• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.677-691
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• 2014

Understanding of the nature of science (NOS) has been a consistent topic as one of the most important goals in science education for the past several decades. Even though there is a variety of research related with the NOS conducted in science education, few researches has been conducted for the conception of scientists regards to the nature of science (Bayir et al., 2014; Taylor et al., 2008; Wong & Hudson, 2008). Recently, researchers in science education turned their attention to identifying views of scientists about the nature of science since they recognized the importance of participation of scientists in science education (Southerland et al., 2003; Taylor et al., 2008). This study was conducted to examine the Korean scientists' views of the nature of science. Through the use of semi-structured questionnaire and in-depth interview the views of 35 scientists who belong to the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA) regards to the nature of science were explored. Findings show that while the scientists have more informed views with respect to the tentativeness of scientific knowledge, cultural and social influence embedded in science, the limitation of science, and the collaboration of science with others, the scientists have more na${\ddot{i}}$ve views about the distinction between laws and theories, the existence of a universal scientific method, and the importance of imagination and creativity. As such, it can be assumed that the scientists cannot conceptualize their notion in a philosophical sense even though they are engaged in scientific work in reality (Bayir et al., 2014).

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.511-530
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• 2011

This study aims to find out science talented students' percentage of cognition about the views of nature of science and science inquiry which are essential for having a good understanding with science concepts. Each group of 40 science gifted students and 35 ordinary students was tested with a test of views of nature of science and science inquiry which consisted of 19 items with index of content validity 97% and reliability index 0.86, then its results being compared and analyzed. A group of science gifted students' percentage of cognition about the views of nature of science ranges from 20% to 97.5% -although it differs according to detailed views-showing its mean of 67% (50% in a group of ordinary students). Especially, the percentage of cognition about the sub view that there can be different opinions among scientists was high among woman science gifted students. A group of science gifted students' percentage of cognition about the views of science inquiry ranges from 27.5% to 77.5% -although it differs according to detailed views- showing 53% in their mean (41.8% in a group of ordinary students). Especially, the percentage of cognition about the sub view that scientists can have different research methods was high among woman science gifted students. The percentage of mistaken cognition by science gifted students about views of nature of science and about views of science inquiry was 33%, 47% respectively.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.743-752
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of scientifically gifted students' views on the nature of science. A multiple-choice format questionnaire was administered to 237 Korean 10th, 11th and 12th graders at the Korea Science Academy. The differences and similarities by gender and experience of R&E program on the students' views of the nature of science were investigated. The questionnaire developed by Lim(2004) was implemented for this investigation. We found that the majority of scientifically gifted students had highly possessed the tentativeness of scientific knowledge. The students who experienced R&E program have relatively high apprehension of scientists' motivation for researches and activities in social context compared to the students who did not experience an R&E program. Scientifically gifted students had relatively high apprehension that government should not control researches of scientists and relatively low apprehension of social responsibilities of scientists comparing to general high school students. The experience on R&E program was identified as a factor to effect changes in the students' views on the nature of science. The study has implications for the development of gifted program and curriculum such as running and assessing R&E program, and also the pre-service preparation of science teacher, teacher education reformat in both the practical and the policy levels.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.553-568
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• 2013

Although many researchers and science educators agree that understanding of the nature of science is essential in order for students to be a scientific literate person, it is not easy to compromise exactly what kind of understanding of the nature of science is required to achieve this goal (Smith & Scharmann, 1999). This study discusses a theoretical background about the nature of science (NOS) including some consensus views of the NOS that several important U.S. educational reform documents and science researchers have presented over the past several decades. Finally, this study proposes an inclusive framework of the nature of science based on the four categories of scientific literacy, which are (1) science as a body of knowledge, (2) science as a way of investigating, (3) science as a way of thinking, and (4) the interaction of science, technology, and society. Each category of the framework includes several statements about the nature of science to describe each theme of the NOS. This framework is comprehensive and inclusive because it is suggested by examining several major U.S. national-level documents and in the publications of science education researchers presented about the nature of science. Significantly, many of the key ideas were added into category (4) and category (3), which indicates that the current literature stresses the relationship among science, technology, and society as well as the work of scientists.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.255-270
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to investigate the elementary pre-service teachers' views about "the purpose of science experiments". For the study, the views about the purposes of scientists' experiments and school science experiments were surveyed from 227 pre-service teachers. And the responses were analyzed based on their gender, intensive majors and school science test scores. The main results of the study are as follows. First, in relation to the purpose of scientists' experiments, the pre-service teachers considered internal values of doing experiments were more worthy than the external values of it. In particular, the pre-service teachers responded that the most important purpose of the science experiments is 'to get the evidences for the theories and arguments'. On the other hand, the views from the women and social studies major pre-service teachers were more diverse than those of the man and science major pre-service teachers. Second, in relation to the purpose of school science experiments, the pre-service teachers excessively considered that the internal values of school science experiments were more worthy than the external values. In particular, only few pre-service teachers were aware of social and personal aspects of the experiments, though they considered well that the experiments are useful tools for the school science study. Third, there were quite different aspects of pre-service teachers' views between the purposes of scientists' experiments and school science experiments. For example, the views about the scientist's experiments were relatively broad concerning the nature of scientific experiments, but the school science experiments were just regarded as an educational tool for the science study. Based on the results from the study, some science educational implication were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.685-695
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• 2008

