The learning problem addressed is that 8th grade students in Korea who studied abroad in 5th grade have difficulty understanding Korean history, specifically the flow and significant events of the Silla kingdom in the 6th century. This is because when they were abroad in 5th grade, they did not learn the historical terminology and background knowledge about Korean history that students who attended 5th grade in Korea acquired. Without this prior knowledge and familiarity with terminology, they struggle to comprehend the Korean history textbooks in 8th grade while their peers who remained in Korea do not have the same issues.

1. Team Project Assignment 1: Learning Problem 교공의 힘을 보여조
(1) A statement of the learning problem your final project will address
Target learner: 8th grade students who studied abroad in their 5th grade
Topic: history of Silla in the 6th century
The 8th graders in Korea who spend their 5th grade curriculum in foreign countries have
difficulty in understanding the flow of Korean history. This is because they are unfamiliar
with the terminologies in Korean history textbooks and the events of history. Therefore, they
hardly understand the contents of Korean history textbooks.
(2) Background of the learning problem
According to <Table 1>, the number of elementary students who study abroad has
increased from 0.39% to 0.61%. We can anticipate that these students will find difficulty in
Korean history if they get back to 8th grade in Korea. As you can see, <Picture 1> shows that
many students who have studied abroad actually find difficulty in Korean history as well as
other subjects. However, no research for the solution has been gone through. All they can do
is taking private lessons or going to supplementary classes as an alternative solution for now.
Based on the survey results, 85% of students who studied abroad answered “difficult
terminologies” as their main reason why they find difficulty in understanding of Korean
history. The second main reason was “general understanding of flow”.
(3) Causes of the learning problem
Accurate comprehension of historical terminologies in Korean history textbooks is a
fundamental step in the history education(Nistbett, 2004) in the way that history study was
the past things. In 5th grade social studies curriculum, students start learning a brief history of
Korea. Therefore, students who received an elementary education correspond to fifth grade in
Korea have background knowledge about Korean historical terminologies and the flow of
Korean history. Thus, they usually do not have severe difficulty in understanding Korean
history relevant to regular course of 8th grade history curriculum.
However, a number of our target learners (the 8th grade students in Korea who spend their
5th grade curriculum in foreign countries) face problems in understanding the overall flow of
Korean history. Since they did not have a chance to learn Korean history, they do not have
any prior knowledge to study in depth in their 8th grade. Moreover, the terminologies used in
history textbooks are not colloquial. Thus, they have little knowledge of Korean historical
terminologies and the events of history as well. This is why our target learners keep failing:
the understanding gap between students who lived in Korea through fifth grade and the
student who did not.
(4) The most important learning goals for your target learners
1. To understand effectively Korean historical terminologies regarding a golden age of Silla,
in the 6th century in the 8th grade Korean history textbooks.
2. To explain well the historical flow of Silla in the 6th century by applying learned
historical terminologies.
To summarize [Students who studied abroad in their 5th grade] are trying to [learn and
understand] [the flow and the significant events of Korean history] but they keep failing
while others succeed because of [lack of prior knowledge and difficult terminologies] in
Korean history textbooks.

2. Appendix
<Table 1>
<Picture1> (정재옥, 2002).
(Survey research)
해외거주 경험자: 20명 / 해외거주 비 경험자: 25명을 대상으로 설문조사 실시 (2011.10.24~10.27)
경험자: 국사 과목에 어려움이 있는가? 비경험자: 국사 과목에 어려움이 있는가?
경험자 20명 중 비 경험자 25명 중
예-17명./아니오-3명 예- 4명./아니오- 21명
예 (85%) 예 (16%)
아니오 (15%) 아니오 (84%)
경험자: 어려움의 원인 비경험자: 어려움의 원인
용어의 난이도 용어의 난이도
(41.7%) (14.7%)
흐름의 이해 흐름의 이해
(37.4%) (8.8%)
시각적 자료 시각적 자료
부족 (13.5%) 부족 (20.6%)
선생님의 복수응답 2개 가능
선생님의
복수응답 2개 가능
용어의 난이도- 18명 불충분한 설명 선생님의 불충분한 설명- 11명 불충분한 설명
흐름의 이해 -15명 (9.2%) 시각적 자료 부족 – 7명 (32.4%)
<Survey Results in Pie-chart>