Comparison of the International Junior Science Olympiad Syllabus and ¡®Motion and Energy¡¯ Part of the 2015 Revised Science Curriculum

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to draw implication for the next curriculum by comparing the content elements of the syllabus of the International Junior Science Olympiad(IJSO) and the 'Motion and Energy' part of the 2015 revised science curriculum. For comparison, first of all, elements belonging to the ¡®motion and energy¡¯ part were extracted from the syllabus of the International Junior Science Olympiad, and the extracted elements were classified based on the core concepts presented in Physics 1 and 2 of the 2015 revised curriculum. Using the classified table, I quantitatively analyzed content elements that were consistent with the content elements of the 'Motion and Energy' part. Also, from the 2019 IJSO MCQ(Multiple Choice Questions), questions related to the ¡®motion and energy¡¯ part were selected and the content elements of the curriculum necessary to solve each question were analyzed. The results of the study were as follows. First, it is difficult to prepare for the IJSO competition with the curriculum up to the 3rd grade of middle school in Korea. Second, some of the content elements of IJSO are not covered by the Korean curriculum, and there were also content elements that were excluded when the 2009 revised curriculum was revised to the 2015 revised curriculum. Third, in the case of integrated science, the proportion of content elements consistent with the IJSO syllabus was very small, about 5.8%. Fourth, as a result of analyzing the previous questions from the 2019 MCQ, compared to the 2015 revised curriculum, most of them required Physics 2 or higher learning.