• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.83-100
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• 2014

This study aims to explore the relationships between preschool teachers' beliefs about the purpose of multicultural education and their attitudes and teaching efficacy with respect to multicultural education. For this purpose, 296 teachers, who were working at kindergartens and daycare centers, were chosen for this study and the survey method was used to collect data. The TMAS (Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey), Multicultural Teaching Efficacy Scale, and teachers' belief about the purpose of multicultural education were used to evaluate teachers' multicultural-related variables. To analyze the data, frequency measurements, percentile, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient were used. Through this study, these findings were found: 1) Teachers most perceive human relations as the purpose of multicultural education. 2) There is no relationship between the belief in multicultural education and the attitudes and teaching efficacy with respect to multicultural education. However, The attitudes about multicultural curriculum show meaningful differences, depending on the teachers' beliefs about the purpose of multicultural education. 3) The attitudes and teaching efficacy with respect to multicultural education are strongly related to each other. These findings are discussed with respect to the necessity of multicultural education curriculum development for preschool teachers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.152-158
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• 2013

The purpose of this work is to investigate pre-service elementary teachers' belief in science gifted education. To do that, from September to November 2012, this research had been conducted with 42 students who were in the third year of P University of Education. The conclusions of this work are presented as follows: First, the pre-service elementary teachers considered exploration ability to be the most important talent for the gifted students in science, and chose task commitment as the next most important. They regarded intelligent ability and leadership ability as the relatively less important. Secondly, regarding the most important tool in choosing scientifically gifted students, the pre-service elementary teachers preferred creativity test. It was found that they considered the intelligence test and academic achievements, which require intelligent ability, to be the less important. Thirdly, regarding the special knowledge related to science gifted education, the pre-service elementary teachers considered pedagogical knowledge about the gifted to be the most important. Fourthly, regarding a class type for gifted students in science, the pre-service elementary teachers most preferred project learning. Project learning is a learning method in which students choose an interesting problem and solve the problem in cooperation with group members. It is the most widely used exploration class in gifted education. It is in the same context as the result that exploration ability is the most important factor to elementary gifted students in science. This work revealed that, with regard to a talent for the gifted in science, judgment of the gifted in science and science gifted education, the potential ability and affective ability of gifted students are considered to be more important than their intelligent ability. Therefore, it was analyzed that pre-service elementary teachers' belief in the gifted students in science is almost consistent with the recent trend of gifted education.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.43-58
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect on child care teachers' self-efficacy in teaching science. Subjects were 297 childhood teachers who were working at a day care center. The data were collected by using three questionnaires(Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instruments, Inventory of Science Attitude, and Attitude Test for Child Care Teachers). The data were analyzed by Pearson's correlation and step-wise Regression. The results of this study are as follows; First, there were positive correlations between aptitude for child care teacher and self-efficacy in teaching science. Second, there were positive correlations between science attitude and self-efficacy in teaching science of child care teachers. Third, the significant predictors of self-efficacy in teaching science were interest in science, social value of science, interpersonal relationship management abilities, and positive emotions. The results of this study can be used to develop effective teacher training programs for early childhood science education.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.125-144
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• 2019

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of early childhood teachers' music attitude and emotional leadership on their music teaching efficacy in the music education. Methods: 301 early childhood teachers answered the music attitude scale, music teaching efficacy belief instrument, emotional leadership scale, and questionnaire for socio-demographic characteristics and music experiences. Data were analyzed by t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's productive correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis. Results: First, early childhood teachers had a higher music teaching efficacy in case of at least 10 years of teaching experiences period, having a post-graduate degree, having a music training experience, enjoying learning musical instruments and singing and listening to music during regular music lessons, and having a long music training experience. Similar results were derived from the subfactors of music teaching efficacy. Second, there were positive correlations(r=.172-.659, p < .001) in the total and subfactors scores among early childhood teachers' music attitude, emotional leadership, and music teaching efficacy. Lastly, early childhood teachers' music attitude and their emotional leadership were explained at 39~52 percent for their music teaching efficacy. Conclusion/Implications: This study suggests that it is important for early childhood teachers' perception of their belief, knowledge and feeling about music education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.567-578
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• 2022

In this study, we examine whether the description of the elementary science curriculum guide, the concept of evolution, and the beliefs of teachers affect the teaching practice in classes related to adaptation of elementary school teachers. First, we examined the alternative concept among the sentences described in the bio-adaptation-related unit of the 2009 Elementary Science Curriculum Teacher's Guide and identified the effects of this description on the teaching practice of elementary school teachers. Next, six elementary school teachers were classified according to the results of the evolutionary concept test paper and the evolutionary belief test paper, and based on the class recording data and interview data, whether there is a difference in teaching execution. As a result, it was confirmed that there were a total of 18 descriptions corresponding to the concept of evolutionary alternatives in the analysis of instruction descriptions, and that these descriptions influenced elementary school teachers' adaptation concepts and teaching practice. Next, the group with high and low levels of evolution differ in the areas of "recognition of importance in the unit, distinction between adaptation concepts in the general sense and adaptation concepts in the biological sense, errors in the class," and "recognition of evolutionary education needs in the elementary curriculum." This study is meaningful in that it qualitatively confirms the research on the evolution concept of elementary school teachers, which has been approached quantitatively, and in-depth, confirms how the description, evolution concepts, and evolutionary beliefs affect elementary school teachers' biological adaptation concepts.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.523-537
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• 2009

