• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.329-339
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• 1996

We examined the science education system in North Korea from the elementary to the high schools. We also analyzed the physics textbooks used in North Korea and compared the results with the textbooks used in South Korea. We compared the goal and system of physics education, and the content, order of study, and volume of the textbooks. Physics education starts at the 4th year at the elementary school, and is taught through the whole school years in North Korea. The science process skills are regarded to be important and figures, tables, problem sets, experiments, and sample solutions are exclusively used in the textbooks. Electomagnetism occupies the largest portion in physics textbooks, but subjects related to the application of physics are more stressed. There are a few subjects which are included in the North Korean textbooks but not in the South Korean textbooks. We have compiled about 60 North Korean physics words which are different from the South Korean words used in the textbooks. Overall, there will be not much difficulty in integrating the physics education system and physics textbooks after the two Koreas are unified.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.375-382
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• 2015

Textbooks corresponding to curriculum goals are necessary because they are specific products of curriculum and are the most important materials for teaching, learning, and evaluation. In particular, learning objectives written in textbooks should be clearly described because they play a role in promoting learning by showing learning goals to learners clearly. This study analyzed the characteristics of verbs used as predicate of learning objectives written in high school physics I and II textbooks of Korea and compared them with physics textbooks of Singapore and the United States. Results show that Korean textbooks have less kinds of verbs compared to those of Singapore and the United States, and the verbs with abstract and comprehensive meaning such as 'understand' and 'know' were mainly used. In American textbooks, it was noticeable that no verbs have been used by more than 10%. When classifying the learning objectives in the two Korean textbooks, cognitive domain accounted for 98 to 99%, and inquiry domain accounted for only 1% to 2%. With regard to physics textbooks of the United States, inquiry domain accounted for a large proportion of domains in learning objectives compared with physics textbooks of Korea and Singapore. Physics textbooks of Singapore were similar to those of Korea in that learning objectives were biased toward cognitive domain, but differed from those of Korea in that learning objectives were specifically described using action verbs.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.214-225
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• 2018

In this study, we tried to find out how heat and thermal energy terms are defined and used in Korean science textbooks, and to see if there are any differences in the meaning of these terms used in different areas of science. For this purpose, the contents of 52 science textbooks of elementary, middle and high school published by the 2009 revised curriculum were analyzed. The definition of the term heat is given in the middle school Science(1) and the high school Physics I and II textbooks. Most textbooks define heat as "energy transferred due to a temperature difference (Type I)". Only one textbook of Physics I defines heat as "transfer of energy due to a temperature difference (Type II)". The definition of thermal energy is mostly presented in the middle school Science (2) and the high school Physics I textbooks. Physics I textbooks define the thermal energy as "molecular kinetic energy (Type III)", while Science(2) textbooks define it as Type I or "energy causes temperature change or phase transition of matter (Type IV)". In the texts of textbooks, heat is mainly used as the meaning of Type I or Type III. Thermal energy is mainly used as Type III, but it is also used as Type I in the high school Physics and Chemistry textbooks. The meanings of heat and thermal energy terms used are differed by the area of science. They are mainly used as type I or type III in Physics and Chemistry textbooks, and used as type III in Life Science and Earth Science textbooks.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.331-339
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to make a list of scientific terms to decrease students' difficulties of science learning. By using inductive method, database has established from elementary school science textbooks and laboratory observation books. All terms from physics area of science textbooks and laboratory observation books at the levels of grade 3 to 6 were analyzed based on the Standard Korean Dictionary (1999) and Book of Physics Terminology (2005). As a result, we made a list of 204 scientific terms by grade level. Those were 51 words for grade 3, 55 words for grade 4, 56 words for grade 5, and 42 words for grade 6. And there were some incongruities among textbooks, the Standard Korean Dictionary and the Book of Physics Terminology.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 1987

The contents of current physics textbooks in Korean high school and those of the forergn country (America and Japan)have been investigated. Especially the contents related to energy have been examined. Comparing and analyzing the results, we have suggested the method of improvement of the energy education in high school curriculum.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to select the basic words of physics for science education which were learned through everyday life or school education and be foundation of learning science. For this, we collected all words in the 'Wise Life' textbooks by 7th and 2007 National Curriculum, and extract the science words. As a result, there were 8,970 words in 8 textbooks of 'Wise Life', and about 18% of them, 1,585 words, were science words. There were 266 kinds of science words and most of them were biology words. And the textbooks by 2007 National Curriculum had more science words than by 7th's. Finally we selected 24 basic words of science only in the physics area by comprehensively considering difficulty, need and frequency.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.112-121
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• 2020

