• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.356-370
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• 2008

The study aims to explore sequence of earth science content in elementary school science curriculum in Korea and the U.S.. The analysis is focused on a) general content structure of earth science part; b) concept relationship between grades in the specific field of 'geology'; c) longitudinal connection of concepts and content in 'geology.' The findings are as follows. First, earth science curriculum content in Korea is structured according to sub-scientific disciplines centering on not science concepts but topics or inquiry activities whereas the U.S. curricular content is organized through integrative earth science topics with basic concepts and sub-concepts. Second, it is a common feature that basic concepts are interrelated to sub-concepts in all grades in both countries. However, basic concepts are scattered all over the grades, presented in a linear pattern in Korea while those are provided together in 3rd grade and repeated with extended concepts in a spiral structure in the U.S.. Last, it is not clear how concepts and content are longitudinally connected between grades in Korean curriculum. On the contrary, concepts and content in the U.S. curriculum have a strong longitudinal connection between grades with conceptual hierarchy. Such results indicate that Korean elementary school science curriculum would limit students' comprehensive understanding of science concepts through grades. The study suggests Korean science content should strengthen interrelationship among concepts as well as longitudinal connection between grades, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of science education, 'scientific literacy'.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.160-171
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• 2003

This study was designed to analyze the types of concepts about earth science related to seasonal changes, so as to develop a generative learning model focused on dissolving cognitive conflicts between the aforementioned concepts through debates and using said debates to find out how effectively the model works. There are 100 types of earth science concepts concering seasonal changes, 66 of which are unscientific in nature, including misconceptions. Through a second field trial and a research and development (R&D) process, a test on these concepts was developed, consisting of 14 items. For the experimental group, a four-phase generative learning strategy that reflects the types of earth science concepts and cognitive conflicts between such concepts was developed through pre-analysis and discussion, respectively. On the other hand, a traditional teaching and teaming strategy was used for the control group. A meaningful statistic gap found between the two groups through a covariance analysis, the significance level of which was 0.05. This result may be interpreted to mean that the generative teaming strategy is a possible alternative for correcting misconceptions about scientific concepts of seasonal changes.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.288-296
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• 2015

This study aimed to analysis of concepts and inquiry activities related to the 'Earth Science' area in the South Korean elementary school textbooks to the current and to seek the improvement of future textbook. For the study, we were collected South Korean elementary school textbooks to the current. After the collection had been made, we were analyzed related to the 'Earth' area in the South Korean elementary school textbooks and were extracted central concepts and inquiry activities. The result of this study: First, there were 'A change in the land', 'Strata and Fossil', 'Volcanoes and Earthquakes', 'Earth and Moon', 'The weather', 'The Solar system and the Star', and 'Seasonal Change' in the central concepts related to the 'Earth' area in the South Korean elementary school textbooks to the current. Second, central concepts were almost the same but the curriculum was changed. Third, inquiry activities also were confirmed to be maintained with little change. This result was believed that it can provide a variety of suggestions at this point in changing the curriculum.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.72-84
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• 2008

This study is focused on the main concepts of gravity and geomagnetics which are introduced in the earth science textbooks of high school in 7th curriculum. This study examines the validity and accuracy of the Earth Science textbooks and shows some effective teaching plans by using the latest materials. This study also illustrates the main concepts of gravity and geomagnetics through presenting some effective and practical teaching-learning methods. The results of the study were as follows: First of all, a number of main concepts of six textbooks of high school were selected; the field of gravity, the direction and dimension of gravity, the measurement of gravity, the main reason of gravity anomaly and geoid, earth terrestrial magnetic field, secular variation of goemagnetics. Secondly, most Earth Science textbooks of high school explains the main concepts of the gravity and geomagnetics in similar ways. Those textbooks, however, don't put an emphasis on the essential contents which has been regarded as important thing in terms of the current educational course of study. The high school textbooks also use the material which is too old-fashioned and has some problems of accuracy and validity. Especially, many main concepts of the textbooks and scientific data(such as the direction of gravity, the measurement of gravity, the main reason of gravity anomaly, the use of geoid, secular variation) are different with those of South Korea, In addition, some materials(graphs and diagrams) are very old ones and they don't have authentic information.Finally, Among the various main concepts, some important ideas (the direction of the gravity and the method of measuring gravity, the measurement and use of gravity anomaly, the definition of geoid and secular variation of geomagnetics) should be corrected by showing the latest and authentic materials.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.708-718
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• 2004

