• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.527-536
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• 2006

This study investigated the components of science teacher professionalism, the meaning of PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge), examples of science PCK, and complementary measures that should be taken to improve teacher professionalism. Six science teachers recommended by their colleagues explained that the science teacher's professionalism (or professional knowledge) consists of science content knowledge, knowledge about teaching, knowledge about learners, and improvement efforts. Science teachers' definition of PCK, which is the professional knowledge that members of the wider society expect teachers to possess, is the teacher's materialized knowledge that aims at students' understanding and PCK is the accumulated know-how of teachers as they strive to make their teaching comprehensible by students. Science teachers also contended that teachers as professionals need to complement an accountability system, acknowledgement of continuous self-developmental efforts, collegiality, and securing validity in the teacher employment test. The teachers argued that the societal recognition of teaching professionalism is essential for a high quality teaching. Suggestions for how to improve science teaching professionalism are also discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.663-679
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• 2011

This case study focused on three science teachers who participated in the Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program conducted by the Center for Bridging Advanced Science and Education (CBASE). The RET program provides opportunities for participants to experience experimentations in a science laboratory for six months, enabling teachers develop teaching materials based on their experience from the RET program. The purpose of this study was to explore how the teachers had developed their professionalism through participation in the program and which factors promoted the professional development of science teachers. In this research, we defined pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as the required knowledge for teachers to develop for their professional development. As a result of the RET program, all three participants showed integration of PCK elements: orientation to teaching science, knowledge of science, knowledge of students, knowledge of teaching, and knowledge of sources. The PCK elements which had been developed by the RET program were applied in school context and the teachers' belief became clear and strong. The teachers were able to understand the process of authentic science as they learned it from 'legitimate peripheral participation' in the authentic research context. They also showed dynamic integration between newly established elements of PCK by reflecting on the school context while developing the teaching materials. The professional development of each teacher was different depending on the purpose and PCK, which participants had already possess. This study will provide meaningful implication for the development of professional development program for science teachers based on research experience.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.1021-1040
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• 2013

In order to explore the influences of coteaching through mentoring upon the teaching professionalism of beginning science-gifted education teachers, this case study deeply investigated the change processes in the aspects of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Two beginning teachers planned, performed and reflected together their science instructions for science-gifted students in secondary school during four 3-hour classes. Since the second instruction, pre-, during-, and post-mentoring were conducted, we collected various data related to teachers' planning processes, videotaped all coteaching science classes, and wrote field notes. We also recorded in-depth interviews with the teachers and the whole process of mentoring. All the data were analyzed by using the constant comparative method. The results of the analyses indicated that coteaching through mentoring positively changed the teachers' PCK. Above all, we found that coteaching and mentoring strategies generated a significant synergy effect through a mutually complementary relationship. The teachers developed deep practical knowledge about the enrichment curriculum, which placed more emphasis on developing cognitive and/or affective characteristics of science-gifted students. The teachers also improved their knowledge about the characteristics of science-gifted students and the instructional strategies appropriate for developing them. Moreover, practical knowledge about assessment domains and methods used in science-gifted education were improved. Knowledge on science content necessary for effective inquiry instruction was also improved.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1219-1236
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between subject matter knowledge (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for science teachers. To this end, a total of 26 secondary Earth science teachers participated in this study and a concept diagnostic questionnaire and a lesson planning task of atmospheric pressure were devised to give an indication of participating teachers' SMK and PCK, respectively. The results of this study are summarized as follows: First, participating teachers showed a variety of SMK levels about atmospheric pressure. Second, teachers at high level of SMK focused on 'supplementary' and 'fundamental' curriculum contents for in-depth conceptual understanding, but teachers at low level of SMK, on the contrary, stressed 'applicative' curriculum contents. Third, teachers at high level of SMK grasped students' misconceptions and difficulties in learning atmospheric pressure far more concretely than teachers at low level of SMK. Lastly, teachers at high level of SMK showed a tendency to use learner-centered instructional strategy by utilizing students' prior knowledge, but teachers at low level of SMK were inclined toward teacher-directed concept explanation. Based on this study, some implications for effective science teacher preparation programs were also discussed.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.310-314
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• 2022

