• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.719-738
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine 'orientations toward teaching science (OTS)' of science teachers and to analyze the factors affecting OTS found in middle school science classes. For this purpose, we selected three female teachers as participants named Kim, Ryu, and Park who had various teaching experiences. Semi-structured interviews and classroom observations were gathered for data. After analysis of the characteristics of the teachers' orientations toward teaching science from the data, the factors affecting the orientation were investigated. As results, three types of orientation toward science teaching were observed: inquiry, activity driven, and didactic. These types of orientation toward science teaching were affected by internal factors rather than external factors. The internal factors found out were experience as a student, understanding of the nature of science, curiosity, and reflective thinking.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.252-259
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the status and science teachers' perceptions of classes for those gifted in science in elementary school. For this purpose, a number of questions were posed to teachers : 27-item-questionnaires were given to 38 teachers of students gifted in science in elementary schools located in Incheon province. The results of this study were as follows : 1. most elementary teachers were in charge of classes containing students gifted in science, but this was the case with only a few secondary teachers. Therefore, it appears to be more necessary to educate elementary teachers who majored in science content and gifted education. 2. In addition, most teachers had positive perceptions of the needs, attitudes and environments needed for gifted education. Most of them attended 60-hour training programs on gifted education. They thought that it was helpful in understanding the characteristics of gifted students, but they wanted to learn more about actual pedagogical methods through such programs. 3. The teaching methods used in classes for those gifted in science were mainly experimental activities, but there were few opportunities for creative problem solving and project learning. This may be due to limited class time of about one hour every two weeks in this class. 4. When the materials used in class were first developed, they mainly used materials made by the city board of education and selected the theme of interest by themselves. Therefore, there may be problems of duplication of materials or systems regarding the science contents for one year. 5. Furthermore, the themes of the materials used were mostly related in terms of the contents of textbooks than more generally. When planning and managing the classes for those gifted in science, the above points should be considered in order to improve the education of those students gifted in science.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.32-48
• /
• 2006

The purposes of this study can divided into three parts: First, to investigate high school science teachers' understanding concerning geologic time; second, to analyze contents related to geologic time in the secondary school science textbooks and teachers' guidebooks; and third, to compare the response type of science teachers using the results of the contents. Forty high school science teachers in the Chungbuk province are chosen to answer to the questionnaire. Many teachers (50%) think that the age of Earth is simply measured by radioisotope. However, most of them do not know the measuring method in detail. The over 50% of the teachers think that the uniformitarianism, law of superposition, law of faunal succession law of unconformity, and law of intrusion are the great five laws of historical geology. Many part of the contents related to geologic time in the textbooks and guidebooks are incorrect and described distinctly from each other. Such content includes the age of Earth, age of the oldest rock in Earth, definition and range of geologic time, measuring method of the Earth's age, and law of historical geology. Many of the science teachers do not have a complete understanding of the contents related to geologic time. This study suggests that the reason lies heavily on the contents described in the textbooks and guidebooks. Therefore, it is necessary to review and revise the contents related to geologic time in the textbooks and guidebooks.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.34-48
• /
• 1985

The purpose of this study was to find out healtk education activities of the 435 school nurses in the secondary schools in Seoul. A questionaire was sent by mail on March 11, 1985 and received a total of 252 responds till April 4, 1985. Among them, 230 were included in final analysis. Those of 22 school nurses who have worked not more than one year were excluded. The results of the findings obtained of this study are summarized as follows: 1. An average number of health education activities carried out by the school nurses turned out to be 31.7 times/nurse/year. 2. The practice rates of health education activities by contents of health education were revealed as follows: on parasite disease 89.6%, hepatitis 89.1%, physical examination 87.3%, influenza 84.3%, etc. Health education on drinking and smoking, drug abuse were the lowest rate as 37.8% and 40.9%. 3. The practice rates of health education by the school nurses according to the health education methods were shown as follows: instruction by the teacher 90.9%, bulletin boards in the classroom 73.0%, message to home notices 72.676, etc. 4. Difficulties in carrying out health education programs by the school nurse were analysed accord-ing to Likert's five point scale. The scores on item to the no availability of teaching tools and tips were 3.90, no availability of audiovisual aids 3.801 lack of understanding from the school principals 3. 30, insufficient time of the school nurse 3.26, no guidance or unproper form of health education material 3.20, lack of knowledge of educational method 3.18. As a conclusion of this study, the development of the supporting system to health education activities and programs for improvement of school health education is strongly needed from policy making level.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.41 no.5
• /
• pp.504-519
• /
• 2020

