• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.625-633
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• 2018

The goal of this study is to investigate the features of Korean eighth graders' achievement and its trend in Chemistry in TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015, and to explore its implications for Korean science curriculum and in teaching science. With three science educators and six science teachers, we analyzed the characteristics of Korean eighth graders' achievement in Chemistry by test-curriculum matching analysis. According to the trend analysis of science topics with released items for Chemistry in TIMSS 2015, Korean students' percentage for correct answers has dropped in topics such as regularities in chemical reactions, oxidation-reduction, etc. since these topics are covered after the ninth grade in the 2009 revised curriculum. For science cognitive domains, Korean students showed weaknesses in 'applying' domain in TIMSS 2015. Based on the results, we suggested implications for improvement in middle school chemistry curriculum and how to improve science teaching and learning for students' better science competencies and real-world application of science knowledge.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.135-142
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• 2017

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) announced the TIMSS 2015 results at the end of 2016. In this research, we analyzed the relationship between Korean eighth grade students' attitude toward science and science achievement, trends in students' attitude toward science based on common items used in three to four cycles of TIMSS, and trends across grades in students' attitude toward science. According to the results, Korean eighth grade students showed the lowest level of confidence with science, interest in learning science, and valuing science among the 15 top performing countries as well as all the participant countries. In addition, according to the analysis result of common items, Korean students' confidence with science and interest in learning science have decreased, whereas students' valuing science with instrumental values has increased between TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015. According to trends across grades, the cohort of students, assessed at the fourth grade in TIMSS 2011 and moved to the eighth grade four years later in 2015, decreased in their confidence with science and interest in learning science. Discussed in the conclusion are further studies and ways to improve science teaching and learning to improve students' attitude toward science.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.599-609
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• 2017

The goal of this research is to analyze the trend of Korean fourth grade students' achievement in TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015 science content domains and to suggest implications for science curriculum and teaching & learning improvement. With four elementary science teachers and three science educators, we analyzed Korean fourth grade students' percentage of correct responses in TIMSS 2015 science content and cognitive domains, and conducted item-curriculum matching analysis for test items. According to the results, Korean students performed relatively better in test topics covered in the science curriculum for 3-4 grades regardless of the science content domain (i.e., Life science, Physical science, or Earth science). Korean students showed low percentage of correct answers for items related to such topics as heat conduction, the action of electricity, the motion of the earth and the moon, etc., which were covered in the 5th-6th grades in the 2009 revised curriculum. For science cognitive domains, Korean students' achievement dropped significantly in reasoning between TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015. Discussed in the conclusion are implications to reconstruct elementary school science curriculum, and ways to improve science teaching and learning.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.119-130
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• 2019

The TIMSS assessment is conducted every four years, and Korean fourth grade cohort in TIMSS 2011 participated in TIMSS 2015 again as eighth graders, which produced the first achievement data of the cohort group of elementary and middle schools. In this study, in order to investigate the causes of the decline in Korean students' science achievement with grade changes from the fourth to the eighth grade, we analyzed educational context variables such as characteristics of students, teachers, and classroom instructions of the top 5 achievement countries participated in both TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015. According to the results, students' sense of school belonging increased, whereas students' positive attitudes toward science teaching decreased with the grade change from the fourth to the eighth. As for the teacher characteristics, the teacher's professional development activity increased, and the teacher's confidence in science teaching showed similar tendency to the international average. Regarding classroom instruction characteristics, the frequency of inquiry-related science activities was highest at the fourth grade, and lower than the international average at the eighth grade. Based the results, we suggested implications for science teaching and learning as well as further studies including development of differentiated strategy by the school level to improve students' achievement, the necessity of converting into more student-engaging science classes, and the necessity of in-depth study on the teacher related educational contextual variables.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.261-282
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to provide insights on making Korean mathematics framework by analytical comparison of three major assessments such as the NAEP 2015, the TIMSS 2015 and the PISA 2015. This study focused on the key differences and common themes of mathematics frameworks among three major assessments. In order to achieve this purpose, mathematical frameworks of the NAEP 2015, the TIMSS 2015, and the PISA 2015 were analyzed and compared. The criteria of the comparison were content domain and cognitive domain. The comparing criteria of content domain were based on NCTM content standards and cognitive domain were used the three understanding levels of Jan de Lange's pyramid model. Based on these comparisons, researchers discussed that Korea mathematical framework was needed to have a set of content categories that reflect the range of underlying mathematical phenomena and a set of cognitive levels which contain the range of underlying fundamental mathematical capabilities including consideration of contexts.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

