• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.76-92
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• 2002

OECD/PISA(Programme for International Student Assessment) is significant in that it is the first international comparative study assessing 15-year-old students' scientific literacy. Based on Korean students' results of percent correct in 35 science items, several characteristics such as followings were revealed. First, from the perspectives of science application area, Korean students showed the highest achievement in the area of 'science in technology' followed by in the areas of 'science in life and health' and 'science in earth and environment'. Male students achieved significantly better than female counterparts in all three areas. Second, the achievement in items of science knowledge was significantly higher than in items of scientific processes. Whereas the achievement difference between science knowledge- and scientific process items was larger for male students. Third, from the perspectives of application contexts, Korean students showed the highest achievement in the historical context and the lowest achievement in the personal context. Fourth, from the perspectives of item format, Korean students performed significantly better in open-constructed items rather than in multiple-choice items. Fifth, Korean students showed low performance in items of biotechnology and environment-related issue, which was more prominent for female students. Sixth, whereas male students performed significantly better than female students in most aspects, it is noteworthy that there was no significant gender differences in items of scientific processes and females performed significantly better than male students in open-constructed items which require long sentence.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.309-318
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• 2003

Scientific reasoning is one of the main concerns in current science education. This study have tried to answer on the question whether Korean science education has the potential to help improve of students' ability to think scientifically. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationship between reasoning patterns evident in science textbook and science examination items, and students' scientific reasoning skills across grades in Korea. 1975 subjects (1022 females and 953 males) were administered in the Lawson's Test of Scientific Reasoning skills. Forty seven science textbooks and 240 assessment instrument were analyzed by several scientific reasoning keys. Scientific reasoning patterns were adopted from Lawson's classification which characterized the patterns as the empirical-inductive and the hypothetical-deductive. This study found that reasoning patterns evident in textbook analyses and assessment instrumental items do not evidentce the potential to stimulate the development of students' reasoning skill. In order to improve the students' abilities to think and achieve, higher levels of reasoning must be included in the science textbook and examination. Further, some of scientific reasoning processes, such as generating hypotheses, designing experiments, and logical prediction, were not found in science textbooks and test items in Korean secondary schools. This study also discussed the educational implication of these results and further studies about to develop student's reasoning ability.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.643-650
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• 1998

In order to assess students' higher mental abilities, such as scientific inquiry thinking skills, the essay type items would be more adequate than the multiple choice itmes. However, due to the present condition in which a huge number of students take the examination at the same time, it is inevitable to use the multiple choice type. For this reason, it is necessary to develop a new type of multiple choice items which can reduce the disadvantages of the traditional multiple choice type and can achieve a similar level of validity as subjective type assessment. The three-tier multiple choice test items which can be used for a large sample of students and especially for scientific inquiry thinking abilities, are proposed and examined. The three-tier multiple choice test items asked firstly conclusion or the results of calculation or experimental apparatus, secondly the processes of calculation or of developing conclusion, thirdly asking relevant scientific concepts. For the item analysis, 1 point was given to the correct answer, while 0 point was given to the wrong one. The data were processed through the computer program developed in Turbo C 2.0 language with an IBM compatable personal computer. The average score in the sub-items asking for scientific concepts was lower than that in the sub-items asking for results or processes. The score of guessing by chance in the three-tier multiple choice items was only 0.13%, so that the probability of making correct answers by just guessing would be extremely low. The three-tier multiple choice items, even if they are objective items, are thought to assess thinking skills of the scientific inquiry meaningfully excluding the possibility of guessing by chance.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.387-394
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• 2005

We have analyzed the science-gifted educational program (year 2002) at the Seoul National University in terms of its educational objectives, scientific models, and cognitive processes in scientific inquiry in order to provide insights into developing and improving science-gifted educational program. We assumed the following items as important factors for teaching scientifically gifted students: higher-order thinking skills involving synthesis domain in the educational objectives, highly abstract nature and complexity in the scientific models, cognitive processes of planning experiments in the cognitive processes in scientific inquiry. According to the analyzed results, the program has the following characteristics: (1) the rates of both higher and lower-order thinking skill domain in the educational objectives are similarly high, but the rate of synthesis domain is relatively low; (2) in the case of the scientific models, the rate of the multiple concepts and/or processes model is relatively low, while the level of the abstractness is relatively on average (3) cognitive processes of authentic scientific inquiry is not thoroughly reflected in the scientific inquiry activities, and very few cognitive processes of planning experiments factor is reflected. Therefore, we conclude in the synthesis domain in the educational objectives, multiple concepts and/or processes model, and cognitive processes of planning experiments should be especially reflected more on the science-gifted educational program in order to serve the needs of scientifically gifted students.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.295-302
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• 2008

