• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.277-291
• /
• 2010

In this study, we investigated the effects of explicit instruction about nature of science by elementary school students' cognitive level. Participants were six classes, 187 sixth graders at elementary schools in Daegu. Three classes were assigned to control groups and the other classes to treatment groups. Control groups were provided normal instructions and treatment groups were provided instructions integrated with nature of science about chapter 'electromagnet' for 9 class periods. The results of this study were as follow. Both low-cognitive level students and high-cognitive level students in the treatment groups are improved in understanding about nature of science by the explicit instructions about nature of science. Especially, the high-cognitive level students had more improvement than the low-cognitive level students in understanding about nature of science by the explicit instructions about nature of science. There were no significant differences between the test scores of the two groups in the science interest sub-domain of the science-related affective domain. But, there were significant differences between the test scores of the two groups in curiosity and open-mindedness of the scientific attitudes sub-domain of the science-related affective domain.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.244-262
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore how the practical knowledge used by an elementary school science teacher during learner-centered science instruction can promote elementary students' construction of positive emotion. Using an auto-ethnographic approach over a period of three months, the researchers collected students' interest diaries, post interviews with students, video recordings in science classes, and students' personal diaries and analyzed them by means of the constant comparative method. In this way, the researchers categorized the structure of the practical knowledge held by the teacher and explained how it was applied in learner-centered science instruction to promote students' construction of positive emotion. Three images of an elementary science teacher's practical knowledge emerged and can be categorized under the following headings: 1) 'From science classroom to science $caf{\acute{e}}$', 2) 'Pleasant experiment class for all students and the teacher', and 3) 'A science class for students who were marginalized'. These images were backed up by principles and rules, and the teacher came to embody these images as he implemented these rules. This study also discusses how the impact of a science teacher's practical knowledge on students' construction of positive emotions can be interpreted as promoting positive outcomes rather than negative sanctions, meeting students' expectation from lab activities, and meeting the specific needs of marginalized students in a science class.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.173-190
• /
• 2019

The self-efficacy of pre-service teachers has been reported as a major factor in the instruction of the curriculum. In particular, considering the importance of science learning instruction for underrepresented students from the viewpoint of science education for all, pre-service elementary teachers' self-efficacy about science instruction for underrepresented students will be an important factor of science education for these students. The purpose of this study is to investigate the self-efficacy of pre-service elementary teachers in science instruction for underrepresented students. To this end, the science teaching and learning self-efficacy test tool (Lee & Im, 2010) was revised in accordance with the context of science teaching for underrepresented students into a total of 24 items using 5 Likert scales. Through using the test tool consists of 3 dimensions as Learning Efficacy, Teaching Efficacy and Outcome Expectancy, 81 pre-service elementary teachers were surveyed and the reliability of test tool was verified through factor analysis and assessing construct validity by using the responses. As a result of the analysis, setting 5 as the standard perfect score, the average score of self-efficacy per dimension was shown as 3.29 in Learning Efficacy, 2.89 in Teaching Efficacy, and 3.39 in Outcome Expectancy. We confirmed the tendency and difference of self-efficacy of the research objects according to their background factors in which direct and indirect experience relating to the science education for the underrepresented students. Also, we verified that pre-service elementary teachers' interest in science subject matter, teaching science and their perception of the value of science learning had significant relations with self-efficacy on science teaching for underrepresented students.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.531-538
• /
• 2005

The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the degree of difficulty and the causes of the difficulties in science instruction reported by elementary teachers and students. The secondary purpose was to suggest the effective methods to both of them to improve the efficiency of science instruction. For this study, the survey was carried out on 322 students and 156 teachers in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. The questionnaires consisted of interest, difficulty and its factors. The results of this investigation are summarized as follows; 1. Teachers had relatively higher interest than students in science instruction content(textbook). Furthermore, the units that teachers showed interest differed from those that students had. This means that there is a significant difference of interest in instruction process between teachers and students. 2. Teachers felt much higher difficulty than students in the content of science instruction. This shows that the degree of interest might have little relation with that of difficulty, and that teaching of science seemed more difficult than teaming. Moreover, there was a difference of difficulty in the units between the teachers and students. The result shows a distinctive difference of difficulty in 8 units of the 3rd grade, 9 units n the 4th grade, and 12 units in the 5th grade (p<.05, p<.001, p<.005, respectively). It means that the difficulty depended on the units. 3. Students responded that they are responsible for difficulty factors of teaming, otherwise teachers thought that students are responsible for it, when the factors were divided into student factor, teacher factor, and curriculum factor. 4. Students demanded many experiments in the lab as well as easy and interesting instructions in order to reduce the degree of difficulty and to improve the condition of science instructions. However, teachers demanded the expansion of experimental equipments and materials as well as the improvement of the lab condition.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.350-363
• /
• 2010

