• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.699-706
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to investigate high school students' conceptions and conceptual types on molecular kinetic theory of gases. Data was collected by a series of semi-structured and in-depth interviews, and has been analyzed. This study showed that the students came to science classes with various prior conceptions of many disciplinary topics. Their conceptual types of their prior knowledge were distinguished as superficial terms-speaking, partial sense-making, and causal sense-making by the degrees of organization and elaboration of conceptual networks. These conceptual types had influence on the ways students understand and think of science, a stability of their conceptions, a tendency to distinguish school science from everyday science, and building a meaning of concept in contexts. It was referred that the students didn't have proper understanding on the nature of scientific knowledge and had been limited their participations as active learners. Therefore, in order for students to experience conceptual change, they must have opportunities of manifesting their own thinking, taking part in discussions, and promoting their motivations and metacognition of knowing and learning science.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 1992

This study investigated 15 Postgraduate students' conception toward the nature of science and the changes of those conceptions through the course called 'Philosophy of Science and Science Education', And another 8 postgrauate students who took the course called 'Mathematical Physics' were also investigated for comparison. A survey questionnaire involving 9 items was developed and administered before and after the course to both groups. Individual interviews with students taking 'Philosophy of Science and Science Education' were carried out in a small scale for obtaining additional information about their background knowledge. The results of this study showed that the students' traditional views of philosophy of science including the objective observation and the inductive method were reduced after the course, 'Philosophy of Science and Science Education'. On the other hand. views of modem philosophy of science including the theory-laden observation, the tentativeness of scientific knowledge and science as human activities became more popular. It was also found that their conceptions towards Science were different according to their previous knowledges on the philosophy of science and their majors.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.112-121
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• 2017

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of explanation in conjunction with gravity and density on students' alternative conceptions for floating and sinking phenomena. The subjects were 140 students of 11th grade in 4 classes of a high school located in Gangwon Province. We divided them in two groups; comparison and experiment. The students of experiment group learned explanation in confection with gravity and density. The students of comparison group learned explanation of pressure as represented in physics textbook. ANCOVAs (analysis of covariance) were conducted using the pretest as a covariance. In items related to characters of matter, 2 items are not significant and only 1 item has significant small effect size (Hedges' g=0.327). In the change of alternative conceptions, there is no meaningful gap between two group. However, in items related to relative weights between object and water, the all items have significant effect sizes (0.286~0.502). In addition, frequency of experiment group's alternative conceptions related to pressure decreases considerably, but comparison group does not. Therefore, the explanation in conjunction with gravity and density suggested in this study can decrease students' alternative conceptions related to floating and sinking phenomena and increase scientific conceptions.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 1988

Secondary school students' conceptions about the phenomena of evaporating, condensing, boiling and melting of ice using a modified questionare-about-events method. The specific views at each grade level were also studied. The results of investigation were as following. 1) Students' understanding on the sciencific concepts and terms is superficial and nonscientific. 2) Even though upper grade students have exposed to a considerable science teaching, their views are similar to lower grade students. 3) Certain views on the change of state of water can change with the advanced science teaching. However, some nonscientific views are more popular with the older students than with the younger students.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 1990

