• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.337-346
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• 2020

In this study, we investigated the characteristics of students participating in Science Core high schools classes and their relevance to Positive Experiences on Science (hereinafter, PES), and factors causing PES, presented by the students of Science Core high schools. A total of 20 students and five teachers in four regions across the country participated in the in-depth interview, which were conducted with the focus group of students first, and then in-depth interviews with teachers. Based on the interview results, we explored teaching and learning experiences helpful to the PES, assessment experiences resulting in the PES, and ways to support Science Core high schools to enhance their PES. Students and teachers of Science Core high schools argued that students' participation will increase only if they engage in classes while drawing attention within the range that students can understand, students' PES such as scientific interest can be improved through experiments in which students choose topics or design their own exploration process, science competencies such as science problem solving ability and scientific thinking ability should be developed through exploratory experiment activities that fit the nature of science, etc. In addition, regarding ways to improve and support Science Core high schools to enhance PES, securing science class hours, restructuring the contents of science elective courses, and necessity of maintaining Science Core high schools are suggested. Based on the research results of science high school students' PES, ways to improve the PES of general high school students are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.324-337
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• 2014

This study investigated the characteristics of science-gifted elementary students' reflection of their science classes. To do this, 91 reflective journals of 20 science-gifted elementary students were analyzed in terms of 'productive reflection'. The results revealed that the mean score of the inclusion scores, which mean the number of aspects of teaching included, was 2.99 on a scale of 5 points and was not significantly correlated with grade level. Most of the reflective journals included the aspects of 'science-gifted students (93.4%)'. 'Instructional strategies and instruction for science-gifted education (70.3%)', 'subject matter knowledge (68.1%)', and 'curriculum for science-gifted education (57.1%)' were also frequently included. However, 'assessment in science-gifted education (9.9%)' was hardly included. The mean score of the integration scores, which mean the number of aspects of teaching integrated as an index of productive reflection, was 2.84 on a scale of 5 points and was not significantly correlated with grade level. 6.6% of the journals showed no integrations. 34.1% of the journals integrated only two aspects, 39.6% of the journals integrated three aspects, 25.3% of the journals integrated four aspects, and no journals integrated all five aspects. Especially, the integrations between 'science-gifted students (100.0%)' and the other aspects were included in all journals. The integrations between 'instructional strategies and instruction for science-gifted education (70.3%)' and/or 'subject matter knowledge (65.9%)' and/or 'curriculum for science-gifted education (53.8%)' and the other aspects were also frequently included. However, the integrations between 'assessment in science-gifted education (9.9%)' and the other aspects were hardly included. There were no statistically significant differences between experiment-centered instruction and theory-centered instruction in the inclusion and integration scores. However, there were more diverse inclusion and integration types, and more aspects tended to be included or integrated in experiment-centered instruction than in theory-centered instruction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.140-160
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to develop computational thinking (CT) analysis tool that can be used to analyze CT practices; first, by defining what CT practices are, and then, by identifying which components of CT are reflected in STEAM classes. Exploring various kinds of CT practices, which can be identified while applying the proposed CT analysis tool for exemplary STEAM classes, is another goal of this study. Firstly, to answer the question of "What is CT in science education" and thereby to develop the proposed CT practice analysis tool, three types of published documents about CT definition as the main data in this study have been considered. In the first "analysis tool development" part of this study, the following five elements have been identified as the main components of CT analysis tool as follows; (1) connecting open problems with computing, (2) using tools or computers to develop computing artifact, (3) abstraction process, (4) analyzing and evaluating computing process and artifact, and (5) communicating and cooperating. Based on the understandings that there is a consistent flow among the five components due to their interactions, a flow chart of CT practice has also been developed. In the second part of this study, which is an implementation study, the proposed CT practice analysis tool has been applied in one exemplary STEAM program. To select the candidate STEAM program, four selection criteria have been identified. Then, the proposed CT practice analysis tool has been applied for the selected STEAM program to determine the degree of CT practice reflected in the program and furthermore, to suggest a way of improving the proposed CT analysis tool if it shows some weak points. Through the findings of this study, we suggest that the actual definition of computational thinking will be helpful to converge Technology and Engineering to STEAM education and a strong complement to reinforce STEAM education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.225-238
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the instruction with question-creation training, compared with traditional science instructions. The instruction with question-creation training is to give students chances to make questions by themselves based on what they learned before the end of the classes. The four effects of the instruction were studied: students' achievement, metacognition, self-efficacy, and the level of the questions created by the students according to different proficiency levels. Research data was gathered from 65 second grade students at a middle school in Busan. The comparative group was instructed in traditional lecture-type teaching method. The experimental group was instructed with questioncreation training. Students in the experimental group were asked to make 3 questions by themselves and then, to solve their peers' questions about 15 minutes before the end of the classes. Both groups were divided into 3 groups by proficiency level according to the results of last semester's science test. Before the research, a metacognition test and a self-efficacy test were conducted. After the research, an achievement test, a question level test, a metacognition test, and a self-efficacy test were conducted and analyzed by t-test. The research data for question level was analyzed by one-way ANCOVA. The results of this study revealed that question-creation training has a positive effect on student's achievement, metacognition, and self-efficiency. It also showed most of the students have gained an ability to make higher-level questions regardless of their proficiency level due to the increased number of students who made higher-level questions. It also showed that most of the students could gain an ability to make higher-level questions regardless of their proficiency level from the fact that the number of students who made higher-level questions increased in every proficiency level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.1335-1343
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• 2013

