• 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 Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.371-384
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• 2008

The purposes of this study were to investigate perspective teachers' conceptions of liquid-state and get implications for the direction of science curriculum or professional development. The instrument was composed of seven questions focusing on aspects of liquid-state phenomena. The results showed that the participants have various alternative concepts about liquid-state. The problem revealed in almost every question was their macroscopic explanations for the phenomena. In addition, it appeared that the participants seemed to understand phenomena in terminology level, but they didn't know basic reasons or fundamental concepts about the phenomena. It is required to change the curriculum or instructional methods in secondary school and teacher education programs to anchor the scientific concepts on molecular or microscopic level.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.255-272
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• 2021

Etymologies are explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 to 2,000 years ago. When Linnaeus in the mid-1700s began naming animals with a binomial nomenclature, he based names on the Latin Grammatical Form. Since many names have Latin or Greek roots, the name for an animal is the same throughout the world because Latin is no longer a spoken language and meanings of names will not evolve or change. In his use of Latin or a Latinized word for the genus and species, Linnaeus used descriptive words that will always be the same. Notwithstanding the importance of etymologies for scientific names, no study has addressed the etymology of scientific names for Korean mammals. Here, we list etymologies for scientific names of 127 mammal species, 84 genera, 32 families, and 8 orders from Korea. The origins of etymologies are mostly based on morphology, color of pelage, behavior, distribution, locality, country name, or a person's name. This paper will be useful for new students and trained scholars studying Korean mammals.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.96-108
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to investigate how prospective elementary school teachers perceived teacher's inquiryoriented teaching practice, with an emphasis on students' scientific explanations based on scientific evidence. For this study, 94 prospective elementary school teachers were participated. 14 among 94 participants had chances to intensively experience this particular teaching methods for 15 weeks. All of the 94 participants observed the intended science teaching practice for 4th graders in two different elementary schools, which utilized the science talks emphasizing students' scientific explanation activity. For quantitative data analysis, they were asked to provide their reaction to the science teaching methods after their classroom observation. For qualitative data analysis, 5 among the participants, who had relatively long term experience with this teaching practice, were chosen to interview in order to understand their individual reasons of the ways they perceived about the inquiry-oriented teaching methods boosting students' scientific explanation. The results show that the prospective elementary teachers generally thought the emphasis of students' scientific explanation based on scientific evidence could enhance young elementary students' science content understanding, stimulate their curiosity/interests, and further develop their ability to engage actively in scientific discussions. However, some prospective teachers tended to think that the science teaching. methods would not be effective in terms of managing science classes, though. This study concludes that the prospective teachers tended to hold an endemic dilemma. On the one hand, they had their clear preference to the inquiry-oriented teaching practice as the most ideal teaching methods. On the other hand, they also had their persistent hesitance in using these methods due to their fear that elementary students might not adequately grasp the important science content when engaged in scientific discourse through an inquiry-oriented class.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.160-175
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• 2004

This study examined the knowledge and practices of scientific inquiry displayed by three student teachers and two beginning teachers at secondary levels. Observations using the instrument of OTOP designed by the research team of OCEPT (Oregon Collaborative for Excellent in the Preparation of Teachers) generalized similar teaching strategies of scientific inquiry between student and beginning teachers, such as using group work for students' first hand experience, using concrete materials for experimentation or visual tools for demonstration, using questions for factual knowledge mainly without opportunities to understand how scientific knowledge is constructed. Those scientific inquiry activities were very confirmative ones to follow the steps without opportunities of understanding nature of science or nature of scientific inquiry. However, all participants in this study hold knowledge of scientific inquiry envisioned by the National Science Education Standards [NSES] (NRC, 1996), where students identify their hypothesis, use critical and logical thinking, and consider alternative explanations through argumentation as well as experimentation. An inconsistent relationship between participating teachers knowledge and practices about scientific inquiry resulted from their lack of pedagogy skills of implementing it in the classroom. Providing opportunities for these teachers to reflect on their beliefs and practices about scientific inquiry was recommended for the future study. Furthermore, increasing college faculty interest in new teaching approaches for upgrading the content knowledge of student teachers and beginning teachers was recommended as a solution, since those teachers showed evidence of influence by college faculties at universities in their pedagogy skills.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2020