The purposes of this study are to investigate Korean middle school students' conceptions related to electric current, and to analyze their changes in explanations about current after their observations of the related phenomena The subjects of the study were 20 students from one middle school in Seoul The conclusions of the studty are as follows: 1, Korean middle school students have various misconceptions such as current consumption model, sequential model, monopole model, non-various current model, the most students have sequential model' 2. When an evidence is introduced, some students do not perceive the phenomena as the teacher attempts. 3. When an evidence was introduced, after observation of the evidence some of the students who had misconceptions changed their explanatios, which were not always correct explanations, and the others did not change their expanations, which their observations were mostly incorrect.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.217-228
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the constructivist instructional model on the acquisition of atmospheric pressure conceptions and learning motivation. The step of constructivist instruction was prediction and explanation-experiment and observation-discussion-application. The control group consisted of two classes of students who participated in the teacher-centered instruction. The experimental group consisted of two classes of students who participated in the constructivist instruction. To examine students' preconceptions before the instructions, a preconceptions test was administered. After the instructions, students' acquisition of atmospheric pressure conceptions and learning motivation were measured with a researcher-made post-conceptions test and The Course Interest Survey. The results from this study were as follows: First, the constructivist instruction is more effective method in acquisition of atmospheric pressure conceptions and learning motivation than the teacher-centered instruction. Therefore, in order to increase the acquisition of science conceptions and to decrease the science misconceptions, we need to use the constructivist instructional model which make learners self check their own preconceptions of science. Second, the constructivist instruction is more effective than teacher-centered instruction in three elements of learning motivation. So, we need to develop the effective ARCS(attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction) strategies in order to use the constructivist instructional model and to verify it's effectiveness. Third, to improve teaching and learning methods, educational researchers should carry out studies using many points of view than studies biased constructivism or objectivism. In this respect, we need to contrive how to integrate constructive view points and objective view points.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.1-13
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• 2000

The purposes of this study were to survey the elementary students' conceptions of electric circuits and of electric currents, and to explore the relationships between them. The questionaire were developed into matched forms which corresponds to each conceptions of electric circuits and electric currents. The elementary students were selected from 4th and 5th grade in a elementary school in a large local city, which of the total numbers of students were 163. The student who have well-developed conception in electric circuits are superior in conceptions of electric currents to other student who have not in each items of questionnaire required to draw a simple basic electric circuits for lightening the bulb, to select the basic elements of circuits, to identify the arrangement of batteries and bulbs. So we concluded that the scientific conceptions of electric circuits could contribute to the scientific conceptions of electric currents, as expected in elementary science textbooks.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.187-196
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• 2008

In this study, a survey was conducted of students in grades 7 through 12, student teachers enrolled in their senior year at teachers' colleges, and science teachers. Subjects were surveyed on their conceptions of phenomenon related with dissolution, saturation, and extraction. The models and analogies used by student teachers and science teachers to explain dissolution were sought. The highest percentage of students thought of dissolution as a phenomenon in which particles broke into the spaces between other particles. The models or analogies used by the highest percentage of science teachers were similar. They generally conceived of dissolution phenomenon through what we call the 'space conception'. A conception of dissolution phenomenon as 'hydration through attraction of solvent and solute' was held by more student teachers than science teachers; there were some differences, however, according to their academic background. The percentage of teachers professing this view decreased when they attempted to explain the process of extraction of matter in a solution after other matter had dissolved or after the solution was cooled, indicating that the 'hydration' conception was not firmly established in the student teachers' cognition. Therefore, it can be inferred that the conceptions of dissolution as 'hydration' were transformed into the conceptions of dissolution as 'space' after teaching dissolution phenomenon as practicing teachers. This finding should be considered in teacher-training courses.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2003

이 논문은 수학적 개념의 뜻과 과 중요성을 살펴본 다음, 연구자가 소속되어 있는 한국의 대학생과 연구자가 연구년 동안 강의한 바 있는 미국의 대학생이 갖고 있는 수학적 개념의 수준에 대하여 조사하여 보고, 그 차이점을 비교하여 수학교육의 개선을 위한 시사점을 찾아보고자 하였다. 본 연구는 수학적 개념을 수학적 지식의 구성, 수학적 지식의 구조, 수학적 지식의 현상, 수학을 행하기, 수학적 아이디어의 가치 인식, 구성으로서의 학습, 유용한 노력으로서의 수학으로 분류하고 각 개념에 대한 양국 학생들의 인식 정도를 설문조사 방식으로 조사하였다. 본 연구에서 한국 학생들은 수학적 개념에 대한 7개의 영역 중에서 '수학적 지시의 현상', '수학을 행하기'를 제외한 5개의 영역에서 더 높은 수준을 보였다. 앞으로 한국의 수학교육은 수학을 실제로 행하는 활동을 더욱 강조하여야 할 것이다.

• 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.