• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.311-324
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• 2022

This study analyzed the types of scientific emoticons made by science-gifted elementary school students and their perceptions on making scientific emoticons. To do this, 71 students from 4th to 6th graders of two gifted science education center in Seoul were selected. Scientific emoticons made by the students were analyzed according to the number and types. Their perceptions on making scientific emoticons were also analyzed through a questionnaire and group interviews. In the analyses for types of text in the scientific emoticons, 'word type' and 'sentence type' were made more than 'question and answer type'. And the majority of students made more 'pun using pronunciation type' and 'mixed type' than other types. They also made more 'graphic type' and 'animation type' than 'text type' in the images of the scientific emoticons. In the analyses for the information of the scientific emoticons, 'positive emotion type' and 'negative emotion type' of scientific emoticons were made evenly. The students made more 'new creation type' than 'partial correction type' and 'entire reconstruction type'. They also used scientific knowledge that preceded the knowledge of science curriculum in their grade level. The scientific knowledge of chemistry was used more than physics, biology, earth science, and combination field. 'Name utilization type' was more than 'characteristic utilization type' and 'principle utilization type'. Students had various positive perceptions in making scientific emoticons such as 'increase of scientific knowledge', 'increase of various higher-order thinking abilities', 'ease of explanation, use, memory, and understanding of scientific knowledge', 'increase of fun, enjoyment, and interest about science and science learning', and 'increase of opportunity to express emotions'. They were also aware of some limitations related to 'difficulties in the process of making scientific emoticons', 'lack of time', and 'limit that it may end just for fun'. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.565-575
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• 2017

This study analyzes the epistemic considerations and the argumentation level revealed in the discourse of the key concept of natural selection for science-gifted elementary students. The paper analyzes and discusses the results of a three-student focus group, drawn from a cohort of twenty gifted sixth-grade elementary students. Nature, generality, justification, and audience were used to analyze epistemic consideration. Learning progression in scientific argumentation including argument construction and critique was used to analyze students' scientific argumentation level. The findings are as follows: First, Epistemic considerations in discourse varied between key concepts of natural selection discussed. The nature aspect of epistemic considerations is highly expressed in the discourse for all natural selection key concepts. But the level of generality, justification and audience was high or low, and the level was not revealed in the discourse. In the heredity of variation, which is highly expressed in terms of generality of knowledge, the linkage with various phenomena against the acquired character generated a variety of ideas. These ideas were used to facilitate engagement in argumentation, so that all three students showed the level of argumentation of suggestions of counter-critique. Second, students tried to explain the process of speciation by using concepts that were high in practical epistemic considerations level when explaining the concept of speciation, which is the final natural selection key concept. Conversely, the concept of low level of epistemic considerations was not included as an explanation factor. The results of this study suggest that students need to analyze specific factors to understand why epistemological decisions are made by students and how epistemological resources are used according to context through various epistemological resources. Analysis of various factors influencing epistemological decisions can be a mediator of the instructor who can improve the quality and level of the argumentation.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.63 no.5
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• pp.376-386
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to explore the learning progression of logical thinking in acid and base chemical reactions and to evaluate its validity. For this purpose, we collected 387 participants in 9 schools of elementary, middle and high schools nationwide. The questionnaire developed in this study was composed of nine items. The questionnaire presented the acid and base reactants and products, and the students pictured their thoughts on how these substances change, and answered the reasons of their thoughts. Situation contexts of the questionnaire were divided into two groups: one kind of solute dissolved in a solvent, and two kinds of solute dissolved in a solvent. In this study, six levels of learning progression were assumed by combining material conservation logic, combination logic, proportion logic, and particle number conservation logic. By analyzing the data, Infit and Outfit values of Person reliability, Item reliability, MNSQ and ZSTD were obtained from the Rasch model. As a result of the analysis of data, it was found that lower levels of learning progression prevailed up to the younger grade students till $8^{th}$ grade. The higher levels of learning progression(Level 2~Level 5) prevailed up to the older grade students. However, higher levels of learning progression dropped sharply in Grade 12. The 5 level of learning progression was very low in all grades, and $9^{th}$ grade had highest percentage of students belonging to the 5 level. Interpretation of these unusual results suggests a future research related to explanation differences of textbooks.