• Title/Summary/Keyword: scientific epistemology

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Analysis of Elementary School Students' Psychological Science Domains by Classifying Science Vocabularies. (과학 용어 분류를 통한 초등학생들의 심리적 과학 영역 분석)

  • Lee, Sung-Ho;Lim, Cheong-Hwan;Jeong, Jin-Woo
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.30-37
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    • 2001
  • The importance of integrated approach have increased gradually in science education. But most of researches on integrated science have been based on the structure of science and epistemology. The investigations of students' psychological science domains are needed for effectiveness of integrated science in science curriculum and classrooms. In this study, for exploration of elementary school students' psychological science domains and their properties, students(N=96) were asked to classify scientific words presented on textbooks in several categories. Many psychological science domains were revealed. Among them, the domains that were over 20% are 'Electricity', 'The human body', 'The earth', 'Energy', 'Plant', 'Animal', 'Environment', 'Living things', 'Weather', 'Flower'. According to the results from analysis on the words that students presented in each domains, the participants hold strongly the relationships caused by everyday experiences. For example, 'light' and 'heat' showed high frequency in 'Electricity' domain and 'The human body' domain included 'force' and 'motion' in high frequency. The most inclusive domain was 'The earth'. Not only the words on earth science but also biological and chemical words were classified in this domain. So The integration that centered with 'The earth' domain looks correspond to the elementary school students' psychological aspect.

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Impacts and Tasks of Teacher Education Programs Revealed by Preservice Teachers: Students' Intact Beliefs (예비교사들을 통해 알아본 교사양성 프로그램의 효과 및 과제: 학생들의 변하지 않는 신념들)

  • Kwak, Young-Sun
    • Journal of the Korean earth science society
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.309-323
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    • 2002
  • This qualitative study investigated preservice teachers' understandings of the ontology and epistemology underlying constructivist notions of learning through four in-depth interviews. Of the sixteen participants in a larger study, five significantly changed ontological and epistemological beliefs and eleven did not. This study focused on these eleven teachers who have hardly changed their philosophical beliefs throughout the teacher education program. Ten teachers who consistently maintained the scientific realist beliefs were presented as a composite case (Young's case). Among the eleven teachers, there was one outlier who had consistently maintained an idealist and relativist epistemological position from the beginning of the study and was subjected to another case analysis (Ben's case). These cases corroborated the assertion that each individual's deeply entrenched ontological and epistemological beliefs are very hard to change. For researchers, this study offers insights into the reasons that preservice teachers give for non-changes in their thinking about learning to teach. The study also examines preservice teachers' perceived constraints in implementing their ideal pedagogies and the influence of the teacher education program on their pedagogical beliefs changes. The benefits and influences of the M.Ed. program's theoretical coursework and the field experiences on these teachers' learning-to-teach experiences are addressed with rich data. The implications for teacher educators as well as for the instructional practices of preservice teacher education programs are discussed. This research emphasize necessity of the field-based teacher education program and the need of empowering experienced school teachers as teacher educators in teacher preparation and professional development.

Energy Scenarios and the Politics of Expertise in Korea (한국의 에너지 시나리오와 전문성의 정치)

  • Han, Jae-Kak;Lee, Young Hee
    • Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.107-144
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    • 2012
  • Recently concerns on the energy future are rising in Korea after nuclear disaster of Fukushima in Japan last year. However, even after Fukushima disaster Korean government keeps on insisting nuclear oriented energy policy. Contrary to it, some of civil society's organizations(CSOs) including environment groups and progressive political parties are making strong voices for phase-out nuclear. As a way of phase-out nuclear activity researcher groups based on CSOs have presented several alternative energy scenarios against the official government scenario so that contest between the two senarios seems not to be avoided. This article aims to analyse the politics of expertise around energy scenarios in Korea by highlighting differences between two scenarios of government and CSOs in terms of epistemological and methodological base, value orientation, institutional foundation, and the socio-political contexts of scenarios. Our research shows that government's energy scenario is based on scientific-positivist epistemology, firm belief in value neutrality and forecasting method, and is built by neo-classical economists at government-sponsored research institutes in accordance with the 'Business As Usual' approach. In contrast, alternative scenarios of CSOs can be said to be based on epistemological constructivism, value oriented attitudes and backcasting method, and be built by collaboration of researchers and activists with different academic and social backgrounds after Fukushima nuclear disaster.