Parents in South Korea are known for their high level of educational zeal for their children. As a result, their children usually take extra classes in institutions as well as participate in other extracurricular activities such as sports and music. The purpose of this study was to examine the lifestyle and dietary behaviors of Korean elementary students involved in such activities. The total number of subjects was 550 fourth to sixth graders in elementary schools in Sejong, Korea. Of the total subjects, 88.0% were involved in extracurricular classes or other activities for an average of 7.34 hours/week. The subjects were assigned to one of four groups based on the degree of extracurricular activities: No extra-class (n=66), Low extra-class (1${\leq}$taking time<5 hours/week, n=118), Medium extra-class (5${\leq}$taking time<10 hours/week, n=184), and High extra-class (taking time${\geq}$10 hours/week, n=182). More subjects in the High extra-class group went to bed late (P<0.01), were under stress (P<0.01), and skipped breakfast, compared with those in the other groups. The ratio of students who answered 'I go to an institute without a meal' (P<0.01), 'I prepare a meal for myself' (P=0.053), or 'I eat out before going to an institute' (P<0.01) was higher in the High extra-class group than in the Low extra-class group. The frequency of eating fast food was higher in the High extra-class group, compared with the other groups. These results indicate that a high amount of extracurricular studies may have a negative effect on the children's lifestyles and dietary behaviors. Therefore, this study alerts parents to the potential harm of excessive extracurricular activities to their children's health.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.115-132
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is aimed at giving proof that helps the elementary practical arts education system accomplish as the effects are turned out experimentally. Two classes of the sixth grade of J elementary school in Dae-gu have been selected in order to be experimented. One was chosen as an experimental group, the other was done as a comparative group. The creative-problem-solving learning-model was applied to the experimental group, and the traditional way of teaching was applied to the comparative group. For four classes of the sixth grades, ‘chapter 8: Making with recycled materials’ was proceeded as the content. Then. tests about the way of environmental awareness and creativity were carried out twice. After that, the results of pre and after-test in the comparative and experiment groups were compared using the t-test method. Following the analysis of the data collected in this study. the following major observations were obtained: First, children who were educated the creative problem-solving in a practical arts education achieved higher scores than before. Therefore, it turns out that the CPS method is an effective way to improve the environmental awareness in children. It showed that it included lots of daily habits connected with daily life and it made the intention to carry out the environment-preservation stronger and children´s attitude towards the environment improved. Moreover, making with recycled materials was used to solve an environmental problem, affecting in a positive way in our life. It also made the positive recognition about the environment. Second. the application of the creative problem-solving class of the practical arts education can make positive results to children. It helped children to have more interest in the environment around them. Children´s fluency, flexibility and originality in their ideas were improved as much as possible while they were solving problems. Consequently, the application of the creative problem-solving class model of elementary practical arts environmental education lets children expand environment consciousness and creativity.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.121-145
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• 2010

