• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.402-415
• /
• 2018

This study aims to inquire into the U. S. elementary school teachers' storylines for science teaching methods, scientific knowledge and interactions with students. As research subjects, two American elementary school teachers, named Christina and Melissa, were selected. As test tools, this study adopted Storyline Test and semi-structured interviews. Firstly, in regard to the science teaching method, Christina evaluated that she gradually improved her science teaching skills up to positive 6 points, starting from 2 points in the first year of teaching career, while Melissa sustained a stable state with 5 points in the 9th year of teaching career, starting from 1 point in the first year of teaching career. It was found that both the teachers had more confidence in their science teaching methods by participating in various training programs. Secondly, Christina evaluated her scientific knowledge in the first year of teaching career as 4 points, but evaluated her present scientific knowledge as stable as 6 points since she started studying teaching materials actively, discussing with other teachers and having more ability of application through science class integrated with other school subjects, in the 7th year of her teaching career. On the other hand, Melissa evaluated her scientific knowledge in the first year of teaching career as 1 point since she did not exactly know what to teach elementary school students, but in the 6th year of teaching career, she sustained a stable state with points through joint-activities with other teachers. It was found that chances to research with other teachers had important effect on both the teachers' confidence in scientific knowledge. Thirdly, in regard to interactions with students in science class, Christina said that she did not have any interaction with students when instructing inquiry activities in the first year of teaching career, but since the 10th year of her teaching career, she had sustained a stable state with 6 points through active interaction with students, by leading learning projects and science competitive exhibitions, etc. On the other hand, Melissa evaluated her interaction with students in the first year of teaching career as 1 point because her class was reading-oriented, but since the 9th year of teaching career, she had sustained a stable state with 6 points so far, by developing inquiry activity strategies to improve interaction with students. Overall, it was found that inquiry activities played a central role in improving both the teachers' interaction with students.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.100-110
• /
• 2008

To evaluate the educational programs at Science Education Center for the Gifted (SECG) on how it had influenced its graduates, we have surveyed the graduates with questionnaires categorized into four sections: scientific motivation, self-confidence, knowledge/inquiry activities, and peer-to-peer interactions. Of the graduates who studied at SECG for more than two years and are currently attending college, we questioned 26 students and interviewed 10 students. According to our research data, most students evaluated highly the quality of education they received at SECG; especially, in the areas of science knowledge/inquiry activities and social interactions with their peers. Based on the results from the interviews, for these gifted students with highly developed aptitude in science, we concluded that interactions with real-world scientists, investigative approach to and application of newly-learned scientific concepts, and emphasis on interactive activities with other gifted students at SECG were regarded as effective in promoting motivations towards science and self-confidence.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.807-825
• /
• 2013

This study investigated two science teachers' practical knowledge shaped during their science classes which intend to realize social construction of scientific models. The teachers' practical knowledge was qualitatively examined in terms of five content categories defined by Elbaz through the reflection-in-action based on video data of their teaching as well as the reflection-on-action based on their narratives and interview data obtained after their classes. The results shows: 1) two science teachers implemented their practical knowledge on appropriate subject matter knowledge when they provided students with scaffoldings to support building scientific models during the classes. 2) The teachers' knowledge about science curriculum played important roles to change the purposes of the classes from the transmission of difficult science concepts to the construction of scientific model appropriate to learning goals. 3) The teachers' implementation of pedagogical knowledge changed toward supporting students' group activities and model generations aligned to the intention of social construction of scientific models. 4) The teachers' practical knowledge about their 'selves' showed that a teacher's perception and implementation of his/her roles of helper, guide, or facilitator are important for students to construct scientific models through group activities. 5) The two teachers' practical knowledge the milieu of schooling is realized by their modes of interactions with student groups during their classes. Two teachers acted like a co-player with his students or like a coach to students near a playground. We discussed domain-specific characteristics about scientific model construction.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.1-14
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine North Korean defector students' characteristics in science learning through their voice in an "Angbuilgu" program, one of the Korean traditional science knowledge (TSK). We compared them with two other groups of contrasting backgrounds. The Angbuilgu program contains meaningful questions of time, everyday-life knowledge, Korean TSK, and western modern science (WMS). The teaching strategy consists of interactions between teacher and students, and scientific experiments. We applied this program to three groups and analyzed: North Korean defector students, elementary science gifted students, high school students in an advanced class. The characteristics of their science learning show the following: First, their interpretation of time as nature itself in their everyday life. They have rich experience and are familiar with time in nature. Second, they prefer science with complementary, caring, and humanist perspectives, which is in contrast to other groups with preference to the updated and practical science. Third, they lack scientific concepts but possess an abundance of everyday-life knowledge. Their linguistic expressions are ordinary rather than scientific. Fourth, they are familiar with narrative thinking more than scientific thinking. The results show that the science program using Korean TSK can help them accept new scientific knowledge as well as cultural pride, which plays a role in reconfirming their identity as one ethnicity. We expect that the contents of Korean TSK can be an intercultural field between North Korean defector students and our science curriculum.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.207-216
• /
• 2014

