• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.627-654
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• 2016

Despite the significance of the measurement strand in elementary mathematics education, it is not easy to teach it meaningfully. This study analyzed instructional methods related to capacity and weight in a series of mathematics textbooks of Korea, Japan, Singapore, and the US. The overall analysis was conducted in the following two aspects: (a) what and when to teach main learning content, and (b) how to teach the learning content tailored to the instructional components specific to the topics of measurement (i.e., the necessity of measurement unit, the meanings of measurement terms, appropriate choice of units, appropriate choice of measurement tools, and the necessity of calculation). The results of this study showed overall similarities in using real-life contexts to teach major topics on capacity and weight as well as emphasizing the relations among measurement units. However, noticeable differences were also analyzed in dealing with the meanings of measurement terms, appropriate choice of units, and appropriate choice of measurement tools. Based on these results, this study provides textbook writers with implications on what to further consider in dealing with capacity and weight.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.558-564
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• 2004

This research investigated the connection between science textbook contents in Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and those in Republic of Korea (ROK). Both text books in the field of earth science were analyzed and classified into 70 categories based on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Comparison was specifically made between the elementary and middle school text books of both countries; the result are as follows: First, the scope and the level of the textbooks' contents are quite different between DPRK and ROK. Text books in the South are much limited in concepts and terms than those in the North. In contrast, textbooks in DPRK are written mainly to explain concepts. Second, there are many common contents of the textbooks in DPRK and Republic of Korea. The level and scope of the contents in Republic of Korea are more inquisitive, quantitative and detailed than those in DPRK. Third, we found content connections in science textbooks between primary and secondary schools in both countries: 27 items (38.5%) are related in ROK and 19 items (27.1%) in DPRK.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.19 no.1 s.43
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• pp.65-79
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of practical reasoning home economics instruction on middle school students' views of home economics. Thomas(1986) categorized six alternative views of home economics as education for women, manual training, application of science, household management, family development, and an intervention. This study carried a quasi-experiment research with an independent variable of types of instruction and a dependent variable of views of home economics. The experiment was carried with the sample of 137 8th grade students in Gwangju area for ten class hours. Paired t-test was performed to examine the pretest-posttest differences of each experiment group and comparison group. The results showed that practical reasoning instruction improved level of the view of home economics as an intervention, and decreased level of the view of home economics as manual training. From the results of this study, conclusion can be made that practical reasoning home economics instruction is effective in changing to the appropriate views of home economics. Also it is expected that current Korean home economics textbook can lead to the views of home economics as household management and as family development.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.230-239
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• 2011

This study developed examination test tools for concepts of weather changes of middle school students, analyzed the hierarchy of concepts associated with weather changes by means of knowledge state analysis method, and examined the knowledge state and lesson effects of each individual learner. The hierarchy of the knowledge state of concepts of middle school students associated with weather changes followed the steps of 'humidity ${\rightarrow}$ air mass ${\rightarrow}$ cloud ${\rightarrow}$ precipitation ${\rightarrow}$ front ${\rightarrow}$ weather'. Cases were identified where the knowledge state of students that was thought to be similar to each other among the group of students who have scored almost the same points and thus were thought to have almost the same learning ability, have turned out different in the knowledge state from each other. Namely, the level of knowledge state structuralized differed, suggesting that differing prescriptions should be made according to the knowledge state of each student concerned. Analysis of the knowledge state of learners helps prepare learning prescriptions for each student and appraise prior learning. To examine effects of teaching-learning that has taken into consideration the hierarchy of knowledge state and concepts, lessons were conducted in comparison with the order in which syllabuses are presented in the textbooks, with the result that when knowledge state of learners have been taken into consideration, students made scores significantly higher (p < .05) than otherwise. This indicates that in introducing the unit of weather changes better teaching and learning can be achieved by reordering the contents of subject matters of the textbook by grasping the knowledge state of learners.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1084-1096
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• 2010

In this study, class criticism by elementary school teachers was analyzed on the subject of science classes by beginner teachers. And then the viewpoints and characteristics of the class criticism were investigated. Teachers for class criticism consisted of six members, including two each of low- and high-career teachers. The viewpoints were analyzed in comparison with all the teachers. The subject of class criticism was 'Activity of leaves in plants', which is in the seventh unit of the science textbook for fifth grade elementary students of the first semester. The result of this study was as follows. Teachers criticized the science class mainly with three codes of viewpoints: motivation, inquiry focused on student, and summary of the results, where viewpoints consisted of 18 codes. They criticized the class by factors on a standard checklist and their criticism was characterized by partial situation and context. Low-career teachers criticized the class with the viewpoint in sympathy with the beginner teachers and criticized the class with the viewpoint of recollecting their teaching experience as beginners. While high-career teachers criticized the class mainly overall situations rather than specific matters. The result of this study can be used as basic data for a program of professional development and teacher education for science classes.

