• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.420-435
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• 2009

The aims of this study are to analyze and compare the elementary textbook contents of science in Korea, USA and England and to make suggestions for the improvement of integrative contents in Korean science textbooks. For this study, lessons on living things in the three grade science textbooks of three different countries were selected and analyzed according to the five criteria: component elements of the lesson, integration of knowledges and investigations, integration of subject and life, connection with other subjects and focus of integration. From this comparative study, five suggestions are inferred for the improvement of the Korean elementary science textbooks. First, it is recommended that Korean textbooks should present unit objectives and evaluative components in the introductive part and last part of each lesson. Second, Korean textbooks should include scientific knowledges as a way of presenting educational contents. Third, Korean textbooks are recommended to include integrated contents fitting for students' life context. Fourth, Korean textbooks are recommended to integrate contents in connection with mathematics, arts, literature and so on. Fifth, issues which can facilitate students to understand contents in the textbooks and to relate to their life should be more employed.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.315-329
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• 2007

The concepts of ratio, rate, and proportion are used in everyday life and are also applied to many disciplines such as mathematics and science. Proportional reasoning is known as one of the pivotal ideas in school mathematics because it links elementary ideas to deeper concepts of mathematics and science. However, previous research has shown that it is difficult for students to recognize the proportionality in contextualized situations. The purpose of this study is to understand how the mathematical concept in the middle school mathematics curriculum is connected with ratio, rate, and proportion and to investigate the characteristics of proportional reasoning through analyzing the concept including ratio, rate, and proportion on the middle school mathematics curriculum. This study also examines mathematical concepts (direct proportion, slope, and similarity) presented in a middle school textbook by exploring diverse interpretations among ratio, rate, and proportion and by comparing findings from literature on proportional reasoning. Our textbook analysis indicated that mechanical formal were emphasized in problems connected with ratio, rate, and proportion. Also, there were limited contextualizations of problems and tasks in the textbook so that it might not be enough to develop students' proportional reasoning.

• Hwankyungkyoyuk
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.89-101
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to analysis natural disasters which can be applied environmental education for elementary students. For this study, the elementary society and science textbooks were selected. The results of this study are as follows. the society textbooks contain 2 units of the natural disaster in the 4th and 5th grades. In the science textbooks, 5 units of the natural disaster were showed in 3rd, 5th and 6th grades. The learning quantities were 4 hours in society textbooks and 7 hours in science textbooks. In society textbooks, the contents relating meteorological disasters were dominance. But the science textbooks were showed both meteorological and geological disasters. In aims of learning, while the society textbooks were focused as damages, prevention, counter-plan and restoring plan of the natural disaster, the science textbooks were emphasized damages. the photos in society textbooks, meteorological disasters were superiority in number; especially the flood and heavy rain were 76%. In science textbooks, the photos about earthquake were prominent as 40%. For activating environmental education in elementary school based on these results, it can be suggested that the effects of natural damage as tsunami and global warming should add to elementary textbooks. And the elementary teachers need to understand contents and photos relating environment problem in the elementary textbooks.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.486-501
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• 2015

In the elementary school science curriculum, wind is one of the most important concept. In particular, land and sea breeze has been a key example to deliver how wind is driven, and thus its model experiments have been used to help students understand causes of wind. Here we compare causes and explanations for wind and land and sea breeze between textbooks in colleges and elementary schools to examine any potential improvement for the contents. In addition, we conducted survey to examine how pre-service teachers understand land and sea breeze, and convection box experiment used in elementary school textbooks is useful to understand land and sea breeze. Based on the comparison, we find that college level textbook explains the cause of wind as atmospheric pressure difference while elementary school textbooks explain them differently according to curriculums. In the textbooks, there are a difference in the way described for land and sea breeze. Analysis of questionnaire indicate that pre-service teachers understood land and sea breeze correctly, and they selected the convection box experiment in 2009 curriculum textbooks as the most suitable one. Explanations and experiments for land and sea breeze in the textbooks have been revised as the modification of elementary school curriculums. We expect this study helps to deliver more solid contents for wind and land and sea breeze in the upcoming new curriculum.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.479-490
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• 2014

In this study, we investigated the characteristics of the reading materials in the elementary school science textbooks in order to obtain implications for the effective use of them. The reading materials in the elementary school science textbooks developed under the 7th and the 2007 revised National Science Curricula were analyzed. The criteria for classifying the reading materials were the type of theme, purpose, students' activity, the type of presentation, the type of images, the role of images, and readability. The results indicated that the reading materials in the 2007 revised science textbooks are more systematic than those in the 7th science textbooks in terms of their length and their distribution among energy, matter, life, and earth areas. It was also found that various types of reading materials are presented in the 2007 revised science textbooks covering new themes such as frontier science, job opportunity and career, and environment. In addition, the reading materials in the 2007 revised science textbooks introduce more visual images and the readability of them are also better than their counterpart. However, several limitations were still found to exist in the reading materials of the 2007 revised textbooks; most of them are non-inquiry and explanatory; most of the visual images are illustration and/or pictures. Educational implications are discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.1028-1038
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• 2004

