• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.10 no.3 s.27
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• pp.205-213
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• 2006

In this research, we interviewed primary school teachers and students with hypothetical situations questions and got a comprehensive picture of the status quo of what is happening in the new mathematics classrooms of Mainland China, that is, teachers' conceptions of mathematics and their teaching approaches influence the students' conceptions of mathematics to a large extent. For the teacher who emphasizes the precision and rigidity of mathematics, her students focus on the superficial characteristics of mathematics. On the contrary, for the teacher who believes that mathematics is an open process, related to real life and rich in content, her students are more interested in mathematics and have more diverse conceptions.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.491-504
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• 2011

We investigated science-gifted students' conceptions on science learning. The inventory instruments used for our study were a questionnaire on the conceptions of learning science (COLS) and a questionnaire on the approaches to learning science (ALS). Our analysis of the questionnaires showed that there are differences in the conceptions of science learning between the science-gifted and ordinary students. Science-gifted students perceive science learning as storing up of scientific knowledge, expansion of knowledge structure and achievement of a new view. There are no differences in the conceptions of science learning between male and female science-gifted students. There are also no differences in the conceptions of science learning in terms of subject preference such as physics, chemistry, biology and earth science. Our analysis offer assistance to teaching material and teaching method for science courses.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.1273-1284
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to analyze the examples represented in school science textbooks by the function types for students' scientific conceptions. According to the framework of analysis, we selected lacking examples in the textbooks, and developed a questionnaire for students. The questionnaire was applied to 157 third grade students to survey their conceptions related to matter states and change of states. The ratio of students' scientific conceptions related to solid the state was high because distinct examples were represented in the textbook. However, the ratios of students' scientific conceptions related to the liquid and gas states were low because there were no distinct examples in the science textbook. Contrast examples and expansive examples of liquid and gas such as fog and steam need to be represented in science textbooks in order to help students construct scientific conceptions of matter states and change of states.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.513-527
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• 2011

There have been studies about conceptual ecology making a profound study of conceptual changes in learners' cognitive structure. Because learners' cognitive structure have been compared to ecology, it is natural to think that conception in learner's cognitive structure have a niche as species in ecology have niches. Therefore, it is necessary to study niche approach about conception that learners recognize in their cognitive structure. The purposes of this study were to identify relationships among conceptions that 5th grade elementary school students recognize about photosynthesis and to identify how these relationships among conceptions about photosynthesis change before and after a class of photosynthesis in curriculum in terms of an approach of ecological niche which are composed of 3 domains - diversity of conceptions, relevance and frequency rate of conceptions, and competition among conceptions. Open ended questionnaire was developed by 4 fields: photosynthetic place, photosynthetic products, photosynthetic materials needed and environment factors of photosynthesis. The subjects sampled in this study were 310 5th grade elementary students in 5 cites. Before and after classes in photosynthesis in science curriculum, students were asked to write down conceptions that they knew about the 4 fields of photosynthesis of questionnaire and to write down scales of relevance from 1 to 30 about how they think the conceptions are related to the field of photosynthesis. The results of this study showed the following: First, most students have had a variety of conceptions and commonly recognized 'light' and 'water' as concepts in photosynthesis. Second, students still recognized their preconceptions like 'soil' and 'root,' etc. that were far from scientific conceptions of photosynthesis although they took classes in photosynthesis. Third, students needed to take the various strategies of teachers because they did not recognized scientific conceptions appropriately about photosynthetic fields. Fourth, it appeared that photosynthetic conceptions recognized by students had status in terms of relevance and frequency rate of conceptions, and competition among conceptions, and that they looked like the niche of conceptions in their conceptual ecologies.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.621-637
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• 2004

In science education, the research on students' conceptions has been started in early 1970. From the early 1980, the research on students' conceptions stimulated the research on conceptual change. Recently, mental model has been a theoretical background in concrete arguments on "how students' conceptions are constructed or created?" Mental model has been studied early in cognitive psychology, and several researchers have studied it partially in science education area. In this study, we compared different theories that explained students' conceptions in, mainly, physics. Further we discussed the possibility of mental model as a theory that could integrate different explanations about students' conceptions from different theory.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.121-128
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• 2004