An analysis on the Inquiry unit of Science 10 textbooks was conducted in terms of nature of science (NOS). The subject of the analysis was instructional objectives, activities and sentences in the unit of ten Science 10 textbooks. Contents of the instructional objectives could be grouped into nature of science, nature of scientists, scientific methods, and Science-Technology-Society. The concrete nature of scientific knowledge (SK) and constructing scientific theory or model, however, were not found in the objectives. The total number of activities in the Inquiry unit was 38. Seventeen out of them were presented without any supplemental or introductory materials, and 21 activities were provided with information followed by questions, discussions or investigations. For the most activities, any clear statements about NOS elements and desired/informed views of NOS were not made. The sentences of the Inquiry units were mixed up with constructivist and inductive views on NOS. The definition of science tended to be described based on the inductive view. And the generation of SK tended to be described as discovering regularities in natural phenomena rather than constructing theories. For science teachers who want to teach NOS effectively, stating clear learning objectives and elements of NOS and presenting reading materials with relevant views on nature of science were necessary.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.200-209
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• 1996

Recent literature in science education has emphasized nature of science in science teaching. The theme has been considered to be an important element for scientific literacy.The purpose of this study was to identify Korean science teachers' points of view on topics related to nature of science, such as definition of science, characteristics of scientific hypotheses, scientific theories and scientific laws, and their construction, scientists, and scientific methods. The relevant 13 items were selected from Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS) by the authors for this study. Most teachers perceived science as an exploratory process or problem solving. Some perceived science as an application of knowledge to make this world a better place to live in. Teachers viewed scientific activities as scholastic and individualistic instead of pragmatic or collective. They did not hold clear understandings of the idea that scientific knowledge is subject to change. As identified in previous studies, teachers thought that scientific ideas develop from hypothesis to theories, and finally to scientific laws. They did not show sound understanding of inventiveness of scientific hypotheses and theories, nor discovery of scientific laws. In summary, teachers' major points of view reflected 'realism'. It suggested that they needed to understand nature of science in the ways which it has been described in recent literature of science education, in order to teach science with personal and social contexts.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.35-47
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• 1985

It is well known that high school girls' mean achievement levels in science tests are lower than high school boys' and that fewer women than men are employed as scientists and engineers pursue scientific careers. Many research attributed the sex difference in achievement level in science and the lack of women in science among others, to the experiential differences in scientific activities and the differences in attitudes toward science and scientists. Therefore, the study had its object to examine the sex difference by high school students in scientific experience and attitudes toward science and scientists. The differences in science experiences were identified at eight schools over rural and urban areas in Kangwon province. Science activities surveyed included use of experimental materials and instruments, observation of scientific phenomena, and extracurricular scientific activities. Attitude scale contained the nature of science, scientific research methods and philosophical views held by scientists. The study found sex differences in scientific experiences and attitudes. i. e.: fewer high school girls than boys had experience with scientific activities, especially with extracurricular activities; however, girls had more positive attitude toward science and more active desire to participate in science. Consequently, the study implies that, in order to narrow the gaps between achievement levels for boys and girls, science education should take consideration of the sex difference in experiences with and attitudes toward science.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.391-405
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• 2011

The nature of science has been recognized in a great deal in the field of science education. However, only few innovative programs are offered for science-gifted students to improve their recognition of the nature of science. The current study describes and analyzes science-gifted students' understandings of the nature of science (NOS). In addition, the study looks into contradictory views among the aspects of NOS, which are fundamental data in constructing target programs on NOS for science gifted students. Data used in this study were collected from 73 middle school science-gifted students using an open-ended questionnaire, VNOS. The results of this study showed that the participants' understanding of NOS was significantly distributed on naive or transition view except for 'tentative NOS', and the results revealed inconsistent view among the aspects of NOS. This study proposes two suggestions to enhance the recognition of science-gifted on NOS of science to informed state and to have consistent perspectives with other areas. First, the role of experiment has to be changed-it should be the process in constructing scientific knowledge rather than an instrument to check scientific knowledge to transform perspective on experimental data and scientific knowledge. Second, various opportunities must be provided to science-gifted students, so they can experience the culture and community of scientists and science to gain a wider insight of science.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.273-290
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• 2020

This study aims to investigate tenth graders' understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI). A total of 100 public school students participated. A questionnaire of Views about Scientific Inquiry was used to assess their understanding of the NOSI, and data were collected using qualitative research methods such as open-ended questionnaires and, when necessary, semi-structured interviews. By employing a constant comparison method to analyze their responses, five students were consistently categorized as the group with informed views regarding all the eight aspects of the NOSI. The rest of the students showed different levels of understanding regarding each aspect. A large portion of the students represented a group with mixed views about four aspects and informed views about three aspects, whereas naive views about one aspect prevailed among them. The results showed that many students comparatively lacked understanding of the aspect related to the scientists' process of constructing explanations and formulating theories. This study discusses the relationship between its results and the current science curriculum and presents implications for the overall enhancement of students' understanding of the NOSI. Finally, it encourages the acquisition of scientific inquiry ability and makes suggestions to promote further studies.