Understanding the nature of science (NOS) has been a major component of scientific literacy and an important learning goal in science education (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1990, 1993; Millar & Osborne, 1998; National Research Council, 1996, 2013). To achieve this goal, it is necessary to include appropriate views of the nature of science in science curriculum such as a textbook. The aim of this study was to conduct a content analysis of the elementary science textbooks to examine the presentation of the nature of science (NOS) using the four themes of scientific literacy, which are (1) nature of scientific knowledge, (2) nature of scientific inquiry, (3) nature of scientific thinking, and (4) nature of interactions among science, technology, and society (STS). Findings show while $3^{rd}$ and $4^{th}$ grade levels of science textbooks heavily emphasize on the Theme I, nature of scientific knowledge and the Theme II, the nature of scientific inquiry, the upper grade levels such as $5^{th}$ and $6^{th}$ grades of science textbooks are well balanced with the four themes of the nature of science. In addition, most of elementary science textbooks little focus on the Theme IV, nature of interactions among science, technology, and society (STS) among the four themes of the nature of science. It might be a shortcoming because the understanding the nature of interacions among science, technology and society (STS) is one of the key components in order for students to be a scientific literate person.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.207-212
• /
• 2014

The national reform document, Science for All Americans (AAAS, 1990), and the Next Generation Science Standards (NRC, 2012) emphasize the importance of the nature of science in guiding science educators in accurately portraying science to students. Therefore, it is important that textbook materials convey an accurate conception of the nature of science. This study employs content analysis to examine the content of textbooks in US and Korea elementary science textbooks with regard to the four aspects of the nature of science: (a) nature of scientific knowledge; (b) nature of scientific inquiry; (c) nature of scientific thinking; and (d) nature of interactions among science, technology, and society (Chiappetta, Fillman, & Sethna, 2004). Intercoder reliability was determined by calculating Cohen's kappa (Cohen, 1960). Findings show that while US elementary science textbooks are not balanced in presenting the four aspects of the nature of science regardless of the publishing companies, the presentation of the nature of science in Korean elementary science textbooks have better balanced treatment of the four themes across the grade levels. On the other hand, both US and Korean elementary science textbooks are attempting to convey an idea of what science is by emphasizing scientific knowledge and investigation.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.29-46
• /
• 2004

This study investigated a 7-week summer science research apprenticeship program for gifted high school students in U.S. The purpose of the study was to examine the reasons why the high school student participated in the program, the students' perceptions on the benefits of the apprenticeship program, and to investigate mentors' perceptions on assessment and mentorship of the students' projects. For this study, laboratory works and group meetings were observed, students' journal and research products were analyzed, and interviews were administrated with student apprentices and some mentors. The result revealed that the main reasons of students' participation were to perform research with university professionals, to understand the scientific research, and to explore their college/career decisions. Students' participation was strongly associated with their internal motivation and interests. The students perceived the benefits of the apprenticeship program as providing them with the experience of the nature of real scientific research, of learning of scientific knowledge on the focus area, and wiser college/career decisions. Students' projects were assessed and guided through on-going interactions and cognitive apprenticeship between mentors and student apprentices.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.325-343
• /
• 2021

