The Mathematical Education (한국수학교육학회지시리즈A:수학교육)

Korean Society of Mathematical Education (한국수학교육학회)
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Preservice teachers' understanding of fraction multiplication through problem posing and solving in Korea and the United States

문제제기 및 해결을 통한 한국과 미국 예비교사의 분수 곱셈 이해 탐색

  • Received : 2022.02.09
  • Accepted : 2022.02.21
  • Published : 2022.02.28
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Abstract

Mathematics teachers' content knowledge is an important asset for effective teaching. To enhance this asset, teacher's knowledge is required to be diagnosed and developed. In this study, we employed problem-posing and problem-solving tasks to diagnose preservice teachers' understanding of fraction multiplication. We recruited 41 elementary preservice teachers who were taking elementary mathematics methods courses in Korea and the United States and gave the tasks in their final exam. The collected data was analyzed in terms of interpreting, understanding, model, and representing of fraction multiplication. The results of the study show that preservice teachers tended to interpret (fraction)×(fraction) more correctly than (whole number)×(fraction). Especially, all US preservice teachers reversed the meanings of the fraction multiplier as well as the whole number multiplicand. In addition, preservice teachers frequently used 'part of part' for posing problems and solving posed problems for (fraction)×(fraction) problems. While preservice teachers preferred to a area model to solve (fraction)×(fraction) problems, many Korean preservice teachers selected a length model for (whole number)×(fraction). Lastly, preservice teachers showed their ability to make a conceptual connection between their models and the process of fraction multiplication. This study provided specific implications for preservice teacher education in relation to the meaning of fraction multiplication, visual representations, and the purposes of using representations.

본 연구에서는 한국과 미국의 초등예비교사들의 분수 곱셈에 대한 이해를 살펴보기 위해서 문제제기 및 문제해결 과제의 수행 결과를 분석하였다. 연구 결과, 첫째, (분수)×(분수)의 상황에 비해서 (자연수)×(분수)에서 피승수와 승수의 위치를 혼동하여 승수를 분수가 아닌 자연수로 생각하는 경향이 더 많이 나타났다. 둘째, (분수)×(분수)에서는 집합이나 길이에 비해서 넓이 모델을 선호하는 것으로 나타났고, 대부분의 예비교사들이 주어진 수식의 계산과정이 나타나도록 모델을 연결하여 설명하였다. 이를 바탕으로 예비교사의 곱셈의미 이해에 대한 연구의 시사점을 제언하였다.

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References

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