In this study, the test that were used in entrance examination for chemistry class in a Science-Gifted Education Center for middle school students were analyzed by using criteria for identification and measurement of scientific giftedness and a classical test theory. The result of analysis exhibited that most of problems measured more than two elements of scientific giftedness and required applications of scientific knowledge of middle school level to solve problems. In the analysis of sub-elements of scientific giftedness, originality, fluency in creativity and finding problems/formulating hypothesis, planning inquiry, interpreting data in science process skills were dominant while drawing conclusion and generalization processes were lacking. In correlation analysis between total score and each type of problems, total score was most influenced by the problems measuring science inquiry linked with scientific knowledge. Item difficulty is moderately high and item discrimination is moderate.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.141-156
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• 2010

Service industry has become the integral part of economy. And the activation of industry requires a scientific and systematic approach. As one of these kinds of efforts, IBM presented a service model which consisted of strategies, processes, technology, manpower and so on through Service Science. And IBM raised the needs of considering the main issue and methodology of service model's scientific approach. On that account, this study worked out factorial definitions and measurable items by the four components of service model presented by Service Science in order for it to be measured through studies on related literature and interviews of specialists. In order to prepare an opportunity of categorizing the conception of the service model of which character was strongly intangible and of systematically approaching to it, the investigator examined related literature and applied it QFD methodology. Through this kind of redefinition, the investigator concretely conceptualized the service model which was standstill at the level of theoretical approach so far and presented guidelines with which researchers could classify it more concretely. In addition, the investigator tried to present a systematic frame which could be applied to business by working-level officials or decision-makers. Therefore, the investigator expects that study findings will be used as references for the design or implementation of service-oriented business model.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.51-60
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• 1996

The purpose of this study is to develope and analyze a test for the assessment of physics inquiry experiment. To do this, three experiments about 'analysis of motion', 'the relation of force and acceleration', and 'free fall motion' in high school physics textbooks were chosen, and 5 scientific inquiry domains and 16 science process skills have been specified. For each experiments, test sheet of $29{\sim}44$ questions for assessing students' ability about physics inquiry experiment were developed on the basis of the scientific inquiry processes developed earlier. After instruction about 3 experiments mentioned above, a test was administered to the students who took experiment. After the adminstration of a test, the ratio of correct answers, discrimination index, and reliability were analyzed. Using the ratio of correct answers, we can determine item difficulty. Through the D.I(discrimination index), we can find which items can discriminate the students who took experiment well from those who took experiment badly, and we can also find the stability of a test result by the reliability analysis. The test developed in this study were also administered to the students who did not take experiments, and the results were compared with the those of the students who took experiments. With the comparison by chi-square method, we could find which items can discriminate the students who took experiments from those who did not take experiments.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.428-445
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• 2012

The objective of this study is developing an instrument for investigating views of the respondents on nature of science(NOS) by using experienced scientific knowledge, atomic model. It consists of total six questions and 36 detail items, and each question is reflected the aspects of different NOS which are 'recognition on the model', 'tentativeness of scientific knowledge', 'subjectivity in science', 'use of inference and imagination', 'myths of the scientific method', and 'comparison between science and art'. Particularly, 'comparison between science and art' is addressed almost for the first time in this questionnaire. In the class environment almost not to teach nature of science linking with concrete scientific knowledge, to inquire how the students recognize nature of science, relating to experienced scientific knowledge through this questionnaire will give the data of scientific knowledge based recognition on the nature of science and an important implication for nature of science teaching with concrete scientific knowledge. Developing processes have gone through four steps. In first step, we chose aspects of NOS and developed questions and details. In second step, we tested the draft into fifteen science teachers and, reflecting their opinions, corrected the form and contents of questionnaires. In third step, we tested the questionnaire included writing section for expressing thoughts of the respondents into 55 students in science high school and checked index of coincidence between Likert and open-ended responses which shows 88.2% degree of consensus. Furthermore, to identify the feature of using concrete scientific knowledge we applied this and views on science and education questionnaires together into six university students. We performed final test to 68 university students and measured Cronbach's, and ultimately completed final questionnaire in last step.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.40-53
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• 2002

