• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.453-464
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• 2019

In this study, the types of inquiry activities in the $5^{th}$ & $6^{th}$ grade science textbooks according to the 2015 revised science national curriculum were analyzed and compared according to grade level and science area. Science textbooks for elementary school $5^{th}$ & $6^{th}$ graders contain quite diverse types of inquiry activities, which are student-centered inquiry activities. There were comparatively higher proportions of inquiry types such as experiment & observation and simulation, but relatively lower of inquiry types of investigation-discourse & presentation, discussion, expression. Elementary science textbooks are expected to cultivate science key competencies for elementary school students. Considering the science area, the motion & energy, substances, earth & space, and integration areas had the most experiment & observation among activity types, while the life area had the most simulation activities. Even in some area of the 6th grade science textbook, there was little or no data interpretation, discussion, and simulation activities. In order to achieve the goal of elementary science education, science textbooks should be developed considering the revision of future elementary science curriculum.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to research the effects of students' evaluation results on teachers' teaching activities. The subjects were 431 elementary school students of 4th, 5th and 6th grade, and 14 teachers of 7 schools located in Seoul, Cheongju, and Daejeon city. The experimental design included pre and post-tests with the control group. Our results found that most of the students had positive thoughts towards science classes. In particular, activities where the teachers provided support in the conduct of experiments and the learning atmosphere generally were evaluated higher than other activities. However, unrestricted experiments were evaluated lower by the students. The feedback from the students' evaluation results of their teachers affected the teachers' teaching activities statistically. The teachers' support during experiments, unrestricted activity during experiments, and evaluation activities were changed positively following the students' feedback. However, the loaming atmosphere and unrestricted activity during experiments were observed to change negatively when the teachers were not given the students' feedback.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.511-524
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• 1997

The curriculum of science should be made of the education based on the acquirement instead of the knowledge. However, the present educational environment has many problems such as lack of laboratory and experimental facilities, and time limitations. One of the suggested methods to overcome the barriers in regular curriculum is the efficient operation of science club activities. Since the club activities are not restricted on time and space, teachers can apply various methods and programs. In this paper, we investigate the present operational status of science club activities in secondary school and some suggested improvement schemes of them It is shown that teacher training, reference development, time allocation, educational environment, facility completion and various program developments should be preceded, in order to activate science club activities.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.343-351
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• 2010

Since the effect of environmental education at class using textbooks or materials related to environment is limited, the importance of activities for field experience is getting increased day by day. Thereby, the education tends to change into the type of education providing students with direct environmental experience. Students attending the science high school have excellent aptitude and ability for science and will lead the development of science in the future. Now it is urgent to develop various experiential programs which are helpful for them to establish desirable values on environment. However, the field of environmental education that allows science high school students equipped with ample environmental knowledge to improve environment sensitivity and have proper environment awareness is quite restricted as of now. Natural exploration activities are the programs which provide science high school students having lack of chance for environmental education with good opportunities to contact nature and also play significant roles in arousing their interest in issues related with environment. Therefore, it is thought that they will let science high school students explore the natural features of Korea, understand the importance of preserving environment and ecosystem profoundly, and encourage environmental awareness and will of environmental practice. Thereupon, with the study subjects of 121 first and second graders at U Science High School, this article analyzed their recognition of the necessity for environmental education and environmental pollution problems before and after the natural exploration activities, and conducted a survey on their satisfaction after the natural exploration activities and analyzed it. The result of this research is as follows. First, it was shown that the natural exploration activities were effective to raise the science high school students' awareness of issues related with environmental pollution. Second, the natural exploration activities had effect upon enhancing the students' willingness of environmental practice. Third, there was statistically significant correlation between the science high school students' satisfaction with the natural exploration activities and their achievement in the science subject. Fourth, there also was a statistically non or weakness significant correlation between their satisfaction with the natural exploration activities and preference for the science subject. In particular, it was found that students preferring biology indicated higher satisfaction.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.449-463
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• 2020

