• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.102-116
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• 2008

In their teaching practice, teachers encounter multi-dimensions of pedagogical challenges. The recognition and reflection on these challenges is crucial to advance our science teaching. This study looked into science teachers' dilemmas of their teaching practical work through their written cases. Dilemma cases are teachers' narratives organized around important events of teaching and learning. It can reveal teachers' situated cognition and be used as lens to investigate complex realities of science teaching and learning. 26 pre- and in-service elementary teachers' dilemma cases of science practical work were carefully collected and analysed to interpret what constitute tensions in elementary science practical works. They were largely grouped into three: Curriculum and Institutional Relevance, Students Relevance, Nature of School Experiments Relevance and divided into 7 subheadings: 'Authority of Curriculum(textbook)', 'Disappointment at external support', 'Students' interests and safety', 'Students' unscientific and inert attitude', 'Difficulty of showing expected results', 'Generalization through experiment', 'Knowledge acquisition and authentic inquiry'. Each dilemma was interpreted in terms of the tensions which constitute contradictory beliefs, values, expectation and realities. These dilemmas enabled to expose actual conditions of elementary science practical work and teachers' challenges otherwise can not be seen easily. Science teacher educators also can get some implications to overcome the gap between theory and practice in their teacher education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.366-378
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• 1994

The titled study has been conducted by collecting questionnaires from 146 secondary school science teachers. The results analysed are as follows. 1. More than half of the science teachers think that they have too much loads on teaching and other works. They hope to teach 15 hours a week or less and also to be waived from extra works not related with teaching. 2. Most of the science teachers think that they are not paid enough salary. And more than half of them feel their economic and social status are below average. 3. Science teachers think that they have good relations with their colleagues but many of them are not much satisfied with the attitudes of students and their parents. 4. Science teachers want better facilities for teaching and for their office. 5. Science teachers feel difficult in teaching laboratory class. They pointed out that it is time-consuming to prepare for experiments and clean up the laboratory and that evaluation of experimental work is not easy. 6. Science teachers appeal that they have difficulties in teaching inquiry skills due to the crowded class and also lack of teaching materials for this purpose.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.250-262
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• 1995

Investigation on the appendices was carried out to acquire teaching materials about improvement of a appendices and development of teaching-learning activities for science textbooks in Korean middle schools. We analysed the appendices for 30 kinds of science textbooks used in Korean middle schools during $1969{\sim}1994$ years. In the results there were three kinds of pattern for the appendices, such as appendix, non-appendix, and similar appendix without appendix title. The content of appendices were summarized as six categories. such as list of science and scientist history, SI unit-constants and symbols, handling methods of instruments for basic experiments, measuring methods and inquiry activity, safety and precautions, and supplementary data with figures and tables. The appendices of six categories were mostly a content of general and integrated science, and were concentrated in the first grader's textbooks. There were many appendices about the methods for basic experiments such as 'How to Use of Experimental Appliances' in the first grader's science textbooks, but there was no or lack of them in the second and the third grader's science textbooks in the middle school. By the ratio to the pages of appendices which were included according to curriculum changes. the ratio was found to be 4.47% which was the highest in middle school science textbooks at the second curriculum and to be 3.47% which was the highest in high school biology textbooks at the second curriculum. The results of this study indicated that the science textbooks should include as many appendices as possible, because teachers could utilize them in teaching activities and students should be able to be given much help in self-learning.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.309-318
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• 2003

Scientific reasoning is one of the main concerns in current science education. This study have tried to answer on the question whether Korean science education has the potential to help improve of students' ability to think scientifically. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationship between reasoning patterns evident in science textbook and science examination items, and students' scientific reasoning skills across grades in Korea. 1975 subjects (1022 females and 953 males) were administered in the Lawson's Test of Scientific Reasoning skills. Forty seven science textbooks and 240 assessment instrument were analyzed by several scientific reasoning keys. Scientific reasoning patterns were adopted from Lawson's classification which characterized the patterns as the empirical-inductive and the hypothetical-deductive. This study found that reasoning patterns evident in textbook analyses and assessment instrumental items do not evidentce the potential to stimulate the development of students' reasoning skill. In order to improve the students' abilities to think and achieve, higher levels of reasoning must be included in the science textbook and examination. Further, some of scientific reasoning processes, such as generating hypotheses, designing experiments, and logical prediction, were not found in science textbooks and test items in Korean secondary schools. This study also discussed the educational implication of these results and further studies about to develop student's reasoning ability.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.562-573
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teaching-learning programs from the perspective of brain-based learning science. Four units in 5th grade elementary science programs of the Revised 2007 National Curriculum were selected as contents to study. As the brain-based learning science analysis method, equations of the brain compatibleness index (BCI) and contribution degree on the brain compatibleness index (BCICRE) were applied to them. This study showed that there were qualitative and quantitative differences among the analyzed teaching-learning programs through the unit and curriculum. The results showed that hands-on activities like experiments or open inquiry activities improved their evaluation of the teaching-learning programs. From the analyzing, teachers can judge whether each teaching-learning program made considered the brain of the learners. Furthermore, this study can provide useful information to consult of various science teaching-learning programs brain-based learning.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.209-219
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• 2024

