• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.37 no.6
• /
• pp.1005-1014
• /
• 2017

Focusing on the role of the science museum as an institution to improve the scientific literacy of the public, this study investigated public perception and behavior about science museum to know how much science museums affect the public by using social media big data analysis. For this purpose, we extracted texts containing 'science museum' in Naver blogs and Twitter, analyzed them by using network, frequency, co-ocurrence, and semantics analysis and compared them with the results in English speaking countries. As a result, blogs were mainly concerned with science museum among parents who have young children, while in Twitter posts from many students who visited as a group appeared. Therefore, the Korean public used science museum mainly as a space for children's experience, and in this case, programs and exhibitions of science museums are perceived positively. On the other hand, students who visited as a group showed some negative emotions. The result of comparison with the cases of foreign countries in terms of the function of the third generation science museum such as communications with the science museum and the public and the participation of the public in science, the Korean public hardly mentioned the scientific contents, words related to communications such as 'argue', and curators or staff after visiting the science museum. In contrast to many verbs related to meaningful activities such as 'learn', 'participate', 'listen', 'read', 'ask', 'think' appeared in English, only a small number of verbs include 'ask' and 'thin' appeared in Korean. Therefore, science museum need to improve impression, communicating with public, and involving activity with impact and variety after visit.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.189-208
• /
• 2011

In the digital environment where the Internet and IT change rapidly, researchers have utilized scientific information by relying on more complex and various media than before. This study performed a group interview with thirteen questions derived from five categories in order to understand information needs and information seeking behaviors of Korean doctoral researchers in this information environment. The five categories are (1) identifying information resource usage pattern, (2) attitude towards information resources and reasons for use, (3) IT skills and information literacy, (4) physical library use vs electronic access, and (5) attitudes toward the digital library. In particular, this study focused on analyzing similarities and differences of two groups of researchers selected equally in the humanities and social sciences and in science and technology by doing the interview. The research showed that there are no differences in the goal of using scientific information, information literacy, the ratio of using written materials to electronic resources, and routes of acquiring research ideas or knowledge, but there are differences in materials used for studies or researches and in favorite scientific portal sites.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.59-70
• /
• 2021

Ability to make informed decisions by critically evaluating media information on socioscientific issues (SSI) is one of the crucial elements of scientific literacy that citizens should obtain. This study aims to investigate how middle school students evaluated media information about socioscientific issues (SSI) when they faced two different types of information (i.e., numerical and empathic information). To achieve the aim, 96 middle school students responded to the questionnaires asking them to evaluate reliability and persuasiveness of SSI media information. The questionnaires consisted of two sets of newspaper articles on each SSI (pro-numerical/empathic, against-numerical/empathic). After reading the articles, the students evaluated reliability and persuasiveness of each article and wrote the reasons for their evaluation. The results were as follows: First, the students believed that news articles with numerical information were more reliable than the ones with empathic information in all SSI contexts. They tended to trust scientific evidence and data from numerical information, and real cases, societal problems, expressions, and values from empathic information. In addition, they evaluated their reliability based on the logic of information, accuracy of information, breadth and depth of data, and quantity and quality of sources both numerical and empathic information. Second, in case of evaluating persuasiveness of the articles, they focused more on the values that information contained, richness and logicality of the information, rather than the types of information, regardless of the type of information.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.253-264
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate implications of self-directed learning experiments in elementary science education through understanding elementary school students' awareness of their experiences in self-directed learning experiments. Twenty students joined the school science club voluntarily and conducted self-directed learning experiments. We collected data through observation of the experiments, interviews, and questionnaires. The students who participated in the club showed high satisfaction with self-directed learning experiments. The participants were aware that their scientific interest and knowledge, and the confidence in conducting experiments were increased. The students felt positive about the inquiry process of conducting self-directed learning experiments with their own subjects. They also felt a sense of achievement in attempting their experiments in defiance of several failures. The participants realized that the self-directed inquires led to increased declarative and procedural knowledge of science. The students stated that they had some difficulties in coping with the different results contrary to expectations and preparing laboratory materials and instruments. Nonetheless, they showed the promotion of their scientific literacy during overcoming those difficulties. We suggest that self-directed learning experiments can be a more effective way in science learning to make students experience the nature of science than existing school experiments. This can be implemented through a creative experience activities such as science clubs.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.163-178
• /
• 1997

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of categorizing activities in lessons on improving critical thinking to meet energy environment issues in every day situation, supposing that there are not only scientific concepts but also critical thinking ability in scientific literacy to meet social controversies related with science intelligently. Categorizing Activity Program was developed and applied to the 10th grades(n=51) in Seoul for about one month. The program was consisted of two domains. They studied science concepts of various aspects of science, technology and society related with energy and environment in the first and second domain repectively, in the while, two critical tasks which include articles from newspapers and magazines were assigned to them for the development and evaluation of critical thinking abilities. The scores of critical thinking ability, the cognitive element, and critical thinking inclination, the affective element, were increased meaningfully(p<.05). In conclusion, categorizing activity as a strategy of concept attainment was effective in improving critical thinking for seeing various aspects with various view points needed in controversial issues related with energy and environment.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.276-287
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of STEAM program using Kinetic art. This program concentrates upon science and art in elementary school curriculum by 'Kinetic art'. The program was constructed 5 themes : Mobile, Light and Color, Rotation, Energy, Exhibition. The study was conducted 10 classes of the $5^{th}-6^{th}$ grade of the 5 school in G Metropolitan City. 5 classes (N=88) were experimental group and the other classes (N=72) were control group. The results of this study were as follows. First, the experimental group improved the STEAM literacy significantly (p<.01). Second, 10 interviewees who participated this study responded that this program was useful to understand the scientific knowledge, use their creativity, and become intimate with their friends. Third, visitors who watched the exhibition responded that this program will be useful to arose interest in science, understand the scientific knowledge, and improve convergent thinking ability.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.541-554
• /
• 2012