The photoelectric effect is a representative phenomenon explaining the particle nature of light and is an important theme that led to the transition from classical physics to modern physics. Although the secondary school curriculum deals with the photoelectric effect, teachers and students are often confused with terms because the explanation of the 'light intensity' is different from that of electromagnetic waves. Hence, this study examines how modern physics textbooks explain the intensity of light through photon model. We analyzed the photoelectric effect unit of 10 modern physics textbooks. Results show that there are two different types of representation on 'light intensity.' Especially those two different types were found even within a textbook. Modern physics textbooks do not seem to provide a unified presentation of the light and cautions to describe the photoelectric effect and its interpretation are suggested for teaching light intensity in modern physics.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.155-164
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• 2003

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of explanations about physical phenomena given in non-physics textbooks on the formation of student physical conceptions. Two classes, 39 students in each, were sampled from two middle schools in Pusan, Korea, and two kinds of test tools for investigating student conceptions were developed for the study. The first test tool(a) investigated student conceptions after reading explanations about physical phenomena in non-physics textbooks, while the second(b) investigated student conceptions after reading explanations revised by physics education experts about the same physical phenomena. The two test tools were applied to each class, and for a fair invetigation, test(a) followed by test(b) was applied to one class, while test(b) followed by test(a) was applied to the other class. The results were as follows: In both classes, the students' level of understanding from explanations revised by physics education experts was significantly (p < .01) higher than that from explanations in non-physics textbooks. As such, it is feasible that false or inappropriate explanations in non-physics textbooks can cause student misconceptions. Moreover, the improper expression of physical science concepts, improper choice of scientific terms, and incorrect grammatical structures, along with the use of unsuitable examples and improper model pictures can make it difficult for students to understand physics concepts. Furthermore, differences in the terms used in physics textbook and those used in other textbooks can also confuse students' learning.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.1295-1317
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• 2012

There has been disagreement on the importance of definitions in science education. Yager (1983) believes that one crisis in science education was due to the considerable emphasis upon the learning of definitions. Hobson (2004) disagrees with physics textbooks that do not provide general definition on energy. Some textbooks explain that "there is no completely satisfactory definition of energy" or they can only "struggle to define it." In general, imprecise definitions in textbooks (Bauman, 1992) and inaccuracies in definition provided by teachers (Galili & Lehavi, 2006) may cause alternative conceptions. Besides, there are at least four challenges in defining physical concepts: precision, circularity, context and completeness in knowledge. These definitional problems that have been discussed in The Feynman Lectures, may impede the learning of physical concepts. A meta-study approach is employed to examine about five hundreds journal papers that may discuss definitions in physics, problems in defining physical concepts and how they may result in alternative conceptions. These journal papers are mainly selected from journals such as American Journal of Physics, International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Physics Education, The Physics Teachers, and so on. There are also comparisons of definitions with definitions from textbooks, Dictionaries of Physics, and English Dictionaries. To understand the nature of alternative conception, Lee et al. (2010) have suggested a theoretical framework to describe the learning issues by synthesizing cognitive psychology and science education approaches. Taking it a step further, this study incorporates the challenges in semantics and epistemology, proposes that there are at least four variants of alternative conceptions. We may coin the term, 'alternative definitions', to refer to the commonly available definitions, which have these four problems in defining physics concepts. Based on this study, alternative definitions may result in at least four variants of alternative conceptions. Note that these four definitional problems or challenges in definitions cannot be easily resolved. Educators should be cognizant of the four variants of alternative conceptions which can arise from alternative definitions. The concepts of alternative definitions can be useful and possibly generalized to science education and beyond.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.480-493
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• 2005

The development of modem technology made people more aware of the importance of science education, which was followed by research on textbooks based on the new curriculum. This study compared physics textbooks that were published after the new curriculum started in 2000 and 2002 in Korea and Japan, respectively, and aimed to become a reference for further improvement of science curriculum and textbook reform. The results were as follows : 1. The number of teaching topics in Korean science textbook is greater than those in Japan. 2. In detail, the field of physics appeared to be relatively more important in Korea's textbooks, while it was the field of biology that was given more weight in textbooks in Japan. 3. The textbooks in Korea and Japan covered in more detail the concepts of 'power and energy' and 'electricity and magnetism', respectively. 4. The textbooks in Korea introduced the contents of magnetism initially, whereas their counterparts in Japan, the contents of light. As a whole, the contents of the science textbooks in Korea and Japan were very similar. However, more detailed concepts were included in Korea's textbooks, and therefore, Korea's textbooks seemed to have richer contents than Japan.