• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.337-348
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to examine epistemic thinking in middle school students in an argument-based inquiry science class. Participants of the study were 93 9th grade students from four classes of a middle school in a metropolitan city. Observations were made over one semester during which argument-based inquiry lessons on five subjects were conducted. Data was collected from argument-based inquiry activity worksheets and student questionnaires. After analysis of epistemic thinking in the written reflections, students were found to have the highest frequency of epistemic metacognitive skills, followed by epistemic cognition, epistemic metacognitive experience, and epistemic metacognitive knowledge. While investigating the effects of an argument-based inquiry science class on student epistemic thinking and after analysis of the reflections written for the first ABI activity and the fifth ABI activity, we found that all of the sub-elements of epistemic thinking have increased. The rate of growth for epistemic cognition is greatest, followed by epistemic metacognitive knowledge and epistemic metacognitive skills. Assessed for epistemic thinking, the level of epistemic thinking improved over the course of the argument-based inquiry science class. The results of the survey show that students actively participating and being recognized for their active participation in the argument-based inquiry science class are helpful in understanding scientific knowledge. Therefore, an argument-based inquiry science class is a teaching and learning program that allows students to understand and experience the epistemic nature of scientific knowledge and its construction through collaboration and agreement.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.96-108
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to investigate how prospective elementary school teachers perceived teacher's inquiryoriented teaching practice, with an emphasis on students' scientific explanations based on scientific evidence. For this study, 94 prospective elementary school teachers were participated. 14 among 94 participants had chances to intensively experience this particular teaching methods for 15 weeks. All of the 94 participants observed the intended science teaching practice for 4th graders in two different elementary schools, which utilized the science talks emphasizing students' scientific explanation activity. For quantitative data analysis, they were asked to provide their reaction to the science teaching methods after their classroom observation. For qualitative data analysis, 5 among the participants, who had relatively long term experience with this teaching practice, were chosen to interview in order to understand their individual reasons of the ways they perceived about the inquiry-oriented teaching methods boosting students' scientific explanation. The results show that the prospective elementary teachers generally thought the emphasis of students' scientific explanation based on scientific evidence could enhance young elementary students' science content understanding, stimulate their curiosity/interests, and further develop their ability to engage actively in scientific discussions. However, some prospective teachers tended to think that the science teaching. methods would not be effective in terms of managing science classes, though. This study concludes that the prospective teachers tended to hold an endemic dilemma. On the one hand, they had their clear preference to the inquiry-oriented teaching practice as the most ideal teaching methods. On the other hand, they also had their persistent hesitance in using these methods due to their fear that elementary students might not adequately grasp the important science content when engaged in scientific discourse through an inquiry-oriented class.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.273-290
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• 2017

The purposes of this study are to develop a measuring instrument for perception of science classes based on the view of 'Community of Inquiry in Science Classroom' and to investigate elementary school students' perceptions with the instrument developed in the study. A total of 417 6th grade students participated in this study. As a result, first, we developed two set of questionnaire: (a) the questionnaire for the 'process of inquiry' consisted of six factors: 'problem recognition I: recognition of inconsistency,' 'problem recognition II: interests,' 'problem explanation I: hypothesis generation and examination,' 'problem explanation II: cooperative review,' 'problem solving I: reflection on the change of relationship with objects/conceptions,' and 'problem solving II: reflection on the change of relationship with community/ inquirer,' comprising a total of 42 items; (b) the questionnaire for the 'basis of inquiry' consisted of three factors:'will of conducting inquiry,' 'attitudes of conducting inquiry,' and 'structure of communication,' comprising a total of 17 items. Second, we found that elementary school students had positive recognition generally on their science classes in terms of the 'community of inquiry in science classroom,' but they had relatively negative recognition on the factors of problem recognition based on recognition of inconsistency, problem solving accompanied with reflection on the change of relationship with objects/conceptions, and attitudes of conducting inquiry based on severity and fallibilism, Finally, several suggestions for the science education were given.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.401-415
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• 2006

The science education reforms put the emphasis of scientific literacy, so that students can understand how scientific knowledge is constructed through scientific inquiry at schools. However, scientific inquiry at schools has a problem as a cookbook system without the opportunity of developing argumentation, where students could understand how they use evidence to support their theory or vice versa. Teachers are supposed to understand the basic elements, purpose, and definition of scientific inquiry to implement authentic scientific inquiry at schools, then develop the instructional strategies of providing the opportunity of scientific argumentation to meet its needs.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.210-224
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate science teachers' orientation toward scientific inquiry-based teaching. In this study, five middle school science teachers formed and participated in a teacher learning community for scientific inquiry-based instruction during one year. Data collection consisted of pre and post questionnaire and interviews, audio-recordings of teachers' collaborative lesson planning and reflection on teaching practice, and field notes of participant teachers' teaching practice and follow-up interviews. Data analysis indicated that there were four orientations toward scientific inquiry-based teaching. They were knowledge and beliefs about 'goals of scientific inquiry-based teaching', 'scientific inquiry-based teaching and learning', 'argumentation-based teaching and learning', and 'nature of science and science inquiry'. Teachers' collaboration in a teacher learning community would be effective in facilitating teachers' orientation to scientific inquiry-based teaching.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 1999