In this study, we analyzed the written and drawn explanations of thirty elementary school pre-service teachers in order to examine their perception on the seasonal length of day and night. The main findings are as follows: First, pre-service teachers used the most common term in the description of the texts, such as meridian altitude, axis of rotation, and revolution, and there were more misconceptions in the drawn explanation than in the written explanation. Second, by analyzing the pre-service teachers' perceptions by combining written and drawn explanations, it is possible to detect scientific errors that the distance between the Earth and the Sun is closer when the axis of rotation is tilted in relation to the revolution and seasonal changes due to changes in the orbital radius of the Earth. In addition, there have been types of explanations such as seasonally changing meridian altitudes related to the rotation of the Earth but no change in the location of the Sun. Based on the results of the analysis, we discussed the lack of experience in constructing an explanatory system of specific phenomena using scientific knowledge, lack of observational experiences about natural phenomena, and lack of exposure to other explanatory systems that cause cognitive conflicts. We hope that it will be concrete and practical help to improve the understanding of pre-service teachers in the science domain of primary teacher training program.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.161-177
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• 2023

Scientific explanation is composed of various representations such as texts, diagrams, and graphs, and each representation contributes to expanding scientific meaning by connecting similar but slightly different meanings as a 'mode'. Based on this perspective of social semiotics, we aimed to identify the characteristics of meaning formation demonstrated in students' science writing (verbal mode) and science drawing (visual mode) and to discuss the pedagogical use of multimodal representations. To that end, 18 science drawings and 18 scientific writings constructed by science-gifted elementary students on air pressure were collected. The characteristics of the drawn and written explanations were then analyzed from the affordance perspective in social semiotics. In science drawing, students showed a tendency to use the affordance of the visual mode to infer concrete changes from the particle view, such as the movement of air particles, the number of air particles, and the collision of particles. In science writing, students used the affordance of the verbal mode mainly to infer the causal relationship between the concept of air pressure and other related factors at an abstract level. Based on those results, we discuss the educational implications and provide concrete examples of how to use the unique affordances of each form to complement one another.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.275-283
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to suggest that the history of science be introduced to students in the secondary school to help understand the developmental process of the scientific concepts, especially the concept 'heat'. Reviewing the national and international researches related to students' concept 'heat' revealed that many students tend to grasp the wrong concept of heat based on the caloric theory. Studies on definitions and explanations of the concept 'heat' and related concepts in secondary school science textbooks indicated that the way 'heat' was described could not help students to correct their misconceptions. In conclusion we need to include the historical and developmental process of scientific concepts such as heat in textbooks.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.406-414
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• 2006

This study investigated 7th grade students' context dependency on explanations about propagating path of light in three different contextual problems: observation of an object, observation of an object's image in a mirror, and observation of one's own face reflection in a mirror. Researchers examined student response in each context through interviews. The students were classified into four groups according to their explanations for the three different contexts. Each group was redivided into two or three subgroups in accordance with their conceptual features. After that, researchers investigated the characteristics of each subgroup. Main findings of the study indicated that (1) group 1 students' conceptions differed in each context; (2) group 2 students showed scientific conceptions in C1 context but in C2 context they showed visual ray conceptions or image misconceptions; (3) group 3 students did not show scientific conceptions in C3 context by strong misconceptions about one's own face reflection in the mirror. Also, this paper discussed the educational implications of the results.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.509-524
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• 2007

The purpose of the study is to compare elementary school science textbooks ($3^{rd}$ grade) in Korea and the U.S., centering on the ways to present scientific concepts and inquiry process in the units of 'matter.' The analysis is focused on: a) general structure of the units; b) how to present scientific concepts in terms of its connections and complexity; c) how to present inquiry process in terms of its types and skills. The findings of the study are as follows. First, the contents of 'matter' units are scientific discipline-based in both countries. The general structure of the units in Korean textbooks is unrestricted compared to those in the U.S. Second, the connections among the concepts are poor and the level of complexity is low in Korean textbooks, which are contrary to those in the U.S. textbooks. Third, it is a common feature that the inquiry process is based on learners' everyday experiences with simple experiments in two countries' textbooks. However, the inquiry process in the U.S. textbooks is provided with detailed instructions while the process in Korea is presented with diverse activities without formal guidelines. Based on the results, the study suggests three recommendations to improve Korean textbooks: a) science contents should be linked to other disciplines in order to promote practical applications; b) scientific concepts are required to be tightly connected and provided with in-depth explanations; c) inquiry process is needed to be presented with specific guidance to facilitate scientific thinking.