Oceanic fronts, which are areas where sea water with different properties meet in the ocean, play an important role in controlling weather and climate change through air-sea interactions and marine dynamics such as heat and momentum exchange and processes by which properties of sea water are mixed. Such oceanic fronts have long been described in secondary school textbooks with the term 'Jokyung water zone (JWC hereafter) or oceanic front', meaning areas where the different currents met, and were related to fishing grounds in the East Sea. However, higher education materials and marine scientists have not used this term for the past few decades; therefore, the appropriateness of the term needs to be analyzed to remove any misconceptions presented. This study analyzed 11 secondary school textbooks (5 middle school textbooks and 6 high school textbooks) based on the revised 2015 curriculum. A survey of 30 secondary school science teachers was also conducted to analyze their awareness of the problems. An analysis of the textbook contents related to the JWC and fishing grounds found several errors and misconceptions that did not correspond with scientific facts. Although the textbooks mainly uses the concept of the JWC to represent the meeting of cold and warm currents, it would be reasonable to replace it with the more comprehensive term 'oceanic front', which would indicate an area where different properties of sea water-such as its temperature, salinity, density, and velocity-interact. In the textbooks, seasonal changes in the fishing grounds are linked to seasonal changes in the North Korean Cold Current (NKCC), which moves southwards in winter and northwards in summer; this is the complete opposite of previous scientific knowledge, which describes it strengthening in summer. Fishing grounds are not limited to narrow coastal zones; they are widespread throughout the East Sea. The results of the survey of teachers demonstrated that this misconception has persisted for decades. This study emphasized the importance of using scientific knowledge to correct misconceptions related to the JWC, fishing grounds, and the NKCC and addressed the importance of transferring procedures to the curriculum. It is expected that the conclusions of this study will have an important role on textbook revision and teacher education in the future.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.531-538
• /
• 2005

The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the degree of difficulty and the causes of the difficulties in science instruction reported by elementary teachers and students. The secondary purpose was to suggest the effective methods to both of them to improve the efficiency of science instruction. For this study, the survey was carried out on 322 students and 156 teachers in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. The questionnaires consisted of interest, difficulty and its factors. The results of this investigation are summarized as follows; 1. Teachers had relatively higher interest than students in science instruction content(textbook). Furthermore, the units that teachers showed interest differed from those that students had. This means that there is a significant difference of interest in instruction process between teachers and students. 2. Teachers felt much higher difficulty than students in the content of science instruction. This shows that the degree of interest might have little relation with that of difficulty, and that teaching of science seemed more difficult than teaming. Moreover, there was a difference of difficulty in the units between the teachers and students. The result shows a distinctive difference of difficulty in 8 units of the 3rd grade, 9 units n the 4th grade, and 12 units in the 5th grade (p<.05, p<.001, p<.005, respectively). It means that the difficulty depended on the units. 3. Students responded that they are responsible for difficulty factors of teaming, otherwise teachers thought that students are responsible for it, when the factors were divided into student factor, teacher factor, and curriculum factor. 4. Students demanded many experiments in the lab as well as easy and interesting instructions in order to reduce the degree of difficulty and to improve the condition of science instructions. However, teachers demanded the expansion of experimental equipments and materials as well as the improvement of the lab condition.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.54 no.5
• /
• pp.633-642
• /
• 2010

