Evolution is a central concept that unifies all areas of life sciences. Despite longstanding scientific efforts in science education, the public's scientific awareness of evolution still needs to improve. Furthermore, teaching evolution is subject to recurring controversy. This study aimed to investigate the gap between public understanding of…

The research aimed to explore characteristics of individual behaviors as motivation, task commitment, and leadership exhibited by science gifted students at enrichment program in science gifted education center. Results showed that motivation was highest at introduction stage, but decreased as lessons progressed. Task commitment and leadership…

This research aimed to develop an assessment tool for students' Positive Experiences about Science (PES). A preliminary version of PSE was developed through literature review, consisting of academic emotion, self-concept, learning motivation, career aspiration, and attitude in science. A pilot test was conducted with 198 students and a main test…

What would be one of the most sensible ways for a country to invest to achieve maximal economic growth? A recent study (Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2011) by economists at Harvard and Columbia Universities shows that better teacher quality results in significantly higher students' lifetime earnings. And investing in public school teachers…

The aim of this paper is to provide an objective overview of the impact of teacher salaries on the educational achievements of students. It is often debated about teacher salaries and improvement or jeopardizing their standard, but educational consequences that may ensue as a result of these intentions are rarely addressed. Teacher's role in…

In the Republic of Korea, elementary schools provide compulsory education to children between the ages of six and eleven. Students ages 12-14 attend middle school, and high schools offer three years of upper secondary education to students ages 15-17. This report describes the design of the science education program in South Korea, highlighting…

The science curriculum in Korea has been revised five times in the past 30 years. However, the issue of textbooks and their role in teaching and learning still exists as a major problem. The purpose of this study is to investigate the presentation of the goals of the national curriculum in high school earth science textbooks by analyzing and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate Korean high school students' perceptions of their laboratory classrooms, focusing especially on the aspects measured by the items in the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI). The study involved 439 high school students from three different streams (145 from the humanities stream, 195 from the…

This paper describes a study designed to investigate the development of scientific reasoning or logical thinking patterns of South Korean secodary school students. The scientific reasoning or logical thinking patterns were categorized into patterns of logic such as seriation, combinations, proportion, control of variables, probability, and…

This paper reports on research conducted to determine whether science curriculum reform efforts in Korea have had a positive effect on the classroom learning environment from a constructivist point of view. The Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) was administered to 1083 students and 24 science teachers in 12 different schools. One…

This paper suggests an alternative approach to early childhood science education that considers contemporary trends in both literature and science. The whole language approach to picture books is recommended and this strategy is described in the four sections of this report. The sections provide information on the relationship between science…

This paper examines the increasing output of South Korean government publications in social science titles. It attributes the cause primarily to modernization and democratization combined with economic development and growth in associated social life indicators. Government sponsorship of education and research also plays a critical role. The…

The present study firstly examined the use of learning strategies for students classified as having either a high or a low level of motivation, based on level of academic volitional strategy (AVS) and academic delay of gratification (ADOG). Students were classified into four groups on the basis of a two (motivation: low, high) by two (AVS or ADOG:…

The purpose of a study was to provide some practical and theoretical suggestions to science educators in the United States and Korea who are struggling to attract more students to study science and pursue science-related careers. Two research questions were addressed: (1) What are the determinants of Korean high-school students' track choice…

This document is a summary of the situations of six Asian nations (The People's Republic of China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and India) compared to the United States in science and technology education. The paper includes a table of the production of bachelor of science degrees in science and engineering in 1990, comparing the Asian…