In this study, we analyzed the relationship between the physical science domain of TIMSS 2019 and the Korean science curriculum. Twelve subjects are presented in the physical science domain of the TIMSS 2019 4th grade evaluation framework. Research group consisting of elementary and middle school teachers and science education experts, a total of 12, participated to analyze in which grade these subjects were included in the Korea 2009 revised and 2015 revised science curriculum. As a results of analyzing whether the achievement standards of the TIMSS 2019 evaluation framework and Korean science curriculum are consistent, the subjects pertinent to chemistry like 'chemical changes in everyday life,' 'heat transfer,' and 'electricity and simple electrical circuits' appeared not covered at all until the 4th grade curriculum in Korea. Given that the TIMSS 2019 evaluation framework is an international achievement standard, we are proposing to improve the Korean curriculum as follows: first, for the development of the next science curriculum, there is a need for science curriculum organized from the 1st grade of elementary school to connect the content and scope of chemistry in elementary, middle, and high schools as a whole including the Nuri curriculum. Second, as an alternative to the problem of suitability of learning volume and level of learning, it is possible to think of a method to readjust the grade of dealing with related concepts by lowering the difficulty or simplifying the concept. Third, it is necessary to discuss about introducing essential concepts and standard terms into Korea science curriculum according to international trends.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.371-378
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between the eight topics in TIMSS 2019 8th grade chemistry domains and the Korea 2009 Revised Science Curriculum and the 2015 Revised Science Curriculum. For this purpose, four elementary and four secondary teachers participated in physics, chemistry, biology and earth science majors, and two science education experts participated in analyzing in which grades the content elements of the TIMSS 2019 science framework are covered in the Korean science curriculum. The study also analyzed whether the content of the Korean science curriculum matches the 246 items of 8th grade in the TIMSS 2019 assessment and reflects in which grades the eight topics are covered. The results of this study are as follows. First, among the TIMSS 2019 evaluation topics, topics not covered at all in the Korean middle school curriculum were periodic table, matter and energy in chemical reactions, the role of electrons in chemical bonds. Second, the topic of "the periodic table as an organizing principle for the known elements" needs to be introduced in the Korean middle school curriculum, and topics such as "familiar exothermic and endothermic reactions" and "factors affecting the reaction rates" need to be discussed in consideration of the flow of international curricula. Third, the next science curriculum should be structured so that the sequence of chemistry contents and scope, especially core concepts to be included in the elementary, secondary, and higher education curriculum is linked to continuity.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2017

The result of TIMSS 2015 was announced at the end of 2016. In this research, we conducted test-curriculum matching analysis for 8th grade earth science and analyzed Korean students' percentage of correct answers and responses for TIMSS earth science test items. According to the results, Korean students showed high percentage of correct answers when the item topics are covered in the 2009 revised science curriculum, and Korean students revealed their weakness in constructed response items since the percentage for correct answers on constructed response items is half that of multiple choice items. Depending on the earth science topic, for 'solid earth' area, which includes earth's structure and physical features, as well as earth's processes and history, students showed high percentage of correct answers for multiple choice items. Students, however, showed low percentage of correct answers for items that require applying knowledge to everyday situations and connecting with other areas of science such as biology. For 'atmosphere and ocean' areas, which include earth's processes and cycles, students showed low percentage of scores for climate comparison between regions, features of global warming, etc. For the area of 'universe', students showed high percentage of scores for the earth's rotation and revolution, the moon's gravity, and so on because they have learned these topics since primary school. Discussed in the conclusion are ways to secure content connection between the primary and middle school earth science curriculums, ways to develop students' science-inquiry related competencies, and so on to improve middle school earth science curriculum as well as teaching and learning.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.195-206
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of teacher on fourth-grade students' attitudes toward mathematics using data from TIMSS 2011. Students' attitudes toward mathematics included interest in learning mathematics, interest in mathematics lessons, and confidence in their mathematics ability. Teacher factors included mathematics professional development, confidence in teaching mathematics, teacher-centered mathematics instruction, and enhancing student mathematical thinking. The two level Hierarchical Linear Model was employed to analyze the relationship between teacher factors and student attitudes. Results showed that teacher-centered mathematics instruction significantly and positively predicted students' confidence about their mathematics ability. The findings suggest that school systems and mathematics educators need to provide teachers with the curriculum, assessment, and research-based practices and knowledge to overcome the obstacles to change their mathematics classroom.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.217-235
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• 2020

This study examined Korean fourth-grade students' performance by gender on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study(TIMSS) 2011 and 2015 mathematics assessment. We first identified items which had significantly higher mean scores by gender to decide which gender did better on a certain domain(domain-level analysis). Then, we examined the content of items(item-level analysis) to understand which items lead to gender differences in mathematics achievement. Our findings showed that about 80% of the items on both assessments did not show statistically significant differences between males and females. However, there were meaningful gender differences in the other 20% items. On both assessments, females had more items with significantly higher mean scores than males on the Shapes domain, and males had more those items on the Numbers and Measurement domains and all cognitive domains(Knowing, Applying, and Reasoning). In particular, females outperformed males on items related to identifying two- and three-dimensional shapes and drawing lines and angles and identifying them. Conversely, males had higher performance than females on items related to the pre-algebraic thinking, fractions and decimals, estimation of number differences, unit of length, and measuring time, height, and volume. The effect sizes for each item ranged from .12 to .33 and the mean effect size of all items across both assessments was .20, which indicated significant gender differences but small.