On the basis of Sternberg's theory of mental self-government, this examined the difference in thinking style between gifted science students and non-gifted students, and their earth science concepts by the different types of thinking styles. The subjects were consisted of 120 students from the Busan Science Academy and 122 students from two general high schools in Busan, Korea. All participants responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory which is a self-report test consisting of 65 items, and essay questions for examining the students' earth science concepts. The results are as follows. First, the gifted science students prefer legislative, judical, anarchic, global, and liberal styles, where non-gifted students prefer executive, oligarchic, and conservative styles. Second, Type I thinking style group prove to have more complex concepts in relation to the geological and astronomical areas than those of the Type II thinking style group in both of the gifted and non-gifted students. This indicates that Type I thinking style students use a deep learning approach where Type II thinking style students use a surface learning approach.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.402-408
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to investigate various conceptions of secondary school earth science teachers on some concepts in secondary school earth science courses; wind in cyclone, western intensification of ocean current, westerly wave, greenhouse effect, ozone layer and atmospheric pressure. The subject is 26 in-service teachers of earth science teachers. The results were analyzed on the view of teaching sources for earth science teachers. The results show that earth science teachers have also various misconceptions on some concepts selected in this study. A number of partial understandings were found that were not enough to apply to teaching concepts. Those misconceptions were related to gradient wind on wind in cyclone and frictional force, related to earth rotation on western intensification of ocean current, related to angular momentum conservation and related to the roles of westerly wave. And misconceptions on greenhouse effect are related to main role of greenhouse effect gases, related to sources of ozone gas and phenomenons by atmospheric pressure. The various understanding types found in this study could be apply to teach the selected concepts in secondary school earth science course.

• 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 the Korean earth science society
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.798-808
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to explore middle school students' perceptions about earth systems in order to implement the 2009 revised national science curriculum effectively. A total of 1219 students participated in the survey and asked to determine their basic understandings about earth systems, self-reported knowledge level, and perceived significance level of the 23 earth systems concepts (contents). In relation to students' basic understandings about earth system, approximately 67% students reported that they didn't know about the term of the earth system. Atmosphere and hydrosphere were highly perceived as major component of earth system. However, cryoshere was perceived to be least familiar by the subjects. The findings also showed that students' self-reported knowledge level and significance level about major ESU#4, #5, #6 related concepts (contents) were significantly different by gender. Most of male students were more knowledgeable and perceived more significant than female students. Regarding the difference of the perceived significance level by grade, 10 out of 23 concepts were significantly different. Some implications for implementing the revised curriculum and school fields were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.855-868
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers understand the principle of image formation of stars through a telescope. This study was conducted by using explanatory paper questionnaires given to 101 earth science teachers in the areas of Gyunggi province and Seoul. The questionnaires were cross-analyzed by three experts in earth science education. Result indicated that most of the participating teachers did not have systematic concepts about the process of making an image formed by a convex lens. Particulary, they did not sufficiently understand the concepts of an image and the functions of a screen. Furthermore, only 3% of the participants possessed the scientific concepts about the image formation principle of a star through the telescope. Most of the teachers seem to have non-scientific or alternative concepts about the image formation, which was only understanded with the fragmented characteristics about light and convex lens.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.276-285
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• 2002

In this study the concepts for science learning of physics and earth science presented in the seventh grade science textbooks for the seventh national curriculum of Korea approved by the ministry of education were analyzed in terms of the concrete and formal concept level. The parts of textbook analyzed for science learning consist of three sections in physics such as light, force, and waves, and three sections in earth science such as the structure of the earth, the substance of crust, and the movement and composition of the ocean. The analyzed results showed that the number of scientific concepts were differed from 54 to 74 in physics and from 86 to 120 in earth science depending upon publishers. In general, the concepts for science learning in the physics were found to be more in the formal level than the concrete level. However, the concepts for science learning in earth science were found to be more in the concrete level than the formal level. The analyzed results suggest that the concepts of science learning should be considered the learner's cognitive level and the sections should be disposed depending on the degree of difficulty for writing the science textbook. Therefore, it seems to be important to review carefully whether the textbook meets the object of the seventh curriculum of Korea during the process of the investigation for the science textbook.