COMPARISON OF TEACHING AND LEARNING CONCEPT NETWORKS RELATED TO ECOSYSTEM COMPOSITION IN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Learning in the classroom is mainly done through verbal interaction. Since science learning is a subject in which it is difficult for students to acquire knowledge on their own, teacher guidance in class is more important. This study aimed to compare teaching and learning concept networks for the ecosystem-related content taught in upper secondary schools in the Republic of Korea. This content is divided into two classes—namely, ‘Ecosystem Components’ and ‘Interactions between Ecosystem Components’. The key concept and connection networks for teaching and learning concepts were analysed. The study participants were 10th-grade students and three teachers who taught them. The teacher’s class content was recorded, while the students’ learning concepts were examined using a questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using NetMiner 4.0. The results of this study are as follows: First, the teachers and students predominantly shared the concept of the entire ecosystem; however, the detailed structures of the concept networks differed. Second, the teacher did not clearly teach the concepts of the ‘Ecosystem Components’ and ‘Interactions between Ecosystem Components’ classes and utilised the concepts repeatedly. Third, the follow-up learning content impacted the pre-learning. These findings suggest that teachers need to clearly divide concepts into each topic when teaching. Keywords: ecosystem composition, upper secondary school, teaching concept network, learning concept network, connection network