University timetabling depending on the educational environments of universities is an NP-hard problem that the amount of computation required to find solutions increases exponentially with the problem size. For many years, there have been lots of studies on university timetabling from the necessity of automatic timetable generation for students' convenience and effective lesson, and for the effective allocation of subjects, lecturers, and classrooms. Timetables are classified into a course timetable and an examination timetable. This study focuses on the former. In general, a course timetable for liberal arts is scheduled by the office of academic affairs and a course timetable for major subjects is scheduled by each department of a university. We found several problems from the analysis of current course timetabling in departments. First, it is time-consuming and inefficient for each department to do the routine and repetitive timetabling work manually. Second, many classes are concentrated into several time slots in a timetable. This tendency decreases the effectiveness of students' classes. Third, several major subjects might overlap some required subjects in liberal arts at the same time slots in the timetable. In this case, it is required that students should choose only one from the overlapped subjects. Fourth, many subjects are lectured by same lecturers every year and most of lecturers prefer the same time slots for the subjects compared with last year. This means that it will be helpful if departments reuse the previous timetables. To solve such problems and support the effective course timetabling in each department, this study proposes a university timetabling support system based on two phases. In the first phase, each department generates a timetable template from the most similar timetable case, which is based on case-based reasoning. In the second phase, the department schedules a timetable with the help of interactive user interface under the timetabling criteria, which is based on rule-based approach. This study provides the illustrations of Hanshin University. We classified timetabling criteria into intrinsic and extrinsic criteria. In intrinsic criteria, there are three criteria related to lecturer, class, and classroom which are all hard constraints. In extrinsic criteria, there are four criteria related to 'the numbers of lesson hours' by the lecturer, 'prohibition of lecture allocation to specific day-hours' for committee members, 'the number of subjects in the same day-hour,' and 'the use of common classrooms.' In 'the numbers of lesson hours' by the lecturer, there are three kinds of criteria : 'minimum number of lesson hours per week,' 'maximum number of lesson hours per week,' 'maximum number of lesson hours per day.' Extrinsic criteria are also all hard constraints except for 'minimum number of lesson hours per week' considered as a soft constraint. In addition, we proposed two indices for measuring similarities between subjects of current semester and subjects of the previous timetables, and for evaluating distribution degrees of a scheduled timetable. Similarity is measured by comparison of two attributes-subject name and its lecturer-between current semester and a previous semester. The index of distribution degree, based on information entropy, indicates a distribution of subjects in the timetable. To show this study's viability, we implemented a prototype system and performed experiments with the real data of Hanshin University. Average similarity from the most similar cases of all departments was estimated as 41.72%. It means that a timetable template generated from the most similar case will be helpful. Through sensitivity analysis, the result shows that distribution degree will increase if we set 'the number of subjects in the same day-hour' to more than 90%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.110 no.3
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• pp.341-354
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• 2021

