Theory and Research on Curriculum Reconstruction focusing on the chapters related to Problem Solving in Elementary School Mathematics

수학과 교육과정 재구성의 이론과 실제 -초등 문제해결 관련 내용을 중심으로-

This study was executed with the intention of guiding ‘open education’ toward a desirable school innovation. The basic two directions of curriculum reconstruction essential for implementing ‘open education’ are one toward intra-subject (within a subject) and inter-subject (among subjects). This study showed an example of intra-subject curriculum reconstruction with a problem solving area included in elementary mathematics curriculum. In the curriculum, diverse strategies to enhance ability to solve problems are included at each grade level. In every elementary math textbook, those strategies are suggested in two chapters called ‘diverse problem solving’, in which problems only dealing with several strategies are introduced. Through this method, students begin to learn problem solving strategies not as something related to mathematical knowledge or contents but only as a skill or method for solving problems. Therefore, problems of ‘diverse problem solving’ chapter should not be dealt with separatedly but while students are learning the mathematical contents connected to those problems. Namely, students must have a chance to solve those problems while learning the contents related to the problem content(subject). By this reasoning, in the name of curriculum reconstruction toward intra-subject, this study showed such case with two ‘diverse problem solving’ chapters of the 4th grade second semester's math textbook.