• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.578-588
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to develope the more effective chemistry teaching strategy through analyzing the demanded cognitive levels of contents in high school chemistry I textbooks and the cognitive levels of students who learn these textbooks. For this purpose, the levets of cognitive development stages of 821 second grade students of high schools in Seoul City were anaIyzed using the GALT short version test. The demanded cognitive levels of understanding the contents of chemistry I textbooks in high school were analyzed using the curriculum analysis taxonomy developed by CSMS (Concept in Secondaly Mathematics and Science) program of the Great Britain. The resuIts showed that the proportion of students in the concrete operational stage, the transition stage, and the formal operational stage was l0.7%, 43.0% and 46.3%, respectively. The demanded levels of textbook contents were mostly the early formal operational stages. The concepts demanded the level of the late formal operational stage were 'atomic and molecular weight', 'stoichiometry of chemical reaction', and 'periodic properties of elements'. The results will be helpful for teachers in knowing what concepts are difficult for students to understand and in planning strategies for teaching those concepts. To demonstrate the application of the results obtained in this study, an example of developing teaching strategy which includes the adjustment of cognitive level of contents was shown.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.117-131
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to develop a board game design activity for environmental education and to investigate how it affects high school students' environmental knowledge, environmental literacy, and creative engineering problem solving propensity. Twenty-five freshman and sophomore students belonging to the environmental club participated in this study. The board game activity was designed as 10 class hours lessons based on the engineering design process. The main data source of this study was pre-post students' conceptual maps of the environmental topics (global warming or ecosystem destruction) to measure the background knowledge on the topic. In addition, the environmental literacy measurement questionnaire and the creative engineering problem solving propensity questionnaire were collected before and after the activity. The result shows that the number of environment-related words described by the students on the post-concept map increased compared to the pre-concept map. In addition, the environmental literacy score and the creative engineering problem-solving propensity score increased significantly after performing the board game design activity. The results show that environmental lessons using board game design activities can help student develop various competencies in a good way. As above, research that combines board games and secondary education must be activated, and a new educational method and systemic support for in-service teachers who want to apply it to science classroom is required.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.471-481
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• 2021

The importance of science education for cultivating the competencies required by an intelligent information society is gradually being strengthened. The government's roles and responsibilities for science education are stipulated by laws and policies in Korea. In order to systematically support science education, continuous monitoring of related policies is essential. This study aims to develop indicators that can be used to systematically and continuously monitor the national policies on science education in Korea. To achieve this goal, we first derive the framework for the indicators that has two dimensions (learner and science education context) and three categories (input, process, and outcome) from literature reviews. In order to derive the components and subcomponents of the indicators, the contents of science education-related indicators developed in Korea or abroad were reviewed. In order to verify the suitability and validity of the framework and components of the initial indicators, a two-round Delphi method was conducted with 25 expert participants with five different professions in science education. Finally, three components of the 'input' category (student characteristics, teacher characteristics, and educational infrastructure), three components of the 'process' category (science curriculum implementation, science educational contents and programs implementation, and teacher professional development program implementation), and five components of the 'outcome' category (science competency, participation and action, affective achievement, cognitive achievement, and satisfaction) were derived. An instrument to collect data from students, teachers, and institutions was developed based on the components and subcomponents, and content validity and internal consistency of the instrument were analyzed. Korea's Science Education Indicators developed in this study can comprehensively measure the current status of science education and is expected to contribute to a more efficient and effective science education policy planning and implementation.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.601-615
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• 1998

Establishing and evaluating science education policies and revising and monitoring the effectiveness of science curriculum should be based upon the results of systematic and scientific research studies. Advanced nations have already been administering and developing national level science assessments for these purposes. The science assessments administered in Korea have been reported having many limitations and problems, and not succeeded in providing data for science education policy making and curriculum reform. The major purpose of the study is developing national level science knowledge assessment system in order to identify longitudinal trends of elementary and secondary school students science knowledge achievements. The research team consisted of science education experts and teachers from various school levels, decided the directions and major elements of national level science knowledge assessment with the consultation of educational evaluation experts. Item developing ability of the researchers was improved by seminars? and workshops on national assessment in advanced nations and developing skills of writing science items. Nearly 500 items were developed and revised. Pilot test was administered with 958 students at various school levels. 380 items were selected and tested with 8766 students, and the characteristics were analyzed in terms of item response theory. The target populations for national level science knowledge assessment are 5th-grade of elementary school, 2nd-grade of middle school, 1st and 2nd-grade of high school students. The proper period for the assessment is February every year. Multi-stage clustered sampling method is desirable and rotated forms are recommendable for the test format. Bridge items should be introduced to compare the results of multiple tests, and various grades. Anchor items should also be used for longitudinal interpretations of the results. The items for elementary school require low to medium abilities, for middle school and first grade of high school require medium to high abilities and for 2nd-grade of high school high abilities. The discrimination ability of the items developed is high.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.417-428
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• 2022