This study was based on the analysis of earth and environmental science items in PISA 2000 data. The purpose of this study was to identify i) gender differences in scientific literacy, ii) item characteristics that favored either female or male, and iii) misconceptions that 15-years-old Korean students have in the field of earth and environmental science. The results revealed significant gender differences. Overall, male students demonstrated higher level of achievement than female students. On the other hand, amongst high ability students, female students outperformed male students in open-constructed items. Female students tended to score higher on items that required long answers or items related to scientific processes, whereas male students outperformed female students in science knowledge or items that required data interpretation. The study also revealed that a majority of Korean students had misconceptions in fundamental earth and environmental science knowledge, such as the direction of earth's axis and equator, and the causes of Greenhouse Effect.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.173-184
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to analyse the problems of 'Science Inquiry Experiment Contest(SIEC)' which was one of 8 programs of 'The 2nd Student Science Inquiry Olympic Meet(SSIOM)'. The results and conclusions of this study were as follows: 1. It needs to reconsider the role of practical work within science experiment because practical work skills form one of the mainstays in current science. But the assessment of students' laboratory skills in the contest was made little account of. It is necessary to remind of what it means to be 'good at science'. There are two aspects: knowing and doing. Both are important and, in certain respects, quite distinct. Doing science is more of a craft activity, relying more on craft skill and tacit knowledge than on the conscious application of explicit knowledge. Doing science is also divided into two aspects, 'process' and 'skill' by many science educators. 2. The report's and checklist's assessment items were overlapped. Therefore it was suggested that the checklist assessment items were set limit to the students' acts which can't be found in reports. It is important to identify those activities which produce a permanent assessable product, and those which do not. Skills connected with recording and reporting are likely to produce permanent evidence which can be evaluated after the experiment. Those connected with manipulative skills involving processes are more ephemeral and need to be assessed as they occur. The division of student's experimental skills will contribute to the accurate assess of student's scientific inquiry experimental ability. 3. There was a wide difference among the scores of one participant recorded by three evaluators. This means that there was no concrete discussion among the evaluators before the contest. Despite the items of the checklists were set by preparers of the contest experiments, the concrete discussions before the contest were necessary because students' experimental acts were very diverse. There is a variety of scientific skills. So it is necessary to assess the performance of individual students in a range of skills. But the most of the difficulties in the assessment of skills arise from the interaction between measurement and the use. To overcome the difficulties, not only must the mark needed for each skill be recorded, something which all examination groups obviously need, but also a description of the work that the student did when the skill was assessed must also be given, and not all groups need this. Fuller details must also be available for the purposes of moderation. This is a requirement for all students that there must be provision for samples of any end-product or other tangible form of evidence of candidates' work to be submitted for inspection. This is rather important if one is to be as fair as possible to students because, not only can this work be made available to moderators if necessary, but also it can be used to help in arriving at common standards among several evaluators, and in ensuring consistent standards from one evaluator over the assessment period. This need arises because there are problems associated with assessing different students on the same skill in different activities. 4. Most of the students' reports were assessed intuitively by the evaluators despite the assessment items were established concretely by preparers of the experiment. This result means that the evaluators were new to grasp the essence of the established assessment items of the experiment report and that the students' assessment scores were short of objectivity. Lastly, there are suggestions from the results and the conclusions. The students' experimental acts which were difficult to observe because they occur in a flash and which can be easily imitated should be excluded from the assessment items. Evaluators are likely to miss the time to observe the acts, and the students who are assessed later have more opportunity to practise the skill which is being assessed. It is necessary to be aware of these problems and try to reduce their influence or remove them. The skills and processes analysis has made a very useful checklist for scientific inquiry experiment assessment. But in itself it is of little value. It must be seen alongside the other vital attributes needed in the making of a good scientist, the affective aspects of commitment and confidence, the personal insights which come both through formal and informal learning, and the tacit knowledge that comes through experience, both structured and acquired in play. These four aspects must be continually interacting, in a flexible and individualistic way, throughout the scientific education of students. An increasing ability to be good at science, to be good at doing investigational practical work, will be gained through continually, successively, but often unpredictably, developing more experience, developing more insights, developing more skills, and producing more confidence and commitment.