This study aims to develop two science education programs using Angbuilgu and ancient astronomical data, are Korean astronomical heritage, and explore its educational possibility through the pilot application. Considering the TSK compositional characteristics of Angbuilgu and ancient astronomical data, linkage with science curriculum, and linkage with NOS, Angbuilgu was developed as a hands-on activity for elementary school students and ancient astronomical data as a science inquiry activity for middle and high school students. The educational availability of the developed program was confirmed by pilot application to elementary and high school groups. Through the Angbuilgu activity, the students refined their conceptual knowledge by correcting misconceptions about the solar motion by season and then confirmed the possibility of connection with the concept of the celestial coordinate system. Students recognized the scientific value of Angbuilgu and understood the nature of interactions STS. In the ancient astronomical data activity, students experienced inductive and deductive inquiry methods and utilized various information and strategies. Through the activities, students improved their scientific understanding and attitude towards TSK.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.44 no.2
• /
• pp.179-194
• /
• 2024

The aim of this study was to explore how a novice science teacher's epistemological framing, characterized from her modeling instruction, evolved over time. We observed that the teachers' framing changed over time, as she collaborated with researchers to plan, facilitate, and reflect on a series of lessons to support students' small-group scientific modeling. We tried to understand how such experiences contributed to the changes in her framing. One 8th grade science teacher with two years of teaching experience participated in the study. The teacher collaborated with researchers for four months to co-plan and facilitate 18 lessons that included small-group scientific modeling. She also engaged in cogenerative reflection on the lessons for 13 times. All of her lessons and reflections were video-recorded, transcribed, and qualitatively analyzed for the purpose of the study. Our findings showed that the teacher's epistemological framing, characterized from her interactions with students during modeling lessons, evolved during the study period: transitioning from an emphasis on students merely "filling in blanks" to prioritizing "constructing personal reasoning" and ultimately to focusing on the "social construction of scientific reasoning." The teacher's perception about what students are capable of changed, as she observed students during the modeling lessons, and this led to the shifts in her framing. Furthermore, through her engagement in planning, implementing, and reflecting on modeling lessons with researchers, she came to recognize the value of student collaboration in knowledge-building processes. These results can offer implications for supporting and studying teachers' epistemological framing and modeling-based teaching by partnering with them.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2019

This study aims to explore students' epistemic practices and considerations, which are explained as underlying epistemic thoughts that guide their epistemic practices, during argumentation in science classrooms. We also investigated how collaborative reflection facilitated the development of such epistemic considerations. Two seventh-grade classes participated in this study by engaging in argumentation activities and collaborative reflection after classes. A group with students' change in epistemic aspects and the influence of collaborative reflection clearly revealed from their practices was chosen as a focus group. We recorded their class discussions and collaborative reflections with the researchers. Transcriptions of the recordings and checklists we collected during the collaborative reflections were used for analysis. Results showed evident changes in the students' epistemic considerations and practices and four factors facilitating such developments were identified. First, the researcher facilitating the students to recognize each other as collaborators during collaborative reflection led development of epistemic considerations on "audience using the knowledge products." Second, the collaborative reflection facilitated construction of context for peer interactions where the students encouraged each other to participate in the discussion, resulting in the development of other students' epistemic considerations on "justifications in knowledge products." Third, the items provided on the checklists explicitly delineated expectations on their practices in argumentation, also facilitating development of epistemic considerations. Lastly, the students' imitation of the researcher's pattern of discourse facilitated construction of causal explanation and development of epistemic considerations on "nature of the knowledge products." This study will contribute to the construction of strategies that develop students' epistemic considerations and productive epistemic practices in argumentation.