Analysis on STS in the science textbooks of second grade in middle school since Educational Curriculum Revision in 2009.

So-Yeon Kim
Major in Biology Education
The Graduate School of Education
Kyung Hee University


While the importance of science in modern life has been emphasized due to technological and scientific advancement, students’ interest in science has steadily decreased in South Korea. According to OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 2016), Korean students’ interest in science has ranked 26th among 35 countries in the programme for international students assessment. One of reasons for students’ low interest in science is Korea’s traditional discipline-centred science curriculum which simply delivers fragmentary scientific knowledge and encourages learning by rote. In order to increase students’ interest in science, STS (Science, Technology, and Society) approach has emerged in South Korea since the Educational Curriculum Revision in 2009.
Since the latest Educational Curriculum Revision in 2009, there have been no studies done on the contents and analysis of STS in the revised science textbook of second grade in middle school. Therefore, In this study, middle school science textbooks, specifically second grade, are chosen to analyze how much contents of the revised science textbooks are related to the STS approach. Furthermore, this study will be beneficial for devising the suitable STS learning guidance plans for teachers while providing basic data that can also improve the research and development of STS approach within Korean educational science curriculums in the future.
Firstly, this study shows a distribution ratio of STS educational contents in the revised science textbooks of second grade in middle school from 11 to 23 percent while showing an average rate of 17 percent in the whole of other textbooks. Secondly, this study shows that component contents of STS are mainly focusing on application of science (65.1%) while focusing on the influence of technological advance (73.5%) as a STS curriculum’s subject area. Lastly, as SATIS suggests, this study shows that data analysis field is the STS curriculum’s current main activity area with the highest rate of 52.3 percent among the other fields.