In this study, science teachers' perception and attitude toward nanotechnology are examined through questionnaires gathered from 134 secondary science teachers. As a result, the study shows that science teachers have high perceptiveness. However, they do not understand specific information on nanotechnology correctly. Science teachers have positive attitudes toward nanotechnology and they have perceived risks of nanotechnology as well as benefits of nanotechnology. Science teachers show positive attitudes toward the application of nanotechnology, whereas they show negative attitudes toward personal information chip and nano-taste enhancer. Science teachers are exposed to nanotechnology via various sources such as TV and internet, whereas teachers rarely get information on nanotechnology-related concepts in textbooks and teaching resources. Science teachers have perceived many textbooks do not introduce enough nanotechnology-related concepts. Many teachers try to explain the nanotechnology when textbooks include nanotechnology-related concepts, whereas quite a few of teachers do not introduce the nanotechnology-related concepts in class.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.664-674
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of the teaching and learning programs for science teachers' scientific hypothesis testing-method invention. Subjects were 30 secondary school science teachers. The potato juice task was administered to the subjects before and after instructional treatments. The four-step strategy including the steps of identifying factors, identifying variables, selecting variables and inventing methods, was applied to the development of the teaching and learning programs for the science teachers. The programs were developed by 6 experts through the R&D method. The results of this study revealed that the number and elaborateness of science teachers' scientific hypothesis testing-methods increased after the instructional treatments. The testing ability of testing-methods invented by science teachers in the posttest was stronger than the one of the methods invented in the pretest. This study also discussed the implications of these findings for teaching and learning in science education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.331-345
• /
• 2012

As a case study on the use of mentoring as a method of improving novice teachers' teaching professionalism in secondary science-gifted education, this study investigated the characteristics of mentoring science instructions for science-gifted students at the plan, performance, evaluation, and post-mentoring stages of the classes. One mentor and two mentees were selected, and mentoring in each mentee's instructions was conducted during nine classes over three times. We observed the total classes, and analyzed taped videos, the materials, the transcripts for mentoring and in-depth interviews, and field notes. The analyses of the results indicated that the characteristics of mentoring instructions, at the planning stage of the classes, exhibited the construction of more systematic classes, the escape from the schema that science instructions for science-gifted students were instructions using somewhat difficult experiments and the uses of diverse teaching strategies, the influence of the psychological burdens on developing science-gifted education programs, and the increase of the time preparing the classes. At the performance stage of the classes, the characteristics included the improvement in the quality of the classes, the influence of the psychological burdens on teaching the classes, and the inducements of some confusion on performing them. At the evaluation stage of the classes, the characteristics included the provision of the opportunities in deeply reflecting my own classes, and the provision of the practical power for improving the classes. Finally, the characteristics at the postmentoring stage could be attributed to the increase of mentees' self-confidence about their instructions and some development of mentors' teaching professionalism/mentoring skills.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.43 no.3
• /
• pp.295-306
• /
• 2023

In this study, we explored science teachers' perceptions of adaptive practice in terms of importance and practice. For this purpose, an adaptive practice questionnaire was developed targeting secondary science teachers, and the responses of 128 science teachers were analyzed. The results of this study were as follows: First, the science teachers responded that all 17 items regarding adaptive practice were important. In particular, items related to 'addition of examples', 'adjustment of the level/range of concepts', and 'encouragement of student participation' showed high importance and performance levels. Second, the results of the IPA concerning adaptive practice showed that the items needing intensive improvement due to high importance but low performance were 'encouraging students' self-directed learning' and 'monitoring and responding to individual differences'. The science teachers identified a lack of time and uniform curriculum as the reasons for the low level of practice despite the high importance of these items. Third, regarding the IPA of the adaptive practice items, the items located in the fourth area, an excessive area, concerned 'pace control', 'modifying activities', and 'metaphor use'. More specifically, considering that 'metaphor use' was the only item with a higher level of performance than importance, it is necessary to reconsider whether problems are caused by excessive use. Fourth, analyzing the responses regarding the reasons for the difference in importance and performance revealed that the factors related to teachers included teachers' lack of knowledge or ability, and the tendency to implement as planned. As for student factors, an excessive number of students, differences in the levels of students, and a tendency to prefer classes centered on entrance exams were identified. As environmental factors, a uniform curriculum, conditions for experiments, evaluation systems, and external demands were mentioned. Finally, the implications of the results of this study for science education were discussed.