This study investigated how the 7th national elementary school science curriculum was implemented at science classrooms. Data from surveys with 140 elementary schools, 18 science classroom observations, and in-depth interviews with teachers were used to examine the characteristics of elementary school science instruction. Based on the data, I explored (1)how science curriculum is operated in terms of objectives, contents, methods and evaluation of school science, and (2)how student-centeredness and localization themes are reflected on the reconstructed school science curriculum. It was found that the degree of the reorganization of the national curriculum at the teacher level was minimal. And most of the elementary teachers followed the directions and contents of the science textbook and teacher's guidebook regardless of their own local situations. For most teachers, restructuring science curriculum meant reordering the sequences of the contents, and adding or deleting some units or topics. I also examined why elementary teachers have difficulty in reconstructing science curriculum at the classroom level. The necessity of curriculum reconstruction at the teacher level is also discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.627-641
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• 2022

This study aims to help elementary school teachers increase their knowledge about the changes in the positions of the sun and moon during the day and the first time the moon observation begins in the Earth and Space section of the Earth and the Moon. The survey questions were grouped into four categories, namely, textbook explanation, inquiry activities, achievement of learning goals, and other opinions. The perception of each question differed according to advanced science majors and teaching careers and experiences of this unit. In addition, understanding the diverse views of the participants using descriptive questions was possible. The study recruited 67 teachers working at an elementary school in Gyeonggi-do. The conclusion is as follows. First, the teachers exhibited similar positive and negative perceptions about the description of the textbook on the changes in the positions of the sun and moon during the day. Second, the study found that majority of teachers used alternative methods when guiding students regarding the change in the positions. This trend was not correlated with the sun and the moon, and the study observed no difference in advanced majors and teaching careers and experience of this unit. Third, the majority of teachers responded that they could achieve their learning goals through this learning. However, many teachers complained of various difficulties in guiding students about the lesson, and the majority alternative methods. The results demonstrated the perception of teachers that students can achieve learning goals through alternative methods without direct observation.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.300-317
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to suggest improvements in the science concepts and inquiry activities presented in the earth science section in the 2015 revised curriculum elementary science textbooks. For this study, two science educator and three elementary school teachers developed a survey questionnaire to investigate science concepts, inquiry activities, and suggest improvements. The survey was conducted two times, and 30 elementary school teachers and three earth science professors (geology, meteorology, astronomy) participated in the survey. As a result, it was investigated that eight concepts in the solid section, three concepts in the fluid section, and one concept in universe and integration section contained misconceptions. It was investigated that the content of inquiry activity needs to be supplemented, with seven elements in solid section, three elements in fluid section, and one in the universe and integration section. According to the research results, if the textbook is revised, it is necessary to accurately confirm the science concepts or content of inquiry activities. Also in the case of science concepts presented in textbooks, it will be necessary to consider not only the scope and sequence of contents but also the process of learning progression.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.79-92
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary school teachers', students' and their parents' perceptions of new experimental grade $3{\sim}4$ science textbooks and teacher's guides developed by revised national science curriculum. 63 teachers, 436 students and their 448 parents were selected from 9 elementary schools selected as model schools, and were administered the questionnaires of the perceptions of the new science textbooks and/or teacher's guides. The results revealed that many teachers had a rather positive perception of the teacher's guides. In addition, most of the teachers, students and their parents, especially the students and their parents than the teachers, perceived positively the new science textbooks. They also had various views of the strengths and weaknesses of the new science textbooks and/or teacher's guides upon cognitive and motivational/emotional/affective aspects. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.285-295
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is comparing cognitive development of elementary $4^{th}$ graders and cognitive demand of activities in lesson 'The mirror and the shadow.' Also, the researchers tried to reveal how cognitive development of elementary $4^{th}$ graders and cognitive demand of textbook activities affects the achievement of students. To study students' cognitive development, the researchers use GALT(Group Assessment of Logical Thinking). Piaget's scientific thinking is used to evaluate cognitive demand of textbook activities. With several experts in science education the researchers discussed which scientific thinking is contained in each activities. The results were followed as : (1) The third of activities are significantly affected by students' cognitive development. (2) The another third of activities are influenced by not only students' cognitive development but also other factors experimental instrument. (3) The environmental factors had meaningful impact on the other third of activities.