Digitalization affects not only the content of education, but also its organization. These processes have ambiguous implications for the positioning of both universities and teaching staff. The necessary competencies are often acquired outside the walls of educational institutions, because educational programs often do not keep pace with the dynamics of technology. The teacher turns from a bearer of transmitted knowledge and skills into a navigator that helps to navigate the knowledge bases. All these issues are especially acute in relation to the reform of the higher education system in the context of pandemic consequences. The article examines and analyzes the features of the transformation of higher education in the context of a pandemic that faced the world in 2020. It has been proved that the processes of changes and transformations that the higher education system is going through both in an individual country and throughout the world should be defined as transformation, not modernization, reform or transformation.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.350-363
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• 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
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.84-99
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to develop a STEAM program using technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) model to effectively utilize technology to solve the difficulties in the teaching of 'structure and function of our body' unit in the primary science curriculum and to confirm the effect on the academic achievement, creative problem solving ability and scientific interests of elementary students. The program was developed as the STEAM program of the 8th class by utilizing the construction knowledge of the TPACK model. The developed program was applied to 29 experimental group students in 5th grade. And the textbook-oriented circulatory system learning program was applied to 29 5th graders in the same school. As a result of the application of the program, the experimental group showed significant improvement over the comparison group in its creative problem solving ability and scientific interests, and the satisfaction of the class was also high. This caused a positive effect on students because the process of self-directing information about the circulatory system using smart devices, making outputs creatively using 3D printers, and presenting them through role play using produced outputs.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.801-828
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• 2011

In this study, we analyzed the characteristics of Pedagogical Content knowledge(PCK)'s components through actual course of teachers of science gifted students in the middle school. For this study, four middle school science teachers of gifted students belonging to the gifted education professional organizations in a metropolis were selected, each of them was physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science teacher. Two of them were full-time teachers to teach only gifted students and two were part-time teachers who had taught general students in ordinary time and specially had taught the gifted students once a week. Qualitative data were collected through classroom observations, interviews, and documents. As a result, some unique characteristics of PCK's components were identified. The teachers' orientations to teaching science were closely correlated with PCK's components. The teachers' knowledges of science curriculum were different individually. But the decisions about type of teaching(acceleration or enrichment) were connected with the objectives of gifted education and lesson objectives. Also, the teachers' knowledges of science curriculum were influenced by the knowledge of students' understanding. Teachers used different instructional strategies according to the knowledge of science curriculum and the knowledge of students' understanding. We found that PCK's components were so closely connected and could show the direction of relationships among those PCK's components. We suggested teachers' PCK model which was named "Tetrahedron Model of PCK", to explain the characteristics and relationships of PCK's components.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.325-338
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• 2021

In this study, we developed a 15-week educational program for TPACK(Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) development of 40 pre-service teachers in a university for teacher training. We also developed a TPACK evaluation framework to evaluate the practical competency of TPACK of pre-service teachers. The developed evaluation framework consisted of 5 levels, from 0 to 4, TPK(Technological Pedagogical Knowledge), TCK(Technological Content Knowledge), and TPACK, respectively. As a result of the evlauation, the levels of TPK, TCK, and TPACK development stages of most pre-service teachers were consistent, but some pre-service teachers' TPK and TCK did not match. It was found that the TPACK stages follow the lower level between TPK and TCK. In addition, as a result of an investigation into the hindrance factors of the TPACK development of pre-service teachers with low TPACK stages in the use of technology, they have distrust of students' ability to learn with self-regulation, distrust of students' ability to interact, and recognition of practical limitations in the school field. Based on these findings, we argued that it was necessary to provide an educational program to help pre-service teachers develop balanced TPK and TCK and eliminate the hindrance factors of the TPACK development of pre-service teachers about technology-using classes.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.378-392
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• 2017

Teacher quality is a topic of international concern, as it impacts student learning and teacher preparation. This study compared the undergraduate secondary science teacher preparation programs from two universities in Korea with those of Oregon, USA. We examined the programs' structural curricular coherence, conceptual curricular coherence, and curricular balance. Structural curricular coherence was determined by examining the overarching goals of the institutions' programs, the organization of the programs of study in terms of meeting those goals, and outside bodies of evidence. All universities were in structural coherence for various reasons. Conceptual curricular coherence was determined by examining students' perceptions of the connection between their preparation and their clinical practice. In case of Korea, most students from both universities were not satisfied with their practical preparation. In the US, the students from both institutions felt well prepared to transition to inservice teaching. To determine curricular balance, we examined the institutions' preparation programs looking at the credit hours taken in the four main areas of the teacher knowledge base: GPK (General Pedagogical Knowledge), SMK (Subject Matter Knowledge), PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge), and CK (Contextual Knowledge). The total credit hours taken in each category was very similar by country but the application and field component in the USA was far greater than those of Korea where the focus was heavily on SMK and PCK. The main reason for these may be the nations' licensing and employment processes.