With an emphasis on scientific literary, science education has again became closer to the interests and needs of people and sometimes expands its scope beyond the boundaries of school and the curriculum. Science educators often claim that its historical roots can be traced back to the movements of General Science and Science and Citizenship during the 1920s-40s. This study attempts to re-interpret the historical meanings of the Mechanics' Institute Movement (MIM) from the perspectives of science education. In doing so, this study first introduces the process of the emergence of MIM with a focus on its founder, George Birkbeck, and the Andersonian Institute where evening science classes began to be open to skilled workers. Then the overview of MIM is described, with examples drawn from the London Mechanics' Institute and the Manchester Mechanics' Institute. In discussing science teaching of MIM, the details taken from various mechanics' institutions are examined in terms of why, what, and how to teach sciences. This study argues that the MIM was a unique social phenomenon in which science could respond to the needs of skilled workers through education, providing science learning opportunities which were otherwise unavailable and that the MIM shared many similarities with current practice of science education, moving towards a wider career perspectives, cross-subject, community-based, and informed citizenship.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.57-69
• /
• 2000

The purpose of this study was to seek desirable direction of science teaching and to present meaningful ideas for implementing the science curriculum and teaching materials by measuring the degree of the students' understandings on science and comparing it with those of American students. The researcher comprised 790 primary and middle school students for the study and administered them questionnaires developed by Trowbridge, Bybee, and Sund. The questionnaires were analyzed along with three categories such as science method, science theory, and the achievement of scientists. The researcher used t-test and ANOVA in order to compare the difference of their understandings in accordance with grades and gender, and later compared Korean students' understandings with those of similar aged American students administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) The research loathed to the overall conclusions as follows; Both primary and middle school students' understandings on science revealed positive and appeared no significant difference in gender. And it is thought that science education was being carried out hopefully to enhancing Korean students' scientific literacy, therefore, science teaching like what is implemented to the classrooms currently should be kept on in future. On the other hand, it is necessary to change primary school children's understandings on attitude and value of scientists while to change middle school students' understandings on scientific processes by experiment. Also primary school children need to understand that scientists are willing to change their ideas when new information becomes known.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.356-370
• /
• 2008

The study aims to explore sequence of earth science content in elementary school science curriculum in Korea and the U.S.. The analysis is focused on a) general content structure of earth science part; b) concept relationship between grades in the specific field of 'geology'; c) longitudinal connection of concepts and content in 'geology.' The findings are as follows. First, earth science curriculum content in Korea is structured according to sub-scientific disciplines centering on not science concepts but topics or inquiry activities whereas the U.S. curricular content is organized through integrative earth science topics with basic concepts and sub-concepts. Second, it is a common feature that basic concepts are interrelated to sub-concepts in all grades in both countries. However, basic concepts are scattered all over the grades, presented in a linear pattern in Korea while those are provided together in 3rd grade and repeated with extended concepts in a spiral structure in the U.S.. Last, it is not clear how concepts and content are longitudinally connected between grades in Korean curriculum. On the contrary, concepts and content in the U.S. curriculum have a strong longitudinal connection between grades with conceptual hierarchy. Such results indicate that Korean elementary school science curriculum would limit students' comprehensive understanding of science concepts through grades. The study suggests Korean science content should strengthen interrelationship among concepts as well as longitudinal connection between grades, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of science education, 'scientific literacy'.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.396-410
• /
• 2000

In this study, the concept presentation form, the content coherence of sub-dimensional concepts and the number of concepts of the 6th and the 7th Korean curriculum were analyzed comparing the guide to developing the secondary biology curricula to develop biological literacy with BSCS. According to the result, the discrimination between concept levels in the frame of contents of the Korean curricula is insufficient, because each of concepts presented in the knowledge domain as upper level and sub-dimensional concept elements as lower level are simply arrayed. Considering too much concepts of ecosystem, genetics, reproduction and metabolism, there should be an effort to reform the biological curriculum to include concepts evenly, not in the biased state, to reflect all the 6 unifying principles by BSCS for developing students' biological literacy. Finally there should be an effort to reflect the characteristics of each subjects concretely among Science 10, Biology I and Biology IT in the 7th curriculum considering the result that essential concepts to develop biological literacy are presented more in some principles of Biology II than Biology I. Thinking the results of the present study, concrete discussions should be made to set up the standard reference about biological literacy and to present essential concepts for teaching and learning to develop it in the process of biology textbook development for meeting the 7th Korean curriculum and in the development of 8th Korean curriculum in advance.