and the attitude toward science classes test were administered as posttests. The results indicated that using concept mapping in 4th-grade science classes was not significantly effective in improving students' achievement though a statistically significant positive effect was found in the subcategory of knowledge. No statistically significant effect of using concept mapping was found in the scores of the science learning motivation test and the attitude toward science classes test. Educational implications are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.125-134
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• 2012

Interest has been studied as one of the construct to understand and improve learning in science. While informal science education is getting increasing attention as science education has been extended from formal school science to informal science learning including after-school program or science museum activity, however, little has been studied in comparing to the needs. In this study the authors investigated students' interest about learning science in the context of informal science education. For this the survey tool in the article of Im and Pak (2000) was utilized through modification, and 155 elementary students' responses were analyzed with factor analysis and basic statistics. The factor analysis showed that the students' interest about learning science in the context of informal science education has multi dimensions like subject, motivation, and activity dimension. The result showed that students' interest decreased as their grade is higher, and that the interest of intrinsic motivation, empirical activity, and descriptive subject were relatively high while the interest of extrinsic motivation, cognitive activity, and specific subjects were low. From this study the authors could infer the necessity of instructional strategy in consideration of students' interest for more effective science learning in informal science education environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.203-211
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Project-Based Learning on Science Concepts and Science Learning Motivation. This particular study was proceeded to 4th grader at S elementary school, there was a mutual agreement with a homeroom teacher about assigning a research group and comparison group and it was agreed to students by explaining the reason and purpose of the study. There searcher visited in person to pick 22 students for research group and another 20 students for comparison group. For a research group, an experimental group, homeroom teacher, proceeded a science class with the application of Project-Based Learning. The experimental period was set up as a 40 minutes class unit for 12 weeks. After an experimental group, Science Concepts and Science Learning Motivation were examined, data collection and data analysis were proceeded by order. The following experimental results are as below. First, the application of Project-Based Learning method in a class was effective in improvement of Science Concepts acquisition. Second, the application of Project-Based Learning method in a class was effective in cultivation of Science Learning Motivation. Third, the application of Project-Based Learning method in a class had a positive cognition from the learners in the experimental group. Based on the discussions and implications of the results of this study, some suggestions in the follow - up study are as follows. First, applying Project-Base Learning to various science lessons and learning effects can be suggested as one of the new teaching methods. Second, the use of the Project-Based Learning to test the effects of elementary school students' different grades may be regarded as another teaching method for science class.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.54-64
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to develop instructional strategy which utilizes thinking maps focused on drawing as a measure to enhance science learning motivation, self-directed learning activity and science academic achievement of learners, and to examine the effects of its application. The target unit for this study is 'life cycle of plants' in the fourth grade of elementary school. Two classes of 4th grades of elementary school were selected and divided into two groups. The learners of experimental group have completed thinking map by drawing a picture to express the results to be observed and measured, and used it to arrange the learning contents. The result of this study is as follows. First, it is proven that using thinking maps focused on drawing actually helped improving the motivation of learners to study science. Second, it is proven that this strategy was effective to change their self-directed learning ability in positive ways. Third, it contributed to the improvement of learners' science academic achievement. We found out that the application of this strategy enabled them to enjoy the mapping using drawing, to be immersed in learning, to better recognize the scientific concepts and the structure of learning contents, and to have a positive awareness of the usefulness of thinking maps focused on drawing.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.139-149
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• 2014

