• School Mathematics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

In this paper, in order to lay the foundation for clearly determining the scope of contents handled in elementary math textbooks in Korea, what may be issues are discussed with respect to the contents handled in the current math textbooks. First of all, handling of percent point, concave polygons, and possibilities of event that will happen are discussed, the handling of them can be a issue in the sense of inconsistencies to the curriculum. Next, handling of fractions attaching units of discrete quantities and fractions attaching 'times' are discussed, the handling of them can be a issue in the sense of gap between everyday life and definition in math textbooks. Finally, handling of representing natural numbers into fractions and the positional relationship of geometrical figures are discussed, the handling of them can be a issue in the sense of a logical jump. The following three implications obtained from these discussions are presented as conclusions. First, it is necessary to establish clearly the relationship of textbooks and curriculum. Second, it is necessary to give attention to using the way to define or deal with concepts in math textbooks mixed with the way to use them in everyday life. Third, it is necessary to identify and eliminate the logical jumps in math textbooks.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.317-328
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• 2011

We analyzed errors committed by Korean prospective elementary teachers in finding and interpreting quotient and remainder within measurement division of fractions. 65 prospective elementary teachers were participated in this study. They solved a word problem about measurement division of fractions. We analyzed solutions of all participants, and interviewed 5 participants of them. The results reveal many of these prospective teachers could not tell what fractional part of division result means. Thses results suggest that teacher preparation program should emphasize interpreting calculation results within given situations.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.285-304
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• 2009

The operations of fractions are the main contents of number and operations in the elementary mathematics curriculum. They are also difficult for students to understand conceptually. Nevertheless, there has been little study on the addition and subtraction of fractions. Given this, this paper explored the connection between the national mathematics curriculum and its concomitant textbooks, the adequacy of when to teach, and the method of constructing each unit to teach addition and subtraction of fractions. This paper then analyzed elementary mathematics textbooks and workbooks by three parts aligned with the general instructional flow: 'introduction', 'activity', and, 'exercise'. First, it was analyzed with regard to the introduction part whether the word problems of textbooks might reflect on students' daily lives as intended, how different meanings of operations would be expected to be taught, and how the subsequent activities were connected with the original word problems. Second, the main analysis of activity part of the textbooks dealt with how to use concrete or iconic models to promote students' conceptual understanding of operations and how to formalize the calculation methods and principles with regard to addition and subtraction of fractions. Third, the analysis of the part of exercise in the textbooks and workbooks was conducted with regard to problem types and meanings of operations. It is expected that the issues and suggestions stemming from this analysis of current textbooks and workbooks are informative in developing new instructional materials aligned to the recently revised mathematics curriculum.

• School Mathematics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.793-818
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to explore in detail $5^{th}$ grade students' understanding on the big ideas related to addition of fraction with different denominators: fixed whole unit, necessity of common measure, and recursive partitioning connected to algorithms. We conducted teaching experiments on 15 fifth grade students who had learned about addition of fractions with different denominators using the current textbook. Most students approached to the big ideas related to addition of fractions in a procedural way. However, some students were able to conceptually understand the interpretations and algorithms of fraction addition by quantitatively thinking about the context and focusing on the structures of units. Building on these results, this study is expected to suggest specific implications on instruction methods for addition of fractions with different denominators.

• School Mathematics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.13-28
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• 2007

Division of fractions can be categorized as measurement division, partitive or sharing division, the inverse of multiplication, and the inverse of Cartesian product. Division algorithm for fractions has been interpreted with manipulative aids or models mainly in the contexts of measurement division and partitive division. On the contrary, there are few interpretations for the context of the inverse of a Cartesian product. In this paper the significance and the limits of existing interpretations of division of fractions in the context of the inverse of a Cartesian product were discussed. And some new easier interpretations of division algorithm in the context of a Cartesian product are developed. The problem to determine the length of a rectangle where the area and the width of it are known can be solved by various approaches: making the width of a rectangle be equal to one, making the width of a rectangle be equal to some natural number, making the area of a rectangle be equal to 1. These approaches may help students to understand the meaning of division of fractions and the meaning of the inverse of the divisor. These approaches make the inverse of a Cartesian product have many merits as an introductory context of division algorithm for fractions.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.157-178
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• 2022

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.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.153-166
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• 2017

164 preservice elementary teachers' decision and enactment of their knowledge of fraction multiplication were examined in a context where they were asked to write a story problem for a multiplication problem with two proper fractions. Participants were selected from an entry level course and an exit level course of their teacher preparation program to reveal any differences between the groups as well as any recognizable patterns within each group and overall. Patterns and tendencies in writing story problems were identified and analyzed. Implications of the findings for teaching and teacher education are discussed.

• School Mathematics
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.139-168
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to investigate children's informal knowledge of the fractional multiplication and to develop a teaching material connecting the informal and the formal knowledge. Six lessons of the pre-teaching material are developed based on literature reviews and administered to the 7 students of the 4th grade in an elementary school. It is shown in these teaching experiments that children's informal knowledge of the fractional multiplication are the direct modeling of using diagram, mathematical thought by informal language, and the representation with operational expression. Further, teaching and learning methods of formalizing children's informal knowledge are obtained as follows. First, the informal knowledge of the repeated sum of the same numbers might be used in (fractional number)$\times$((natural number) and the repeated sum could be expressed simply as in the multiplication of the natural numbers. Second, the semantic meaning of multiplication operator should be understood in (natural number)$\times$((fractional number). Third, the repartitioned units by multiplier have to be recognized as a new units in (unit fractional number)$\times$((unit fractional number). Fourth, the partitioned units should be reconceptualized and the case of disjoint between the denominator in multiplier and the numerator in multiplicand have to be formalized first in (proper fractional number)$\times$(proper fractional number). The above teaching and learning methods are melted in the teaching meterial which is made with corrections and revisions of the pre-teaching meterial.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.101-114
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• 2001

The ancient Egyptians only used fractions of the form 1/n, so any other fraction had to be represented as a sum of such unit fractions and all the unit fractions were different. This study explores some of the history of Egyptian fractions and gives you an algorithm for such representations. There's lots of investigations to do in this area of mathematics suitable for elementary school students and it is also designed as a resource for teachers.

• School Mathematics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.209-228
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• 2017

Understanding decimal numbers is important in mathematics as well as real-life contexts. However, lots of students focus on procedures or algorithms of decimal numbers without understanding its meanings. This study analyzed teaching method related to decimal numbers in a series of mathematics textbooks of Korea, Japan, Singapore and the US. The results showed that three countries except Japan introduced the decimal numbers as another name of fraction, which highlights the relation between the concept of decimal numbers and fractions. And limited meanings of decimal numbers were shown such as 'equal parts of a whole' and 'measurement'. Especially in the korean textbooks, relationships between the decimals were dealt instrumentally and small number of models such as number lines or $10{\times}10$ grids were used repeatedly. Based these results, this study provides implications on what and how to deal with decimal numbers in teaching and learning decimal numbers with textbooks.