Talking School Science after Pandemic Crisis: Digital Competency Issues

Abstract

Post-pandemic just starts with discovering huge blank in learning science of students in most countries. In order to fill up the blank, its shortcut was pursued in most countries. Yet such one was not found. Rather we suggest following the basic guideline of learning science at school. It is well established that students have genuine experiences of science. It can be call making scientific claims of their own. Providing opportunities of real scientific experiences is critically important in supporting students to learn science. Digital competency in science class was recently targeted as a purpose as well as useful venue for student science learning. This paper investigated features of a high school science infusion program of the Science Core High School in Korea in order to figure out what direction school science would move on. The high school science infusion program that Korean government established as a new type of school since 2009. In those programs, students are provided with science research labs and field experiences. Rather than memorizing scientific knowledge and taking written tests without true understanding and applications, the Science Core High School was designed to help students experience scientific inquiry and practices to enhance their scientific process skills and to develop better scientific minds as well as gaining in-depth knowledge of science. This study intended to find evidence of changes in the science classrooms as scientific practices are infused in teaching. The focus of the study was on identifying the characteristics of science teaching and learning in the newly built school system focusing on scientific inquiry. How digital competency in school science should be defined was discussed as well.