This study was to investigate high students' conceptions of acids and bases, and their views on learning science. Multiple sources of data were collected over six months with a participation of sit tenth graders and their science teacher. The transcripts of interviews and other data were examined with an eye toward students' conceptions of acids and bases, and their views of learning science. Students' views of science are displayed the representative pattern. Each pattern is represented with an episode. Students' views of learning have been found to reflect the transmissive models of science educational practice. Students accept passive and difficult-to-modify views of the learner roles that they should play in the science classroom. Students identified science classes as conservative places, despite the introduction of science literacy as a goal of Korean science education since 1980. Behaviorism remains the major influence in their expectation, design, and practice in school science. Moreover, 'transmission' remains the persistent and dominant classroom cultural dynamic for both teaching and learning of science.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.179-189
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• 1997

In this study, a conceptual change model for effective laboratories was developed and its instructional effect on students' achievement, the acquisition of scientific conceptions, and the attitudes toward science was investigated. Considering several conceptual change models in literature and Korean educational situations, the conceptual change model was developed. The model consists of 5 stages; preliminary, prediction, exploration, consolidation and reconstruction, and application. The treatment and control groups (2 classes) were selected from a middle school in Seoul, and taught about the changes of states, density, and dissolution for three weeks. Prior to instruction, the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking and the Learning Approach Questionnaire were administered, and their scores were used as covariate and / or blocking variable. To examine students' alternative conceptions before the instructions, a pre-conceptions test was also administered. After the instructions, students' achievement, the acquisition of scientific conceptions, and the attitudes toward science were measured with a researcher-made achievement test, a post-conceptions test, and the subtests of the Test of Science-Related Attitudes, respectively. The results indicated that the score of the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group in the post-conceptions test. The students in the treatment group had also less alternative conceptions than those in the control group. However, there were no significant differences for the achievement and the attitudes toward science. Educational implications are discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.109-121
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• 1998

Scientific literacy implies an adequate understanding of the nature of science. However, little is known about factors that can influence students' conceptions of the nature of science. The purpose of this study was to test the validity of the prevalent assumption that teachers' philosophical perspectives of science directly influence their students' conceptions of the nature of science. A comparison between science teachers' and students' perspectives of science did not support the assumption that a science teachers' perspectives of science is significantly related to students' conceptions of science. The data clearly indicated that there was no relationship between teachers' philosophical perspectives and those of their students. The results convincingly indicated that the nature of science was not being considered or taught to students as a consequence of students' needs and curriculum guide objectives. It is believed that the results of this investigation will help to redirect the focus of future efforts to promote more adequate conceptions of the nature of science in our secondary schools.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.228-237
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• 2004

The purposes of this study are how to consider the concept of magnetization by fifth elementary school students and how to change conceptions of students after the experiment with developed experiment sets. Personal interviews to the students were used for this study. to probe the conceptions of them, it allowed them to make gestures and to draw pictures through interview. From the analyses of the interview data, following results were found. Students have mostly understood the concept of magnetization, but have not remembered the term itself. And, the students believe that iron is magnetized only if iron was directly contacted a magnet. After the experiment, the students understand that iron could be also magnetized without direct contact to a magnet. And also, they could explain magnetization of iron powder around a magnet by applying the concept of magnetization. This new experiment is a good tool to understand concepts of magnetism.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.465-494
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• 2017

Teachers' conceptions about teaching are important driving and also interfering forces which might affect their actual practice and training. This research explores preservice mathematics teachers' conceptions of teacher discourse, through tasks analyzing and evaluating teachers' moment-to-moment discourse moves which occur in authoritative and dialogical classroom discourse. Some facets of the preservice teachers' conceptions were congruent with dialogical discourse: they criticized teacher's one-way communication and ignoring students' voices; they supported teacher's questions probing students' thinking and receptive attitude to ward students' wrong answers. However, some deep and subtle facets of their conceptions were more congruent with authoritative discourse rather than dialogical discourse: they positively perceived teacher's closed, information seeking questions that funnel students' thinking to the predetermined procedure; they emotionally resisted teacher's questions which might facilitate dialogical engagement by allowing students to judge mathematical correctness of ideas from their peers. Preservice teachers' conceptions of teacher discourse explored in this research provide useful foundations on which to build continuous and coherent teacher professional development programs about classroom discourse.