• 대한공업교육학회지
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.248-266
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• 2009

The purpose of the research was to find out the difference in students' academic achievement in Technology Education between students with a lecture, those who perform a content-related project after a lecture, and those who carry out a content-related project without a lecture. The results of this study are as follows. First, taking advantage of both a lecture and project-based lesson led to better achievement than using only a project in Technology Education subject of an academic high school in academic achievement in 'knowledge' area. I infer that it is because they reviewed what they had learned in a lecture and the preparation and practice of the project caused them to memorize it. Second, there was not a meaningful difference in academic achievement in 'understanding' area among the group with a lecture, the one with both a lecture and a project, and the one with only a project. However, considering the comparison of averages and the p-value of F-test, I can deduce that the test outcome influences students with a lecture and a project positively in terms of academic achievement. Third, there was not a meaningful difference in the academic achievement in 'adaptation' area among the group with a lecture, the one with a lecture and a project, and the one with a project. I can conclude that those results are because the difficulty level of evaluation was high and they produced a model just by copying textbook contents.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.509-517
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• 2012

In this study, the illustrations of 27 middle school science textbooks developed under the 2007 Revised National Curriculum were analyzed in the aspect of gender-role stereotyping, and the results were compared with those of the 7th National Curriculum. The types of the illustrations were classified, and the frequencies of pupils and adults who appeared on the illustrations were counted by gender, and the types of activities and the character of them were also analyzed by gender. In all results of the analyses, the differences between male and female decreased in comparison with those of the 7th National Curriculum. More male pupils appeared in the illustrations than female pupils. The frequencies of learning activities were balanced by gender, but other activities were described as focusing on male pupils. The frequencies of male adults outnumbered female adults. While the ratio of female adults was high in houseworks, that of male adults was high in outdoor activities. The jobs of adults were also illustrated as male-centered. Most pupils and adults were found to be active. Both ratios of pupils and adults for each gender were relatively similar.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.37-53
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• 2001

This paper tries to find out about organizational and managemental aspect of Korean curriculum through a comparison between Korea's 7th elementary mathematics curriculum and that of Japan's elementary mathematics curriculum, which will start in m2 through researching various literatures. The main characteristic of this elementary mathematics curriculum is that Korea has organized a teaming program that tended to individual differences, and focused on student-centered activities and communication based on constructivism. On the other hand, Japan reduced learning contents a lot by running 5-schooldays a week so that 80% of teaching time can be spent to help the students master mathematical contents of the textbook. This leaves 20％ of teaching time to be used for improving mathematical thinking power as a foundation of creativity through mathematical activities. Korea's teaching time spent for elementary mathematics is about 80％ of Japan's, which is also less than that of other country's. Less time in teaming mathematics will lead to decrease in teaming ability. Therefore, there is a need for increased teaching time in mathematics. Korea's revision of curriculum is about 5 years which is often compared to that of Japan's 10 years. Frequent revising is good in that it reflects the social demand, but it can cause much confusion and problems in accepting and applying its program in a real classroom setting, which is why it needs to be looked at again. The direction, objective and assesment of revision fits the demands of international trends and essentials of mathematics. Japan puts its emphasis on learning through repetition and Korea puts its emphasis on problem solving and communication. Regarding assesment, both Korea and Japan is looking for ways to find various assessing ways which will focus on mathematical process rather than the mathematical results, and also will put emphasis on criterion-directed assesment to measure goal achievements. However Japan emphasize on using report cards of assesment to help mathematics learning.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.149-160
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to analyze the 6th national secondary science curriculum and classroom practices to collect the basic data for developing secondary science program focusing on creative problem-solving ability. The creative problem-solving ability was conceptualized as an active process of producing new solutions to problems and consisted of five components: general knowledge, domain-specific knowledge, motivation, divergent thinking and critical thinking. The research questions were generated as follows: (1) Whether creative problem-solving elements-domain specific knowledge(declarative knowledge and inquiry methods) were included or not in the 6th secondary science curriculum, textbooks and teacher's guide? If so, how are they represented? (2) Whether the teachers tried to enhance divergent and critical thinking of their students. Through content analyses, observations and interviews, these research questions were answered as follows: (1) Inquiry methods, which are important to develop creative problem-solving abilities in science, were underestimated in comparison with declarative knowledge. In other words. inquiry methods were regarded only as tools to understand the scientific concepts and principles. (2) It was hard to find the situations which teachers provided opportunities for divergent and critical thinking to their students. Based on these results, the followings were recommended: (1) Inquiry methods should be regarded as a goal not as a tool and be used to acquire inquiry methods themselves. (2) Teachers should not stick to the prescribed inquiry methods prescribed in the textbook, but to give opportunities for thinking various kinds of inquiry methods to improve divergent and critical thinking.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.625-635
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• 2019

Students are exposed to many visual representations in various visual cultures. Infographics combining visual representations and writing can effectively convey information. Also it can be efficient ways for teachers to focus on important contents. Students can use infographics as a method directly to organize information. Therefore, the infographics that students use both writings and images directly and visually will be more effective on elementary school science classes than the workbook. Classes are guided with the same scientific inquiry and experiment written on the science textbook. The experimental group students organized scientific inquiry by infographics, while the comparison group students still used the workbook. First, the types of infographics are determined by what students want to explain. Based on learning objectives, students used the right type of infographics to effectively convey their focus on information. Second, the infographics organizing activities used in the classes had a significant effect on students' academic achievement. Also, the infographics organizing classes are positively associated to science-related attitudes, including such+ as 'Leisure Interest in Science', 'Adoption of Scientific Attitudes', and 'Attitude to Scientific Inquiry'. Third, visual tendency and classroom treatments had no interactions, but the experimental group had a positive impact regardless of student's characteristics. Fourth, experimental group showed positive attitudes toward to students' perception of infographics. Since some of students had difficulties organizing information in infographics, further research is required to enable students to reduce their burden in application of infographics.