• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.141-150
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to critically review the skill-based approach to scientific inquiry in science education and to explore the meaning of science practices that are emphasized in recent science education reform movement. An extensive review of relevant literature was carried out, and the results were summarized according to the detailed themes of the study. In the skill-based approach of which Science-A Process Approach (SAPA) is a representative example, science process skills were presented as hierarchically connected with one another, they were believed to be transferable or generalizable, and science learning through discovery was stressed. These points of view are, however, contradicted with those of the modern philosophy of science which suggests the theory-laden nature of using the skills. The skill-based view has also been criticized by the fact that the use of inquiry skills is content-specific or context-dependent and that science theories or principles cannot be discovered by induction. In contrast, the recent view understands science practices holistically, emphasizes the diverse ways of doing the practices which vary with different contents or contexts, and considers student ideas importantly in the science classroom. The findings of this study can contribute to the development of a new science curriculum by providing implications for establishing a consistent view on scientific inquiry.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.204-217
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• 2008

This study analyzed the inquiry activities appearing in the astronomy sections of elementary, middle and highschool level science textbooks according to the five essential features of inquiry in the classroom as proposed by the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 2000), and SAPA (Science-A Process Approach). On the basis of this analysis, it is clear that the science textbook inquiry activities released the limitation to meet the goal of science education, namely scientific literacy, as it has been laid out by the 7th Science Educational Curriculum. This study revealed that the features of scientific inquiry which are most frequently used in the astronomy sections of science textbooks are 'data collection' and 'form explanation', whereas the features of 'oriented-question', 'evaluate explanations' and 'communicate and justify' rarely appeared. The analysis of inquiry activities by SAPA showed that the basic inquiry skills of 'observing', 'communicating' and 'manipulating materials' were used with increasing frequency according to grade level, and the integrated skills of 'investigating', 'creating models', 'interpreting data' and 'experimenting' were more emphasized in the textbooks. Therefore, it is suggested that students be provided with more opportunities to experience all the features of scientific inquiry and scientific processes as envisioned by the 7th Science Educational Curriculum in order to achieve the stated goal of scientific literacy. Science educators should be required to develop new lesson modules which will allow students to experience authentic scientific inquiry. It is crucial for science teachers to reflect upon and develop their understanding and teaching strategies regarding scientific inquiry through professional development programs in teacher education.