• The Mathematical Education
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.87-109
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• 2003

This paper aims to review the overall development of constructivist approaches in science education research from two different perspectives, that is a summary of the past development in science education in general and a report of the outline of a recent research project on students' physics misconceptions in particular. In the summary of the past development of constructivist science education the introduction of constructivism as well as its psychological and philosophical backgrounds are briefly reported. Then main findings of the researches of constructivist approach are discussed in terms of the features of students' misconceptions, of the ways of effective conceptual change, of the implications toward school science education, and of the criticisms given to the constructivist approach. In the report of a recent development in addition to its background necessity and implications, the research structure and the format of the data analysis of the study on the map of students' physics misconceptions are presented. It is particularly emphasized that the practical informations and suggestions for actual teaching of school science, such as the database(DB) of students' misconceptions and teaching guides, are of most practical and effective values in order to maximize the advantage of the constructivist approach to science education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.191-200
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to investigate the misconceptions and the understanding of students on diffusion and osmosis, and to examine the shifts in concept development that result from maturation and additional instruction. In addition, the textbooks were assessed for the sources of the misconceptions. The subjects of this study were 195 students in middle school, 191 students in high school and 195 students in university in Seoul. And the multiple-choice test developed by Odom and Barrow(1995) was used. The results were analyzed by two-way ANOVA in the statistical packages SAS. The major findings of this study are as follows. 1. The mean score of the understanding on the concepts of diffusion and osmosis of junior high school students was 31, that of high school students was 51 and that of university students was 67. In this study, the higher grade students got the higher scores, and it showed significant difference(p<0.01). 2. The mean score of girls was higher than that of boys in all grades. And the difference of the score according to gender showed great difference in high school(p<0.01). 3. An analysis of the patterns of misconceptions about diffusion and osmosis indicated that certain misconceptions prevail across grade levels. 4. An analysis of the contents of textbooks indicated that textbooks may be the source of students' misconceptions about diffusion and osmosis.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.231-243
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to investigate misconceptions regarding the structure of flowers and the function of the course based on the 'Flower' section of 5th grade elementary school science courses. It also sought to investigate how misconceptions are changed before and after the application of a Driver learning model, and finally analysing any differences in the correction of misconceptions. A questionnaire was created for 199 5th grade elementary school pupils. The major results before and after using an applied Driver learning mode teaching plan are as follows: In the response for questions, 13.6% and 14.5% of misconceptions were corrected for male and female pupils, respectively. For rural and urban pupils, 14.8% and 11.2% of misconceptions were corrected, respectively. In the comparison of male and female pupils according to the reasons for selection of responses before and after using an applied Driver learning model teaching plan, 27.8% of male and 30.0% of female pupils scientific conceptions showed improvement. For rural and urban schools, 26.6% and 32.2% of scientific conceptions were improved, respectively. Data from this study may help teachers to reconsider their own conceptions regarding the study of the flower as it is presently conducted in elementary school.

• School Mathematics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.643-664
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• 2009

This study was aimed to understand the problems that students experience during the self--directed study of a mathematics digital textbook and to find the implications for the design of digital textbook. For this study, we analyzed the process of self-directed learning on 'division of fractions with same denominator' using digital textbook by eight 6th graders. Students asked to use think aloud method while they study the unit. Their learning process was videotaped and analyzed by researchers after the experiment. After the self-directed learning, students filled out a test items and participated interview with a researcher. The result showed that students experienced several misconceptions and errors while using a digital textbook. The types of misconceptions and errors were cataegorized as "misconceptions and errors caused by a mathematics textbook" and "misconceptions and errors caused by a digital textbook". Especially, students showed several important misconceptions and errors because of the design factors. This implies we need to consider the causes of misconceptions for the design of a digital textbook.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.482-496
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• 2013

This study aims to investigate high school students' misconceptions in the subject of Korean geography, and further to create categories to systematically understand the misconceptions. The researcher asked experienced geography teachers to produce a list of students' geographic misconceptions, and then classified the misconceptions. The following five categories were created: 1) self-centered understanding based on everyday life and experience, 2) confusion by words, 3) inappropriate applications of operational definition or geographic concepts, 4) naive inference, and 5) inflexible generalization. The validity of this classification was established through a panel discussion with experts in geography education. The misconceptions that belonged to the categories of naive inference and inflexible generalization occupied a great portion. The misconception list in this study provides a useful data-set for researchers whose interest lies in misconception, and geography teachers can devise a lesson plan that explicitly emphasizes correct geographic concepts to prevent students from establishing misconceptions.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.142-149
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• 2010

In this study, we investigated pre-service chemistry teachers' awareness and perceptions of middle school students' misconceptions and their perceived educational needs. A survey was administered to 87 seniors at the department of chemistry education of five colleges of education. The instrument was consisted of a test for their awareness and perceptions of students' misconceptions on chemistry topics and an educational need test for their experiences and needs for learning them. Analyses of the results revealed that most pre-service teachers were not thoroughly aware of students' misconceptions related to the particulate nature of matter. The perceptions of a necessity of knowing misconceptions and a willingness to deal with them were positive. However there were few pre-service teachers addressing them according to the constructivism. The pre-service teachers encountered misconceptions through chemical education courses, and had difficulties in practicing teaching strategies addressing misconceptions because of limited examples of misconceptions and insufficiencies of methods/materials in teaching. They also needed lectures and practices related to students' misconceptions. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2002