Much research has been conducted in educational robot, a new instructional technology, for K- 12 education. Several studies have shown that educational robot provides effective learning opportunities for students in both content areas of STEM(science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and critical academic skills, such as collaboration, problem solving and communication skills. However, most studies to date on applications of educational robots have been conducted outside the formal education setting. This study analyzed the influence of using robots in an elementary school science class in Korea with regard to science learning motivation. A total of 121 students in fourth and fifth grades participated in the study. The experimental group was taught using robots in the science class, while the control group was taught using traditional methods. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare the between-group differences in learning motivation before and after the experiment; an interview was also conducted for the experimental group. The study results showed a significant improvement (p<.05) in both learning motivation in the experimental compared with the control group. There was also positive response to learning with a robot. This study will play an important role in research on the use of educational robot in formal education in the future.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.387-394
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of writing science diary on science learning motivation, science academic achievement and ecological sensitivity of elementary students. Teaching unit was focused on 'The structure and function of plants' in 6th grade science text book. The subjects of study were 51 students of two classes. One class of 25 students, experimental group, wrote science diaries as homework. While the other class of 26 students, comparative group, performed homeworks with fill-in-the-blank worksheets. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: First, writing science diary had a meaningful effect on improvement of science learning motivation. Second, writing science diary had a meaningful effect on improvement of science academic achievement. Third, writing science diary had a meaningful effect on improvement of ecological sensitivity. And we could find that students had a favorable impression and high satisfaction level about writing science diary from the questionnaire.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2009

Learning strategies are defined as behaviors and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning and that are intended to influence the learner's encoding process. Today, demands for teaching how to learn increase, because there is a lot of complex material which is delivered to students. But learning strategies shouldn't be identified as tricks of students for achieving high scores in exams. Cognitive researchers and theorists assume that learning strategies are related to two types of learning processing, which are described as 'surface learning' and 'deep learning'. In addition learning strategies are associated with learning motivation. Students with 'meaning orientation' who struggle for deep learning, are intrinsically motivated, whereas students with 'reproduction orientation' or 'achieving orientation' are extrinsically motivated. Therefore, to foster active learning and intrinsic motivation of students, it isn't enough to just teach how to learn. Changes of curriculum and assessment methods, that stimulate deep learning and curiosity of students are needed with educators and learners working cooperatively.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.167-178
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to explore characteristics of sixth grade students' opistemological beliefs in science and the relationship to learner's characteristics: learning motivation, learning strategies, and logical thinking. The subjects were 265 sixth graders and data was collected through two types of questionnaires, translated and modified by researchers: opistemological beliefs regarding science, learning motivation & strategies. The results of this study were as follows. The students believed that the goals of science were related to activations such as 'Science is experiment', or 'Science is invention: These beliefs were connected with the emphasis of science classes or the focus of the science curriculum. However, the students' beliefs related to the changeability of science knowledge, the source of science knowledge, and the role of experiments in developing knowledge were oriented to modern opistemological views. Moreover, the beliefs were meaningfully related to students' characteristics: learning motivation, learning strategies, and logical thinking. Among the students' characteristics, logical thinking was especially related to all of the factors of students' beliefs: the changeability of science knowledge, the source of science knowledge, and the role of experiments in developing knowledge. However, the students who believed that scientific knowledge came from scientists, science teachers, or science textbooks had high levels of self-efficacy. Therefore, the belief that scientific knowledge is formed by self-discovery, in order to generate high self-efficacy, needs to be encouraged. From the results, it is possible to check the orientation of current science education based on the students' opistemological beliefs. In addition, the resources can be accumulated for persevering in our efforts to achieve a positive orientation for science education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.327-336
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• 1998

The purposes of this study were to investigate 6th-graders' use of cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies in usual learning and testing situations, and to compare the difference in the use of the strategies by students' science achievement, learning motivation, and gender. The relationship among these strategies, science achievement, and learning motivation were also examined, and the portion of variance of explanation for achievement score was studied by a multiple regression analysis. The results showed that high-achieving students used more cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies in usual learning and more cognitive strategies in testing situations than low-achieving students. Highly motivated students used more cognitive and metacognitive strategies than poorly motivated students in all situations. Elementary female students used more learning strategies than male students in usual learning. On the other hand, no gender differences was found to be significant in the use of strategies in testing situations. These learning strategies were significantly correlated with the science achievement and motivation scores. The cognitive strategies in usual learning accounted for the significant portion of the variance of the achievement score. Educational implications are discussed.

• 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.