• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.345-356
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• 2002

This study investigated the trends in the number of applicants and mean score and applicants' responses on the test items of 'science inquiry' of the College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT) implemented for 3 years$(1999\;{\sim}2001)$. The results of this study were as follows: The percentage of applicants of science track for 1995 CSAT were 43.13%, but reduced to 29.5% for 2001 CSAT. And unlike other tracks, the percentage of male applicants, ranking above average, of science track was 65.58%, which is about twofold of female applicants(34.42%). The mean score of 'Science inquiry' was 58.6 in 1999, and 69.5 in 2001. And the score of the applicants, ranking above average, of humanity and social science course and science course, were 85.8 and 90.7 respectfully in 2001 CSAT. These high mean scores were caused by the policy of "easy CSAT" so called. Most of test items were developed to have difficulty 60-79% or above 80%. This easy CSAT provoked intense dispute about the discriminating power of CSAT. The mean score of male applicants was higher than that of female. But the difference decreases every year. Applicants were generally very good at solving tests focusing on process skills only but poor at solving tests related to physics or calling for two or more science concepts. Thus special measures to cope with the decrease in applicants, especially female applicants, for science track should be provided. To increase discriminating power of CSAT, it is recommended to develop test items with wider range of difficulty and to reduce test items which are focussing process skills and can be solved without any special science concepts. And special consideration should be given to teaching the content area with poor achievement and high actual difficulty compared to the expected.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.469-479
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• 2001

This study investigated the trends in the number of applicants and mean score and applicants’ responses on the test items of Earth Science in the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) implemented for 3 years (1999-2001). The percentage of applicants of science track were 43.14% in 1995, but reduced through 29.5% in 2001 to 26.92% in 2002 CSAT For elective subject, about 22% of science track students applied to Earth Science II which ranked third to Biology II and Chemistry II. In 1999, test items were developed to have the expected difficulty 40 ${\sim}$ 59% (6 items) to 60 ${\sim}$ 79% (10 items). But in 2001 every 16 items were developed to have difficulty 60 ${\sim}$ 79%, which was caused by the policy of so called ‘easy CSAT’. Thus the mean score of ‘Earth Science II’ was increased from 50.26 in 1999 through 64.47 in 2000, to 67.58 in 2001. Applicants were generally very good at solving test items focusing on process skills only and familar items but poor at solving test items related to the motion of the earth and planets and sea wave, especially items calling two or more concepts. Thus special measures to cope with the decrease in applicants of science track should be provided. And it is recommended to develop test items with wider range of difficulty and to reduce test items calling process skills only. And special consideration should be given to teaching the content area with poor achievement and high actual difficulty compared to the expected.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.204-213
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• 2002

In this study, the students' responses on the items of chemistry II in the College Scholastics Ability Test (CSAT) implemented for the past 3 years since 1999 was investigated. The number of applicants and mean score of chemistry II, average percent correct by contents and inquiry process, and the items with high and/or low percent correct are analysed and discussed. The percentage of applicants for natural science track is reduced each year. However, more than 25% of natural science track applied to chemistry II, which ranked second to biology II. The mean score of chemistry II was increased in 2001 along with those of other subjects. There is no difference in average percent correct either by contents or inquiry process. Students performed generally poor at solving test items relating to 'colligative properties of solution' such as 'boiling point elevation' or 'osmotic pressure', and very well at solving test items relating to 'reaction rates'. Educational implications are discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.378-386
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• 2002

In this study, the students' responses on the chemistry items of in the general science of College Scholastics Ability Test (CSAT) implemented for the past 3 years since 1999 were investigated. The number of items by content and inquiry process, the average percent correct by content and inquiry process, the distribution of items by the level of percent correct, and the items with high and/or low percent correct were analysed. There were the fewest items in 'environment' area, especially in 'ozon layer', no test item had been made. The most difficult content area was 'acid rain' in 'environment'. By inquiry process, the most number of items belonged to 'analyzing & interpreting data', and 'identifying problems & formulating hypothesis' was the most difficult process. No test item came under the level of 'very difficult', and many items under the 'easy' or 'very easy' level. Students were generally poor at solving test items demanding several concepts, and very good at simply requiring basic concept treated in lower grade. Educational implications are discussed.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.10 no.1 s.25
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• pp.55-70
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to develop math creative problem solving test in order to identify the mathematically gifted on the basis of their math creative problem solving ability and evaluate the goodness of the test in terms of its reliability and validity of measuring creativity in math problem solving on the basis of fluency in producing valid solutions. Ten open math problems were developed requiring math thinking abilities such as intuitive insight, organization of information, inductive and deductive reasoning, generalization and application, and reflective thinking. The 10 open math test items were administered to 2,029 Grade 5 students who were recommended by their teachers as candidates for gifted education programs. Fluency, the number of valid solutions, in each problem was scored by math teachers. Their responses were analyzed by BIGSTEPTS based on Rasch's 1-parameter item-response model. The item analyses revealed that the problems were good in reliability, validity, difficulty, and discrimination power even when creativity was scored with the single criteria of fluency. This also confirmed that the open problems which are less-defined, less-structured and non-entrenched were good in measuring math creativity of the candidates for math gifted education programs. In addition, it discriminated applicants for two different gifted educational institutions and between male and female students as well.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-26
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to develop a math test for identification of the mathematically gifted on the basis of their math creative problem solving ability and to evaluate the goodness of the test. Especially, testing reliability and validity of scoring method on the basis of fluency only for evaluation of math creative problem solving ability was one of the main purposes. Ten closed math problems and 5 open math problems were developed requiring math thinking abilities such as intuitive insight, organization of information, inductive and deductive reasoning, generalization and application, and reflective thinking. The 10 closed math test items of Type I and the 5 open math test items of Type II were administered to 1,032 Grade 7 students who were recommended by their teachers as candidates for gifted education programs. Students' responses were scored by math teachers. Their responses were analyzed by BIGSTEPS and 1 parameter model of item analyses technique. The item analyses revealed that the problems were good in reliability, validity, item difficulty and item discriminating power even when creativity was scored based on the single criteria of fluency. This also confirmed that the open problems which are less-defined, less-structured and non-entrenched were good in measuring math creative problem solving ability of the candidates for math gifted education programs. In addition, it was found that the math creative problem solving tests discriminated applicants for the two different gifted educational institutions.