We studied the effects of science high school students on the change of epistemological beliefs in chemistry and the academic achievement of chemistry by completing 'advanced chemistry'. For seven months from July 2023 to January 2024, 80 first-year students at G Science High School in Gyeongnam were surveyed and analyzed for epistemological beliefs about chemistry before and after classes in advanced chemistry. Chemistry academic achievement was classified by 'upper' and 'lower' levels based on the end-of-semester grades of 'advanced chemistry' in the second semester of the first year and analyzed with the SPSS 28 program. After completing advanced chemistry, the epistemological belief in chemistry increased in the proportion of favorable responses. After completing advanced chemistry, the proportion of favorable responses increased in detailed factors such as 'effort', 'math link', 'outcome', 'reality link', and 'concepts', while the 'visualization' factor decreased. Although completing 'advanced chemistry' positively changed students' epistemological beliefs about chemistry, visual expression showed little contribution to understanding chemical concepts. Based on the above results, we will have to focus on the design of instructors' teaching-learning, such as learner-centered inquiry experiments, creative visual expressions, etc., for successful chemistry teaching-learning.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.173-192
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to develop inquiry modules for learning straight propagation of light, to verify their efficiency, and to acquire implications. this study proposes teaching modules for improvements of light experiments, which were developed in this work. Inquiry modules were applied to 75 school teachers(8 elementary school teachers, 67 middle school and high school teachers) for examining that the modules make teachers have the scientific concepts. Then, conception changes were analyzed except 5 teachers who responded poorly. The pre-test result shows that most teachers have alternative conceptions, which is that they thought the bright shape on apparatus's bottom panel itself shown in the textbook as evidence for the path of light's straight propagation. The post-test result shows this alternative conception was changed into scientific conception. Unlikely pretest, most teachers' conception was changed into the scientific conception that the light come from a light source. Teachers are able to express that the light beam comes from a miniature electric bulb. Further more, most teachers can draw light's path correctly; from the miniature electric bulb, through vertical panel having a hole, to the apparatus bottom.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to compare student-student verbal interaction from two type's experiments; problem-solving and task-solving. For this study, five 3rd grade middle school students were selected and their verbal interactions recorded via voice and video; and later transcribed. The student-student verbal interactions were classified as questions, explanations, thoughts, or metacognition fields, which were separated into deep versus surface learning approaches. For the problem-solving experiment, findings revealed that the number of verbal interactions is more than doubled and in particular, the number of verbal interactions using deep-approach is more than quadrupled from the point of problem-recognition to problem-solution. As for the task-solving experiment, findings showed that verbal interactions remained evenly distributed throughout the entire experiment. Finally, it was also discovered that students relied upon a more deep learning approach during the problem-solving experiment than the task-solving experiment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to introduce the science-play in the regular class, stimulate the student's curiosity, motivate them and take active part in their science class. To make an effective science class, we developed the science-play activity instead of experiments in the text, and applied it to the class. The experimental group has statistically meaningful results in the science process skills, expecially in subordinate elements such as observation, deduction, expectation, data analysis and assumption establishments(p<.01). However, the comparative group has no meaningful results in the science process skills. Though the average value of the science related attitude in the experimental group had only a little increase and had no statistically meaningful results, that in the comparative group has decreased during the same period. As for the experimental group, the science-play activities were repeated and their science related attitude has increased a little. Even though there were no meaningful statistic results(p>.05), the science-play activity was effective in the science related attitude. As a result of this research, it could be said that the science-play activity can improve the student's science process skills and the science related attitude, and the science-play program should be further developed and applied to make easy and effective science classes.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.475-493
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• 2020

In Korea, the lower elementary grades are applying a topic-oriented integrated curriculum. It causes a lack of science content and inquiry experience for young children. The purpose of this study is to understand the scientific experiences and perceptions of the lower elementary graders and to inquire about the meaning of those experiences in their science learning. Four students (male 2, female 2), their parents, and their first-year homeroom teachers participated in the study. The data collection was mainly conducted through in-depth interview of them. Results showed that the 'experiments' were the student's the main perception of science, and the epistemic emotion that students mainly feel about science was 'curiousness'. Since most experiences were dependent on non-formal educational experience, the parents were an important factor to determine their experiences about science. Various factors, such as students' scientific experiences, their epistemic emotions, and the parents, interacted to form children's perception of science. The positive perception of science affected the level of motivation and expectation for science learning as the third grade. It is suggested that improvement of curriculum and textbooks should emphasize scientific exploration for the lower graders of elementary school, which provides them meaningful scientific experience in school.