• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.646-654
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate the patterns of the elementary school students' interests to animals and plants based on affinity toward animals and plants, and curiosity about animals and plants by using a cluster analysis. In addition, the differences of the big five personality traits by the identified clusters was examined. A total number of 411 elementary school students participated in the study. The students were clustered into four distinct interest groups with respect to the level of interests to animals and plants. Cluster 1 'Developed Interest to Organisms group' showed high levels in the interest to both animals and plants. Cluster 2 'Developed Interest to Animals group' showed high interest to animals and relatively low interest to plants whereas cluster 3 'Developed Interest to Plants group' showed high interest to plants and relatively low interest to animals. Lastly, cluster 4 were identified as 'Lack of Interest to Organisms group' by showing low levels of interest to both animals and plants. The four identified groups also showed different distributions of students according to gender and school year. These results support gender difference in the interest to animals and plants and suggest the decreased and specialized interest with school year. The Big Five personality traits excluding neuroticism were positively related with the interest to organisms and the identified groups showed significant differences in the traits. These findings indicate that agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness can be significant predictors of the interests to animals and plants.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.458-475
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to analyze the responses of pre-service elementary teachers to the plant learning using plant-observation activities and observation journal writings. Thirty pre-service teachers participated in this study. Before and after practicing plant observation and observation journal writing for 11 weeks, pre-service teachers' interest to plants, attitude to plant-observation teaching, and plant-observation teaching efficacy were examined using a questionnaire. Also, the observation journals, reflective journal writings, and interviews were analyzed to investigate their qualitative change. In addition, the pre-service teachers were classified by multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis with respect to attitude to plant-observation teaching and observation journal writing, and teaching efficacy. While the pre-service teachers showed significant increase of the interest to plants and plant-observation teaching efficacy, and positive change of the attitude to plant-observation teaching, there was a little difference between gender with more positive effects on females. The positive attitude changes of pre-service teachers included positive recognition about plants and the diversity, increased interest and curiosity about plants, careful observation about nearby plants, and independent learning and positive inquiry with plants. In terms of teaching efficacy, they showed positive change such as enjoyment and satisfaction with plant-observation, confidence as elementary teachers in the future, and recognition about the importance of elementary teachers for plant education. However, the changes were different among the groups classified by attitude to plant-observation teaching and observation journal writings, and plant-observation teaching efficacy.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.321-332
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• 2020

Background and objective: The concept of 'money' in the numbers and operations domain is a fundamentally necessary domain of economic life. This study was conducted to examine the effects of a horticulture-mathematics integration program on mathematical attitude and money calculating ability of high school students with intellectual disabilities. Methods: We analyzed the changes in the mathematical attitude and money calculating ability of students with mild intellectual disabilities in S special school in the city of D, Republic of Korea, with 12 students in the control group and 12 students in the experimental group, from August 27 to October 29, 2019. Results: The results of the comparison showed no statistically significant changes in the three items of mathematical attitude for the control group, while the experimental group, which took part in the horticulture-mathematics integration program, showed statistically significant differences across all three items, such as self-concept about the subject (p = .003), attitude toward the subject (p = .004), and study habit related to the subject (p = .012). The horticulture-mathematics integration program, which was developed by integrating horticultural activities and the mathematics curriculum, used plants and horticultural activities to provide students with positive experiences in mathematics. These included the sense of closeness, curiosity, interest, attention, and enjoyment, leading to positive changes in mathematical attitude. In terms of money calculating ability, both the control group and experimental group showed statistical differences across the three items, but the experimental group showed greater degrees of increase, 15.0 or more, in the scores compared to the control group. Conclusion: These results suggest that utilizing horticultural materials as a part of purchase learning programs with elements of money calculation chapters in the mathematics curriculum could lead to the improvement of students' ability in money calculation. These positive changes are thought to be related to the high degrees of interest in horticulture among students, which led to active participation in the program and enabled the simple and repeated purchase activities in the program to generate positive changes in the money calculation ability of the students.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
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• v.1
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• pp.28-42
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• 2019

What is unknown about Leibniz (Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, 1646~1716), a great philosopher and mathematician, is that he inquired about ginseng. Why Leibniz, one of the leading figures of the Enlightenment, became interested in ginseng? This paper excavates Leibniz's references on ginseng in his vast amount of correspondences and traces the path of his personal life and cultural context where the question about ginseng arose. From the sixteenth century, Europe saw a notable growth of medical botany, due to the rediscovery of such Greek-texts as Materia Medica and the introduction of a variety of new plants from the New World. In the same context, ginseng, the renowned panacea of the Old World began to appear in a number of European travelogues. As an important part of mercantilistic projects, major scientific academies in Europe embarked on the researches of valuable foreign plants including ginseng. Leibniz visited such scientific academies as the Royal Society in London and $Acad{\acute{e}}mie$ royale des sciences in Paris, and envisioned to establish such scientific society in Germany. When Leibniz visited Rome, he began to form a close relationship with Jesuit missionaries. That opportunity amplified his intellectual curiosity about China and China's famous medicine, ginseng. He inquired about the properties of ginseng to Grimaldi and Bouvet who were the main figures in Jesuit China mission. This article demonstrates ginseng, the unnoticed subject in the Enlightenment, could be an important clue that interweaves the academic landscape, the interactions among the intellectuals, and the mercantilistic expansion of Europe in the late 17th century.