This study analyzed the frequency and level of scientific practices presented in secondary science textbooks. A total of 1,378 student activities presented in 14 middle school science textbooks and 5 high school integrated science textbooks were analyzed, using the definition and level of scientific practice suggested in the NGSS. Findings show that most student activities focus on three practices. Compared to the textbooks for the previous science curriculum, the practice of 'obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information' was more emphasized, reflecting societal changes due to ICT development. However, the practice of 'asking a question', which can be an important element of student-led science learning, was still rarely found in textbooks, and 'developing and using models', 'using math and computational thinking' and 'arguing based on evidence' were not addressed much. The practices were mostly elementary school level except for the practice of 'constructing explanations'. Such repeated exposures to a few and low level of practices mean that many future citizens would be led to a naïve understanding of science. The findings imply that it is necessary to emphasize various practices tailored to the level of students. In the upcoming revision of the science curriculum, it is necessary to provide the definition of practices that are not currently specified and the expected level of each practice so that the curriculum can provide sufficient guidance for textbook writing. These efforts should be supported by benchmarking of overseas science curriculum and research that explore students' ability and teachers' understanding of scientific practices.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.95-110
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to propose a proper method for the multilevel mediation analysis, for which the hierarchical method should be utilized, then MLM (multilevel modeling) approach as a hierarchical method has been popularly utilized until MSEM (multilevel structural equation modeling) approach was not proposed. This purpose was covered by three research questions about statistical methods, analytic procedure, and real example. First, MSEM statistical method was preferred to MLM method for its estimation accuracy and analytic flexibility. Second, the four-step procedures of model building, assumption examination, model comparison, and coefficient testing were proposed for the multilevel mediation analysis. Third, the real data of 2695 students of elementary and secondary schools and 89 teachers were analyzed in the multilevel directions of $2{\rightarrow}2{\rightarrow}1$ and $1{\rightarrow}1{\rightarrow}2$. Out of these directions of $2{\rightarrow}2{\rightarrow}1$, and $1{\rightarrow}1{\rightarrow}2$ model, only the coefficient of $2{\rightarrow}2{\rightarrow}1$ model was significant at the 95% CI. Mplus programs used for the real example are attached on the Appendix. Based on the results, significance and limitations of this study, were discussed in detail.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.92-111
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• 2020

The 2015 revised science curriculum and NGSS (Next Generation Science Standard) suggest computational thinking as an inquiry skill or competency. Particularly, concern in computational thinking has increased since the Ministry of Education has required software education since 2014. However, there is still insufficient discussion on how to integrate computational thinking in science education. Therefore, this study aims to prepare a way to integrate computational thinking elements into scientific inquiry by analyzing the related literature. In order to achieve this goal, we summarized various definitions of the elements of computational thinking and analyzed general problem solving process and scientific inquiry process to develop and suggest the model. We also considered integrated problem solving cases from the computer science field and summarized the elements of the Computational Thinking-Scientific Inquiry (CT-SI) model. We asked scientists to explain their research process based on the elements. Based on these explanations from the scientists, we developed 'Problem-finding' CT-SI model and 'Problem solving' CT-SI model. These two models were reviewed by scientists. 'Problem-finding' model is relevant for selecting information and analyzing problems in the theoretical research. 'Problem solving' is suitable for engineering problem solving process using a general research process and engineering design. In addition, two teachers evaluated whether these models could be used in the secondary school curriculum. The models we developed in this study linked with the scientific inquiry and this will help enhance the practices of 'collecting, analyzing and interpreting data,' 'use of mathematical thinking and computer' suggested in the 2015 revised curriculum.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.570-585
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• 2012

The Korean national curriculum for secondary school emphasizes scientific problem solving. In line with the national curriculum, many educational studies have been conducted in relation to science education. The objects of these studies were well-defined and well-structured problems. The studies were criticized for overlooking ill-defined and ill-structured problems. Some research has dealt with problem finding in ill-structured problems, which is related to creativity. There is a need for a study of scientific problem finding process in an ill-structured problem situation, because this study will help teachers wanting to teach scientific problem-finding in an ill-structured problem situation. The objective of this study was to conduct an empirical study on the scientific problem finding process in an ill-structured problem situation. One task of scientific problem finding in an ill-structured problem situation was assigned to 92 university students; thereafter, 32 of them participated in the research through interviews. Results indicated that the scientific problem finding process depended on initial clues and tentative solutions. Initial clues were affected by students' experiences, such as major classes, films, and novels. Tentative solutions were influenced by background knowledge of the tasks. Students screened information browsed on the Internet. They applied some standards for selection, particularly emphasized reliability standards, which are supposed to be studied in other contexts. All the students used assumptions to make their problems appear probable, which could be a useful tool to articulate.