• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.428-434
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• 2013

In this commentary, I examined the implications of Existentialism for science teaching and teacher education. Existentialist thoughts and premises can be used to explore the human element in an educational system. Before emphasizing the pragmatic and technical aspects of teaching, we need to rethink why we teach and recognize our learners as unique beings in a continual process of becoming. By incorporating the existential perspective into curriculums and pedagogies of science education, we can help learners to make their existences and experiences meaningful. This paper consists of three parts. In the first part, I drew on relevant aspects of Existentialism and its implications on the views of the learner. In the second part, I examined the competency-based curriculum in light of Existentialism. Existentialism aims, in part, to develop an educated person who possesses a clear sense of personal identity, a critical attitude, and the inclination to be a life-long learner, and so on. These characteristics are consistent with the implications developed from the competency-based curriculum. In the third part, I explored pedagogical activities consistent with existentialist thinking the ultimate goal of which is to create authentic individuals who can take responsibility for being humans. In the conclusion, I discussed how existentialist ways of thinking and teaching call for the science teacher's reflective practices, where the teacher needs to integrate personal and professional knowledge as the situation demands.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.161-180
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• 2012

The international standard for the school library suggests that school librarians qualified for librarian and teacher should run the school library. And library assistants should support the teacher librarian to carry out a role as a teacher. Despite the difference of requirements, librarians without teachers' license are under the human resources for school library administration. Furthermore, the job description between the school librarian and librarian is not well-defined in Korea. The different requirements in the library standards and the school library related laws have led to weaken professionalism and social status of librarianship. The condition that teacher librarians are not in the school library have brought the pressure to overcome imperfect functions of the school library and unfairness of educational services. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to strengthen teacher librarians' qualification system to improve their identity as educational subject specialist librarians. We ought to also build proper foundations of social recognition about librarianship through classifying the types of human resources in the school library into the teacher librarian, library paraprofessional and volunteers. Especially we should hold the job analysis based on administrator, teacher, service, leader, collaboration, and partner.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.901-917
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to develop the questionnaire on pre-service elementary teachers' recognition of self-understanding and change capacity for science education and to investigate their recognitions with it. At the beginning of the study, we made a tool to investigate the self-understanding and change capacity of pre-service elementary teachers through literature review and discussions. The former half of the questionnaire was related to self-understanding with factors such as 'self-concept clarity,' 'career identity' and 'self-efficacy:' 'self-understanding as a pre-service elementary teacher' (12 items) and 'self-understanding as a pre-service elementary science teacher' (12 items). Its latter half was about the change capacity with factors such as 'change sensitivity,' 'goal consciousness,' 'collaboration,' 'reflection,' and 'mastery.' It consisted of three parts: 'general change capacity,' 'change capacity as a pre-service elementary teacher' and 'change capacity as a pre-service elementary science teacher' with 17 items, respectively. With this tool, we surveyed 153 pre-service elementary teachers. The results are as follows: First, pre-service elementary teachers have a positive recognition about self-understanding and change capacity, but the recognition of self-understanding and change capacity as pre-service elementary science teachers were relatively less positive. Second, factors of self-understanding and change capacity as pre-service elementary science teachers have a significant correlation with each other. Especially, there was a high correlation between 'self-efficacy' of self-understanding and 'goal consciousness' and 'mastery' of change capacity. Based on these results, some implications for self-understanding and change capacity related to science education were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.297-310
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• 2021

This study explores the characteristics of within-school and across-school science teacher professional learning communities (hereafter, PLC) qualitatively. In-depth focus group interviews were conducted with science teachers belonging to seven PLCs within the science core school and three PLCs across schools. Interview questions include identity and motivation, major activities, and outcomes of PLC, as well as shortcomings and support plans for PLC. The results include both within-school and across-school science teacher PLCs formed for professional development related to science teaching and learning. Both science PLCs participated in the study showed the characteristics of a 'practice community' that developed a cooperative relationship through reciprocal participation, focusing on shared issues among members. Regarding issues, within-school PLCs focused on microscopic problems such as curriculum reconstruction of subject-matter, while across-school PLCs focused on macro problems such as teacher professional development. Regarding activities and roles as PLC, within-school and across-school science PLCs shared such features as collaborative professional development, and interpersonal education such as mentoring for novice teachers. In terms of PLC's influence and outcomes, science teacher PLCs has a positive effect not only on the teachers themselves, but also on the students and the teacher culture in the school. In addition, science teacher PLCs need improvement of the physical conditions for community operation, and software support such as protocol provision for PLC operation and joint research or re-education with universities. In particular, joint research between universities and science teacher PLCs shows the future orientation of the PLC as an 'inquiry community'. Based on the results, the necessity of active support for science PLC, the necessity of developing a cooperative system between science teacher PLC and universities, and ways to spread the PLC of science core schools to that of general schools were proposed.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.27-44
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• 2021

This study is to identify the concept of action from the critical science perspective and to explore the agency of home economics teachers for the purpose of teacher education. The context and various characteristics of home economics teacher' agency were identified in terms of philosophy and teacher education. The results of the study indicates, first, the concept of action refers to an activity of individuals involving one's own intentions, and include the ability to reveal a unique identity that aims to reach a set purpose and decision, and this can be identified by mutual meaning in the public sphere. Second, teacher agency is influenced by a teacher's professional experiences and cultural and structural aspects, and it can create an environment which can promote self-directed and cooperative relationships among individuals and communities. Therefore, home economics teachers should be able to reasonably judge, contemplate, and act through reflections on the circumstances and consequences in which their agency is exercised. Third, home economics teachers can reflect and think critically about the values, roles, and sense of purpose of home economics education based on agency. Teachers should focus on the process of achieving their agency rather than on completing it, and they can continuously develop it through a perceived shared understanding among teachers. Therefore, the conceptualization of the agency of home economics teachers is to understand the practice revealed in a teacher's actions. This requires environmental support in school settings because it acts as a mechanism for strengthening the thinking and reflection of teachers through the creation of interactive environments in which professional knowledge and experiences can be shared.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.739-756
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• 2016