This study was to analysis teaching strategies, types of inquiry activities and the relationship between science concepts and inquiry activities presented in science textbooks. As a result of the study, first, the inquiry-based teaching strategies presented in science textbooks were experiment, simulation, demonstration, and field study. Second, there were 53 inquiry activities presented in 8 units related to the earth science area of science textbooks, and the types of inquiry activities were experimental observation (EO) 18, mock activity (SA) 20, investigation discussion and presentation (IP). It was analyzed as 12, data interpretation (ID) 2, and express (EX) 1 piece. Third, the relationship between inquiry activities and science concepts presented in science textbooks was analyzed. As a result of the analysis, out of a total of 42 inquiry activities, 21 inquiry activities corresponded to EA (explicit activities), in which the result of inquiry activities was directly and explicitly linked to science concepts. And IA (implicit activities), which is an implicit inquiry activity in which science concepts must be inferred using the results of inquiry activities, were analyzed as 21. In particular, IA (implicit activities), which is an implicit inquiry activity, can be said to be the result of reflecting the characteristics of earth science areas where many simulated activities (SA) are used. This is considered to be a matter to be considered in the process of developing various elementary science textbooks in the future.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.524-535
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to develop the creative hands-on activities using EM (effective microorganisms) that can enhance the environmental literacy of learners, and to examine the effect of its application. The program was composed of 10 sessions, including biological knowledge and ecosystem status of microorganisms, practical activities that stimulate the environmental behavior and emotion of elementary school students, and career design related to their aptitude and occupation in future. This program can also be connected to the domains of creative hands-on activities, that is, career activities, club activities, self-regulated activities and voluntary service activities. In this study, two classes of 3th grades of elementary school in Seoul were selected and divided into two groups. The experimental group to undergo the program of creative hands-on activities using EM showed higher environmental literacy than the control group. In the concrete, it is proven that this program contributed to the improvement of learners' environmental emotion, skill, and behavior. When interviewed with experimental group, we found that sustained EM hands-on activities were conducted in collaboration with their families, and they became more aware of the utilities of EM and could participate in the activities more interestingly. In conclusion, the creative hands-on activities program was very effective and helped elementary students to change their environmental literacy in positive ways.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.427-438
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• 2014

In this study, we explored the factors related with preference for and participation in science-related activities of elementary school students. We developed a questionnaire to measure the characteristics of students such as motivation toward science learning, science aspiration, family science orientation, parental educational level and occupation, and the degrees of preference and participation of science-related activities. The questionnaire was administered to about 400 fourth graders in Seoul. The results revealed that the students with higher motivation toward science learning and/or science aspiration preferred and participated more in most activities. It was also found that parental educational level and occupation did not make an appreciable difference in preference and participation. The students who perceived their parents to be science-oriented, however, preferred and participated more in most activities. These results may offer practical implications for effective uses of both school and out-of-school science activities in elementary science education.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of science toy making activities on the scientific interest and the conceptual understanding of elementary school students. In this study, science toy making activities were applied to an experimental group and traditional learning activities were applied to the control group. The science toy making activities comprised thirteen steps and were administered during class. In the scientific interest test, there was a statistically significant difference between the score of the experimental group and that of the control group. In particular, post-test scores were higher than pre-test scores in the experimental group, while they were lower than this in the control group. It appeared that students had positive thoughts about science toy making activities. These science toy making activities had positive effects on the conceptual understanding of the experimental group students. The post-test scores of the experimental group were higher than that of the control group in all domain concepts. From these results, it can be deduced that the science toy making activities were more effective than traditional teaming activities. They were an effective teaching technique which enhanced the scientific interests and the conceptual understanding of the students in question.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.296-306
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to analyze the attitudes toward science and support for scientific activities of the scientific gifted students' parents and the general students' parents in elementary school. The objects of the study were 99 scientific gifted students and their parents and 433 general elementary school students and their parents. The instruments for the measurement of attitudes toward science included three scales: cognition :About value of science, affection toward science and science learning, and cognitive participation in scientific activities. The instrument to measure parents' support for scientific activities included two scales: indirect support and direct support. The results of the study showed that the attitudes toward science of scientific gifted elementary students' parents were more positive than the attitudes toward science of general elementary students' parents. Also the gifted elementary students' parents supported many more scientific activities for their children with various methods than the general elementary students' parents. Their preferring support methods for scientific activities included 16 items including the collection of information about science education, the record of TV science programs, purchase of scientific books, subscription of periodical publication about science, preparing material for scientific activities, and reading scientific book with children.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.177-190
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• 2006

Numerous aims of laboratory activities have been suggested by a number of researchers in science education; however the lists of aims very according to researcher. As such, there is still no agreement educational goals on the in science laboratory activities by experts in science education. The purpose of this study was to obtain a consensus using the Delphi technique on the aims of laboratory activities from expert community. This expert community consisted of four scientists, four science educators, six elementary school teachers, and seven secondary school teachers. The list of aims obtained from the expert community were tested with the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test to determine whether IQR between 2nd and 3rd was convergent. Results of this study produced, lists of aims of laboratory activities according to school science level. There were seven aims for elementary school science, nine aims for secondary school science, and thirteen aims for university science.