This research aimed to understand the current status of early childhood education and to develop a future direction of early childhood English education. One group interview and three private interviews were conducted with 10 early education teachers to obtain in-depth understanding of the problems inherent in English education. The findings show that there is an internal conflict in the teachers regarding the value of English education in early childhood. In addition, there are external conflicts with the children the parents, the English teacher, the program director, and the government in English education. It is concluded that the early childhood educators felt an internal conflict regarding the current, inappropriate execution of early English education which is lacking a suitable educational plan including goals and practices. Furthermore, the teacher's preference for English also contributed to the internal conflict regarding the belief in early childhood English education. Secondly, the external conflicts included: English teachers with inadequate understanding of comprehensive early childhood development, parents who show excessive interest in early childhood English education without regard to childhood development, the reality that early childhood English education is mostly influenced by the attitudes of the program director without regard for the conflicts experienced by the early childhood teacher, and the politics of the government continuing to ignore the reality that early childhood English education ontinues in practice without being included in the national curriculum.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.269-286
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study was to clarify the influences of constructivist educational beliefs and eco-friendly teaching attitudes on early childhood teachers' mathematics teaching efficacy. This study also examined the mediating effect of eco-friendly attitudes on the relationship between the other two variables. Methods: A total of 399 teachers teaching 3,4 and 5-year-olds in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon participated in this study. The data were analyzed using the SPSS Win 21.0 program and the Sobel test. Results: First, mathematical teaching efficacy of early childhood teachers was significantly correlated with constructivist educational beliefs and eco-friendly teaching attitudes. Second, with teacher's career as the control variable, constructivist educational beliefs have more influence in mathematical teaching efficacy than the other variable. Third, eco-friendly teaching attitude partially mediated between the other two variables. Conclusion/Implications: The results of this study imply that constructivist educational beliefs and eco-friendly teaching attitudes are important factors on mathematics teaching efficacy. It is expected that it will be used as basic data for various programs that increase constructivist educational beliefs and eco-friendly teaching attitudes.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.87-108
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• 2007

Given that various classroom contextual factors influence the nature of writing instructional practices, it would be worthwhile to explore these factors to generate better environment for learning to write. Among many factors, this study examined teachers' beliefs and knowledge, which would operate as a very influential contextual factor in that changes in principles and methods of teaching writing would be the results of their underlying beliefs and knowledge related to teaching writing. Three professional teachers who teach second- and third-grade English language learners (ELLs) were interviewed, and the analysis of teacher interviews was conducted. The research findings indicated that basically all of the teachers perceived the role of writing in second language learning as very important, sharing the belief that the ultimate goal of teaching writing is to have their students gain fluency in writing and that some of instructional methods such as integration of writing and other language aspects, content-based writing, and providing scaffolding are important. In addition, some beliefs that two ESL teachers shared included the importance of ample and continuous opportunities to write, vocabulary knowledge, and explicit instruction about writing. Other beliefs, including the importance of creating a comfortable writing environment and opportunities for writing for varied purposes and genres were represented.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.365-384
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• 2016

The purpose of this research is to apprehend what the power of professional learning community (PLC) to make home economics teachers participate is and how PLC activity contributes to reflective practice and change of participating home economics teachers by experiencing reflective practices. For this, self-reflective action research of Kemmis and McTaggart was conducted. Six home economics teachers participated voluntarily and totally 18 PLC sessions from May 31, 2013 to May 19, 2014 were held. Two themes of 'looking in classes' as a main practice theme and 'designing classes together' as a supporting theme were carried. Findings and conclusions of this study are as following. First, participants of PLC to get data and information on teaching and to solve problems with fellow teachers for better classes at first. However, they have become to comfort and sympathize each other about difficulties in school as home economics teachers. Second, through the PLC activity, they found they had uncomfortable belief about teaching and tried to practice solutions by critical and reflective thinking. Third, they put efforts in finding alternative framework of looking inside their classes for the fundamental improvement in teaching. For this, they formulated questionnaire to describe their own reflective practice through the alternative framework from a critical perspective in teaching, a view of student's learning, and a teacher's inner view for improvement of practice. Fourth, PLC activity for a year allowed them to combine theory and reality though reflective process by designing classes together and reflectively practicing them in classes.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.242-258
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• 2002

This study investigated preservice teachers' understandings of the ontology and epistemology underlying constructivist notions of teaming. Throughout this study, the epistemological, ontological, and pedagogical characteristics for each teacher's developing views of learning were identified through four in-depth interviews. Data from interviews were used to create three profiles containing ontological beliefs, epistemological commitments and pedagogical beliefs. This study has demonstrated that the notion of a constructivist profile change has significant potential for informing the analysis and description of preservice teachers' beliefs changes. Major findings include: constructivist profile changes overtime, diversification of profile components over time, features of the teachers' pedagogical belief profile changes, and teachers' unawareness of their profiles. However, changes in ontological beliefs and epistemological commitments were not easy, nor were they easily internalized for these teachers. The implications of this research are that preservice teachers should be aware of coexisting different categories of their learning-to-teach profiles, and that teacher educators should provide these preservice teachers with instruction designed to change preservice teachers' profiles towards increasing constructivist views of teaching and learning and restricting other undesirable categories.