The purpose of the study is to reflect on 'myself' as a teacher educator of college of education in depth and to improve my instruction through self-study with three critical collaborators. 17 pre-service science teachers and I have participated in this study of a teacher educator's course since March 2016 after the preliminary practice in 2015. The video recorded the course for 11 weeks with about 40 hours of lessons. The data source also included teacher educator's reflective journals, lecture evaluations, online boards and so on. Questionnaires were distributed and answered both at the beginning and at the end of the course and pre-service teachers wrote their reflective journals. Four of them were in the focus group interviews. During the course, the weekly group meeting of critical collaborators analyzed the emerging issues based on the lesson clips and teacher educator's reflective journals with discussion for the course innovation. Four phases were revealed in the process and for the purpose of the course such as exploration, conflicts, challenges, and changes. The results showed that first, we identified tensions among the teacher educator's multiple identities as a lecturer, a faculty member, and a researcher. Second, there were differences between goals of teacher educator and pre-service teachers in the course, and this obstructed the success of the course sometimes. Third, these practices led to explore balanced alternative views and interpretations of the problem by critical views and to expand and improve our teaching practice and thinking. In addition, the self-study with critical collaborators helped to bring conflicts and issues below my practice to light for collaborative reflection and it gave a chance to understand ourselves as teacher educators in different ways.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.437-451
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• 2013

This study was conducted as a part of the project to establish professional development system(PDS) for teachers in Korea. This study aimed to provide a case of running a professional learning community(PLC) of teachers in science education based on the collaboration of a national university of education and its affiliated elementary school, in search of learning by participants and implications for professional development of teachers as well as for science teaching in elementary schools. Teachers and researchers who participated in the PLC were able to accumulate meaningful experiences through 11 rounds of meetings. It was not easy to secure enough time for meetings, but they were able to boost their self-confidence for science teaching and enhance the quality of lessons through these gatherings. Participating teachers had a chance to share instructional design, planning, strategies and practices, which include cases of guiding free-choice research activities among students, thereby to be motivated for improved science teaching for the future. The researcher participating in this PLC was also able to understand the identity of an elementary school, especially the affiliated school, and identify the reality and difficulties related to science teaching in schools. Experiences of participating in PLC are expected to help improve the quality of science teaching in affiliated elementary school and pre-service teacher education of the university.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.451-465
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges of pre-service teachers for good science teaching with focus on the process of imparting meaning of teaching subject. We have detailed research questions such as, 'What the pre-service teachers thought about teaching subject? How they grasped the meaning of the teaching subject? and What kinds of methods they have used to expose the meaning in their classes?'. We had four pre-service teachers who took the class 'Teaching methods in physics teaching' as voluntary participants in the first semester of 2017. The results show that there are common features in the process of imparting meaning of the teaching subject. The participants started to think about fundamental/existential answer to the question, 'Why should we teach science to students?'. In addition, they grasped the meaning of the teaching subject by using the specific key words. And they tried to link the teaching components with the teaching subject as the center. This challenging process led pre-service teachers to form teachers' identity and to enhance teacher professionalism.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.77-91
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• 2010

This study examined the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) National Standards with some examples at the state level, analyzed the previous studies relevant to curriculum implementation in the USA, and explored critical success factors in moving toward the new perspective curriculum in exemplary states. The process, in which the FCS discipline struggled to clarify the identity and image as well as to find the mission and vision, produced the FCS National Standards in 1998 and 2008 in the USA. The FCS National Standards were established to fulfill the mission of the FCS based on a critical science perspective. The previous research on a state level implementation indicated that the majority of FCS state administrators agreed that the National Standards positively influenced curriculum development. The critical success factors in integrating National Standards into local programs included the dissemination of thephilosophical works of Marjorie Brown, the foundation of the FCS curriculum with a critical science perspective, the establishment of National Standards corresponding to the philosophical works and a critical science perspective, the openness of state FCS administrators to educational reform, the construction of an infrastructure to support reform, and the commitment by university professors to develop a teacher training program. The critical success factors identified can be employed as an informative guide for the future development and implementation of the Family and Consumer Sciences curriculum in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.136-147
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• 2024

It has recently be emphasized in science education that lessons that can develop "scientific participation and action" should be implemented to scientifically recognize various problems and respond to them as well as risks that occur in real life. This study aims to analyze the characteristics of scientific participation and action lessons as perceived by the preservice primary school teachers. To do that, the researchers collected and analyzed the lesson plans designed by the preservice teachers based on the achievement standard related to noise for grades 3-4 in 2022 revised science curriculum. Focusing on the stages of "problem recognition," "data collection and analysis," and "implementation and sharing," the results identity the four main characteristics as problem-solving activity, inquiry activity, investigative activity, and activity that encourages practical actions. The two or three features were found to be combinated in a lesson depending on its context. In some cases, only one feature was seen in a lesson. Based on the results, educational implications were discussed in terms of the teaching and learning methods and teacher education for implementing scientific participation and action.