A large part of Gapyeong is occupied by Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) and Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi) plantations. Abies holophylla stands are scattered throughout Gapyeong, but little information on their distribution is available. This study explored the potential of succession from planted species to native A. holophylla in plantations. Trees were inventoried and regeneration of A. holoplhylla and stand management history were examined in Korean pine, Japanese larch, and A. holophylla-dominated stands. The importance percentage of A. holophylla was the highest among species with a range of 36.1% to 79.1% in all stands and the density of A. holophylla in understory (DBH <2 cm or <1.3 m height) ranged from 50 to 5,820 trees ha^-1. Non-metric multidimensional scaling classified stands into four types, AN, AP, AM, and P. The AN type showed a reverse J-shape DBH distribution, which was similar to that in natural A. holophylla stands. Both AP and AM types included Korean pine plantations with A. holophylla seed trees within stands. For AP, A. holophylla competed with planted species in overstory and deciduous broadleaved species in understory. The AM type was once thinned from below, thus stem density in the mid DBH classes was lower than upper or lower DBH classes. The P type consisted of plantations without A. holophylla seed trees. However, understory regeneration of A. holophylla was abundant through seed supply from A. holophylla in adjacent stands. Plantations with A. holophylla seed trees within or in adjacent stands showed vigorous natural regeneration of A. holophylla, highlighting the potential for succession from planted species to native A. holophylla in the Gapyeong area. Further studies can help develop techniques to restore plantations to native species-dominated natural stands using ecological succession.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2019

This study aims to explore students' epistemic practices and considerations, which are explained as underlying epistemic thoughts that guide their epistemic practices, during argumentation in science classrooms. We also investigated how collaborative reflection facilitated the development of such epistemic considerations. Two seventh-grade classes participated in this study by engaging in argumentation activities and collaborative reflection after classes. A group with students' change in epistemic aspects and the influence of collaborative reflection clearly revealed from their practices was chosen as a focus group. We recorded their class discussions and collaborative reflections with the researchers. Transcriptions of the recordings and checklists we collected during the collaborative reflections were used for analysis. Results showed evident changes in the students' epistemic considerations and practices and four factors facilitating such developments were identified. First, the researcher facilitating the students to recognize each other as collaborators during collaborative reflection led development of epistemic considerations on "audience using the knowledge products." Second, the collaborative reflection facilitated construction of context for peer interactions where the students encouraged each other to participate in the discussion, resulting in the development of other students' epistemic considerations on "justifications in knowledge products." Third, the items provided on the checklists explicitly delineated expectations on their practices in argumentation, also facilitating development of epistemic considerations. Lastly, the students' imitation of the researcher's pattern of discourse facilitated construction of causal explanation and development of epistemic considerations on "nature of the knowledge products." This study will contribute to the construction of strategies that develop students' epistemic considerations and productive epistemic practices in argumentation.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.325-340
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• 2022

This study attempts to analyze the causes of low affective achievement of elementary, middle, and high school students in Korea in science. To this end, a total of 27 students, three to four students per grade, were interviewed by grade from the fourth grade of elementary school to the first grade of high school, and a total of nine teachers were interviewed by school level. In the interview, related questions were asked in five sub-areas of the 'Indicators of Positive Experiences about Science': 'Science Academic Emotion', 'Science-Related Self-Concept', 'Science Learning Motivation', 'Science-Related Career Aspiration', and 'Science-Related Attitude'. Interview contents were recorded, transcribed, and categorized. As a result of examining the causes of low science academic emotion, it was found that students experienced negative emotions when experiments are not carried out properly, scientific theories and terms are difficult, and recording the inquiry results is burdensome. In addition, students responded that science-related self-concept changed negatively due to poor science grades, difficult scientific terms, and a large amount of learning. The reasons for the decline in science learning motivation were the lack of awareness of relationship between science class content and daily life, difficulty in science class content, poor science grades, and lack of relevance to one's interest or career path. The main reason for the decline in science-related career aspirations was that they feel their career path was not related to science, and due to poor science performance. Science-related attitudes changed negatively due to difficulties in science classes or negative feelings about science classes, and high school students recognized the ambivalence of science on society. Based on the results of the interview, support for experiments and basic science education, improvement of elementary school supplementary textbook 'experiment & observation', development of teaching and learning materials, and provision of science-related career information were proposed.