Elementary School Students’ Images of Science Class and Factors Influencing Their Formations

In this study, we investigated the elementary school students' images of science class and the factors influencing their formations. 280 sixth graders were selected from nine elementary schools in Gyeonggi province and Gangwon province and the DASCT-C (Draw-A-Science-Class-Test Checklist) was administered. In addition, four students were individually interviewed in order to investigate their responses deeply. Analyses of the results revealed that the students' images of science class for four science subjects (physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science) were more 'student-centered' than 'teacher-centered' or 'neutral'. The students of the teacher with student-centered image of science class had also more student-centered images than those with teacher-centered images. Many students answered that the main factors affecting their images of science class were the experiences of impressed or funny science classes, the perceptions of wanted science classes, the active science learning experiences, the educational experiences outside the school curriculum, and the negative science learning experiences. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.