This paper presents a model for diagnosing students'learning misconceptions in the domain of heat and temperature using fuzzy cognitive maps(FCM) and fuzzy associative memory(FAM). In a model for diagnosing learning misconceptions. an FCM can represent with cause and effect between preconceptions and misconceptions that students have about scientific phenomenon. An FAM which represents a neurallike memory for memorizing causal relationships is used to diagnose causes of misconceptions in learning. This study will present a new method for more autonomous and intelligent system than a model to diagnose misconceptions that was being done with classical methods in learning and may contribute as an intelligent tutoring system for learning diagnosis within various educational contexts.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2004

The purpose of this research is to provide useful data in forming sound scientific concepts by investigating elementary students' non-scientific concepts related to their concepts of biological adaptation, and by analyzing the general inclinations and causes of some misconceptions. Twenty-four objective questions were designed to be given to 5th and 6th grade elementary students in order to investigate their concepts of biological adaptation. According to the test results, they formed scientific concepts in most questions. But they appeared to have many misconceptions in some parts which should be guided by the teacher's additional explanations rather than by the education curricula's focus. There are some cases where the 6th grade students had more misconceptions than the 5th grade students who were not systemically taught the concepts of biological adaptation, for the reasons of strengthening or maintaining the misconceptions by confusing the contents of learning. Male and female students have different scientific concepts of different questions according to their interest and attention. Therefore, it is necessary to develop various teaching-learning data which can help the teachers' additional explanations about the concepts of biological adaptation and invoke students' interest and attention, and to seek appropriate measures to form sound scientific concepts among teachers as well as students.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.351-359
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• 2005

The aims of this research are to analyze elementary preservice teacher's conception and causes of their misconceptions on biological reproduction and inheritance. In future, it would be also to provide useful data for the effective teaching-teaming method in the elementary school as well as opportunities to correct their misconceptions, which help elementary preservice teachers have the appropriate scientific conceptions. Thirty kinds of test questions were designed in science curriculum for elementary students and biology textbook for university students in order to develop reproduction and inheritance's concepts. The questionnaire was given to 166 junior students of university of education in a local city. All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 10.0 program. The major results are as follows: Among 30 test questions, 2 questions in plants, 5 questions in animals and 2 questions in gene were appeared as misconceptions over $50\%$. The major reason to hold the misconceptions was influenced by 'learning up to now' category. The selection reasons of response were significantly different between scientific conceptions and misconceptions in 10 questions by analysis of variance. The gender also showed statistically significant differences between scientific conception and misconception in 3 questions by $\chi^2$ test. The selection reasons according to gender were significantly different between male and female students in 5 questions. For the reasons in forming misconceptions, they may cause by stereotype, conscious priority, differences of experiences, interest or attention, lack of professional Knowledge, and so on. Therefore, it was concluded that this research may help elementary preservice teachers to reconsider their conception for reproduction and inheritance and to be successful in science instructions fur elementary students.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.261-271
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• 1997

This study evaluates on students' understanding and misunderstanding of homeostasis, classification of animals and plants, and food production in plants, and analyzes the teacher factor as a possible source of students' misconception. A total number of 863 students and 47 biology teachers at the middle and high school were randomly selected. Students' conceptions and misconceptions were measured with concept evaluation statements (CES) which was translated into Korean by author. The CES was developed and validated by Simson and Marek (1988). Teacher's misconceptions were investigated the way in which teachers marked students' work. The supposed answer given to the teachers to mark was based on misconceptions held by students tested in concept evaluation statements. The results of this study are as follows : 1. 0% of 7th Grade students, 4.5% of 9th Grade students and 5.4% of 11th Grade students understood homeostasis. There was a significant difference at the level of students' understanding of homeostasis according to schools and gender(P<0.05). Many students had a tendency of understanding the conception of the homeostasis by experiences and unscientific use of everyday language rather than a scientific concept. 2. 0.4% of 7th Grade students, 3.1% of 9th Grade students and 2.9% of 11th Grade students understood classification of animals and plants. There was a significant difference at the level of students' understanding of classification of animals and plants according to schools and gender(P<0.05). Students classified animals and plants through personal experiences and observations instead of trying to classify through microscopic analysis of animals and plants cell. 3. 1.2% of 7th Grade students, 10.3% of 9th Grade students and 19.4% of 11th Grade students understood food production in plants. There was a significant difference at the level of students' understanding of food production in plants according to schools and gender(P<0.05). Students had a misconception that food production in plants was done by an absorption of nutrients from soil not by photosynthesis. 4. A large proportion of teachers surveyed in this study appear to have misconceptions about homeostasis (38.1%), classification of animals and plants (34.1%), food production in plants (40.4%). The male teachers had. more misconceptions than female teachers(P<0.05). However, they didn't show any significant differences according to schools and teaching experience(P<0.05). 5. According to the investigation of teachers' perception, 29.8% of the teachers acknowledged that they might be a cause for students' misconceptions. This study shows that 38.3% of teachers did not understand the analyzed biological concepts precisely. By comparing the data of students and teachers, it turned out that teachers participate in the students' misconceptions. And teachers themselves acknowledged that students' misconceptions could be caused by them. Therefore. teachers' right understanding of fundamental biological concepts should precede to students' biology education. New training programs for biology teachers seem to be urgent.