중학교 과학영재 학생의 과학적 가설에 대한 인식과 가설설정 능력

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to get basic data for devising teaching methods to improve scientifically gifted middle school students skills in formulating a hypothesis. The results of the study were the following. First, many of the gifted students could not distinguish the differences between hypothesis and prediction. And they also had difficulties distinguishing between hypothesis and prediction in a specific inquiry situation. Second, scientifically gifted middle school students thought that the hypothesis should be based on logical reasons and stated by showing the relations between variations. They also thought that scientific hypotheses are incomplete and changeable, and should be testable. Third, scientifically gifted middle- school students could formulate a scientific hypothesis as an answer to an inquiry to a problem. The causal relationship between one independent variable and one dependent variable was described and presented in a form that can be verified. A reasonable basis for the hypothesis was also presented. However, many students had difficulty in presenting a generalized inquiry problem from a given inquiry situation. Fourth, there were differences in formulating hypotheses about the types of hypotheses as answers to an inquiry question, types of variables in the hypotheses, frequency of the experimentally testable hypothesis and the types of evidence for the hypothesis according to their departments.