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A Critical Approach on Environmental Education Biased to Environmental Possibilism - From Clearing up the Cause to Problem-Solving Mechanism - (환경관리주의 환경교육에 대한 비판적 고찰 - 원인규명에서 해결기제로의 전환을 위하여 -)

  • Kim, Tae-Kyung
    • Hwankyungkyoyuk
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    • v.18 no.3 s.28
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    • pp.59-74
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    • 2005
  • We can't deny Korean EE has basically developed on the basis of Environmental Possibilism (Environmental management or Reformism) in lots of aspects. I would show three representative proofs here, the first, the philosophy of Korean EE has been mainly focused on dichotomy of human-techno centrism and eco-centrism with no considering other alternative environmentalism since 4th Formal Curriculum, 1981. The second, simultaneously, the concept of EE has not distinguished from it of Science education. (Furthermore, unfortunately some says EE has been a part of Science education, although there should be many differences on its contextual aspect.) And the third one is that the limit of possibilism which market economists have worried, has scarcely mentioned in various kinds of EE-related teaching materials. Possibilism is basically likely to be accompanied by science and economics-oriented approach, and in this aspect this dichotomy, human-techno centrism and eco-centrism, has come from perspectives of Economical development process and over-addicted belief to Science. So it is enough to say that Korean EE has basically developed with biased to Environmental possibilism, in other words, biased to preference to it. And I'll critically focus on these two axes of possibilism, Science and Economics and its dichotomy. Of course, we should accept there are so many same parts in its contents between EE and Science, but we should know its contextual differences for triangular position of environmentalism suitable to EE and also overcome science-dependant approach to EE. Although science-dependant approach to EE and dichotomy could provide some tools for clearing up the causes of environmental problem, especially always it has insisted fundamental causes of environmental problem originated in human faults and over-use of eco-source or over-economic development, but now it is old-fashioned discourse, furthermore it come to have unavoidable limits in the debates of problem-solving mechanism to environmental problems. The paramount important thing is to supply the ways or thoughtful mechanism for solving or coordinating the Environmental problems, not just searching for cause of it. But scientific approach and its dichotomy based on possibilism have continuously born cause & effect in EE-related discourse. So there are so much needs to transfer from continuous bearing of cause & effect to constructive alternatives at least in environmentalism of EE. Traditionally, dichotomical division in EE Environmentalism, human-techno centrism and eco-centrism, couldn't have Provided any answers to our real society, it just gives us only cause & effects of Environmental problems. And also we can't find the description on the limits of capitalism market approach to Environmental problems especially in Korean EE text books, other teaching materials and its teaching-learning process, although market approach economist has been proved its fault beyond its functional merits as Environmental management tools. So we should introduce other alternative Environmental philosophy instead of Possibilism such as eco-socialism insisted by Schmacher M. and Boochin etc, or marxist-environmentalism for relative and comparative views to market-thought such as commodification. In this aspect we need to accept Oriental philosophy based on moderation(中庸) as new another alternatives with the reflection that we have recognized monism as representative Oriental philosophical environmentalism. Fundamentally monism has done its role with providing relative concepts to Dichotomy Enlightenment, but we can't say it has been core concept for understanding of oriental environmentalism, and we can't distinguish monism from oriental philosophy itself, just because oriental thought itself was basically monism. So conceptual difference should be recognized between EE and Science education in teaching-learning process on the basis of life-philosophy(Philosophie des Lebens) from epistemology. For this transformation, we should introduce existentialism in Science education, in other words, only existential Science education based on phenomenology or interpretivism can be EE. And simultaneously we need some ways for overcoming of scientific foundationalism which has been tradition making science not stand on existentialism, formulating and featuring of almost all of natural things and its phenomenon from after enlightenment in western world, but it has malfunctioned in fixing conception of science just into essentialism itself. And we also introduce integrated approach to science and society for EE like STS. Those are ways for overcoming of Environmental possibilism in EE.

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