The major purposes of this study are to examine the effects of portfolio assessment on elementary school student's science knowledge, inquiry ability, science attitudes and to investigate students' perceptions on portfolio assessment. Control group consists of 45 fourth-graders at M-Elementary school located at Miwon, Chongwon-gun, Chung-buk and experimental group 36 fourth-graders of G-Elementary school located in Daejeon-si. The inventories of scientific knowledge I, inquiry ability, and science attitudes were administered to both groups as a pre-test. The experimental group was given portfolio assessment instruction and control group traditional instruction for about six weeks. Inventories about scientific knowledge 2, inquiry ability, and science attitudes were administered to both groups as a post-test. A questionnaire on the perception on portfolio assessment was given to experimental group after the treatment. The results were statistically analyzed with SPSS. Control group showed higher score on scientific knowledge than that of experimental group (p<0.5). No statistically meaningful difference was identified in inquiry ability and scientific attitude. More in-depth analysis revealed that scientific attitudes were improved statistically meaningfully by portfolio assessment. The students' perceptions on portfolio assessment is very positive. Students have positive responses on interests in portfolio assessment, feelings of involvement in learning, self-regulated learning, higher levels of thinking, intentions of participation in portfolio assessment.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.175-189
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• 1996

There is a growing tendency that it gives the first primacy to inquiry learning as lesson style from lecture or simple experiment in present primary. middle and high school. But in fact. inquiry learning is difficult due to space limit, lack of laboratory, instruments and program for inquiry learning. Therefore, it is very important for science camp which stimulates much interest in science to be activated by doing of scientific activities in out-of-doors. This study is to investigate the present operational status and educational effects of science camp in which Korean and American students and teachers found. The science camps held by Seoul YMCA Chong-Ro BR. and Dongdaemun BR., Bun-Dong middle school, and Cho-Sun IL BO and Inkel corp., were analyzed. The 284 students and 12 teachers who take part in science camps in Seoul YMCA Chong-Ro BR. and Bun-Dong middle school, and 197 students who attending in 6 schools in seoul were questionaired. The 37 American students and 16 teachers in Pennsylvania, were also questionaired, Most students and teachers thought it useful regarding science-program which proceeded at science camps. And it was thought that science program had much relation to science class in school, especially science-camp made it help to arouse interests on science.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.398-411
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of research project activities using the science writing heuristic on science inquiry abilities and attitudes toward science in high school students. For this purpose, we conducted the research project activities using the science writing heuristic consisting of questioning, experimental design, observation, argument and evidence, reading, and reflection steps for 73 students of the second year of science core course in high school in Jeonnam. In order to analyze the effects of the program, we surveyed the scientific inquiry ability and attitude toward science, investigated the perception of the research project class applying science writing heuristic, and conducted interviews when there was difficulty in interpreting the results. And the results of this study are as follows. First, among the science inquiry abilities, the score of Reasoning, Hypothesis setting, Finding variables, Operational definition, Experimental design, Graphing and data interpretation, Generalization was significantly improved statistically (p<.05), but the score of Expectation was not statistically significant (p>.05). Second, among the attitudes toward science, the score of 'Leisure interest in science', 'Enjoyment of science lessons', 'Career interest in science' was significantly improved statistically (p<.05). And the score of 'Attitude to scientific inquiry' decreased but it's not significant statistically. The high school research project applying science writing heuristic had a positive effect on scientific inquiry ability and scientific attitude but it could be burden to students because it is led by students in a form different from general science class for a long time. And so continuous study on research project that minimize these disadvantages and maximize their merits is needed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.239-245
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• 2003

The primary purpose of the study was to determine the appropriateness o the inquiry processes and its activities as described in Science 8's which were written according to the 7th National Science Curriculum. It was found that the basic processes were well reflected on the textbooks analyzed for the research. However, only a few integrated processes and the inquiry activities could be read on the same textbooks. Furthermore, a large majority of the inquiry processes and activities were not agreed with what the tasks and titles say. Especially, the none of as many as 216 experiments were not coincided with their titles' intentions. Also suggested in the paper were the implications of the results for inquiry-based science education in the Korean middle schools.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.773-783
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• 2014

In National Curriculum of Science revised in 2007, the Free Inquiry was newly introduced to increase students' interest in science and to foster creativity by having students make their own question and find answer by themselves. The purpose of the study was to analyze characteristics, in cognitive domain, appeared in the processes of performing the Free Inquiry activities applying a brain-based evolutionary science teaching and learning principles. For this study, 106 fifth grade students participated, and they performed individually Free Inquiry activities. In order to characterize of the diversifying, estimating-evaluating-executing, and extending-applying activities in cognitive domain (C-DEF), the Free Inquiry diary constructed by the students, observations by a researcher, and interviews with the students were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The major results of this study were as follows: First, at C-D step, many students (71.5%) had difficulty in searching the meanings of their results and the contents of interpretations were at the level of simple description of their results. A few students (15.2%) derived interpretations based on causal relationships between specific variable and result. Also, the tendency that the numbers of interpretation about meaning of their results were increased as the scores of science attitude and achievement was appeared. Second, at C-E step, the students showed tendency of considering facts exactly explaining inquiry topic and being appliable to daily life rather than objectivity or accuracy of scientific knowledge. Third, at C-F step, there were three types of extension and application: simple repetition (8.2%), extension (64.0%), and upward application (17.6%) types. Based on these findings, implications for supporting appropriate interpretation, evaluation, and application of inquiry results are discussed.