Recently there has been increasing emphasis on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for fostering science teachers' teaching professionalism that needs to be done from teacher training courses systematically. We investigated what were the PCK factors considered in planning instruction and the difficulties encountered in implementing it by pre-service teachers. In this study, 26 sophomores at an university of education in Gyeonggi province were asked to perform teaching demonstrations using scientific instruction models. They were also requested to write reflective journals and interview. Analyses of the results revealed that many pre-service teachers considered the teaching strategies such as the instruction organization and implementation when planning instruction. They had also regard to the learners' cognitive affective aspects, whereas the pre-knowledge of them was not properly considered. Especially, the curriculum and assessment were almost disregarded. Most of the difficulties encountered in planning instruction and implementing it were appeared in terms of the teaching strategies. For example, they had difficulties in considering the characteristics of each stage presented by the instruction models when planning instruction and implementing it. The frequencies of the difficulties in implementing experiment were especially higher than those of the other PCK factors. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.116-129
• /
• 2019

This study investigated elementary students' spatial thinking and visualization when they learned the shape of volcanoes. For this purpose we used GeoMapApp to design instruction program and assessment items. In the instruction, students were asked to connect the floor plan view of Jeju island with the cross-sectional view of the same figure producted by GeoMapApp. Then they were asked to classify four sets of pictures of volcanoes based on the similarities of figures, that is, dome-shaped and shield volcanoes. In the assessment students solved three questions which examined how they connected the plan view and cross-sectional profile of Kilauea, draw cross-sectional profile of Mt. Fuji, and distinguished a shield volcano and dome-shaped one. Students' discourse data during the class were analyzed according to the amount to showing their spatial thinking and visualization. The instruction program using GeoMapApp assisted students to facilitate their spatial thinking for understanding of volcanoes. The outcomes of assessment showed even elementary students had good spatial thinking and visualization. Therefore, we argued spatial thinking and visualization for geoscientific understanding need to be included in the national science curriculum for elementary students.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.72-85
• /
• 2015

Conception in learner's cognitive structure has a niche as species in ecosystems. The purpose of this study is to analyze the change of niche overlap of photosynthesis concept through instruction. The photosynthesis concepts were selected from literature review. Selected concepts were in 4 areas: Location of photosynthesis, reactants, products, and environmental factors. The subjects consisted 304 elementary students. The respondent marked the relevance between the presented concepts and each area on a scale of 1~30 points. The analysis of niche overlap in concepts was performed by changing in niche overlap graph, niche space size, and overlap index before and after instruction. The results are as follows. First, on the whole understanding level and relevance of the scientific concepts was increased through instruction as a result of learning. Second, elementary school students cognitive concepts in the form of chunking concepts through classification process. Based on the results, this study has the following suggestion. Students' conceptual ecologies and niche analyzed by this study will be used as material for development of instruction strategy.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.1324-1335
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of PCK designed instruction on academic achievement and self-efficacy for underachievers in science of elementary school. The hypotheses were as follows: First, PCK designed science instruction would improve academic achievement of the children. Second, PCK designed science instruction would improve academic self- efficacy of the children. The subject was 14 students of forth graders of elementary school who are underachievers in science class. For group composition, self efficacy test and science achievement test were conducted and they were divided into experimental group and control group. Each group has 7 participants. A total of 16 sessions were conducted for 8 weeks, twice per week, with experimental group were taught PCK designed classes while control group were taught teacher-led explanation type class. The result of statistical analyses were as follows: First, the experimental group in PCK designed class showed more improvement on academic achievement than the control group in the teacher-led explanation type class. Second, the experimental group in PCK designed class showed more improvement on self efficacy than the control group in the teacher-led explanation type class.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.1183-1197
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study is to develop a Puzzle-Based Computer Science Instruction Model and Learning Program and to confirm the effects. To do so, we selected 2 classes with a similar level of pre-computational thinking in elementary schools in the Jeju Province. After that, from 2 classes, we designated the 5th grade students in 'D' elementary school as group A and designated students of the same grade in 'J' elementary school as group B. In a total of 28 sessions during an 18 week period, a Puzzle-Based Computer Science Learning Program was used with 31 students in group A, and the traditional computer science course was used with 25 students in group B. The results showed that there were significant improvements in computational thinking, which is computational cognition and its creativity, of the students in group A compared to students in group B. Also, this study proved that the Puzzle-Based program correlated with positive changes group A students' Science-Related Affective Domain. In this paper, on the basis of proven effectiveness, we introduce the Puzzle-Based Computer Science Instruction Model and Learning Program as an alternative to traditional, computer science education.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.189-200
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study is to find out the effects of learning that has applied instruction module utilizing ICT in project-based learning in elementary science classroom on improvement of the self-directed learning skills and the problem-solving skills. For this purpose, the project based learning instruction module utilizing ICT based was developed and conducted to 2 class consisting of 66 elementary students in the 6th grade to clarify the effects. As a result of the study, first, the instruction module utilizing ICT in project-based learning was effective in improving self-directed learning skills of students. As the subordinate effects of self-directed learning skills it showed improved effects in diagnosing desire to learn, setting goals, basic self-managing ability, selecting learning strategy, durability of practicing learning, making effort for result, and self-examination but it did not show improved effects in figuring out recognition of resources for Learning. Second, it was effective in improving the problem-solving skills of students. As the subordinate effects of problem-solving skills it showed improved effects in problem recognition, information gathering, analysis, thinking prior to dissemination, planning skill, and evaluation but it did not show effect on decision making, implementation & risk-taking and feedback.