• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.107-121
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• 2015

The purpose of the present study is to find out some implications from comparing mathematical education of Israel and Singapore. This study examined what values are represented in schooling of both Israel and Singapore and what factors are influencing mathematics teacher education of both countries. Education in Israel and Singapore plays a significant role for the survival of the nation and economic success, and the education system is focused on elitism, especially in terms that they have selective system of students and restrictive exams from the elementary school level. The educational system in both countries provides students with little opportunities for social mobility, because students from the low SES families are not equally exposed to educational facilities and experiences. The results of this study imply that the critical factor affecting students achievement in Israel and Singapore seems to be the quality of teacher education system and the quality of teachers. In particular, it seems that we need to be very careful of uncritically adopting mathematical ideas from both Israel and Singapore, because they both have very different contexts of educational goals, educational policies, racial and cultural factors from Korea.

• School Mathematics
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.45-68
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• 2006

Singaporean students have demonstrated their superior mathematical achievement and positive mathematical dispositions. Against this background, this study compared Korean elementary mathematics textbooks with Singaporean counterparts focusing on the geometry and measurement strand. The analysis was conducted in many aspects, including an overall unit structure, the contents to be covered in each grade, and the methods of introducing essential learning themes. The textbooks were also compared and contrasted with regard to the main characteristics of constructing mathematical contents. Whereas Korean textbooks used block teaming, Singaporean textbooks used repeated teaming. The latter also employed the activity of classifying multiple figures as the main method of introducing concepts. Whereas Korean textbooks consist of typical examples of figures, Singaporean counterparts include various examples consistent with the principle of mathematical variability.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.443-465
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• 2016

The study aims to compare our newest mathematics curriculum with Singapore's and analyse the differences of them. Because the levels of our mathematics education have been evaluated to be difficult to our students, we try to find that the evaluation is appropriate and there are other characteristics we have to notice carefully, and provide some implications for our mathematics curriculum. We mainly compared both mathematics curriculums focussed on the national documents of mathematics curriculum, and textbooks in the level of middle school. The results are following. Firstly, Singapore has three tracks based on students' abilities and there are three kinds of textbooks on the tracks. This is a different from our teaching on students level. Secondly, the introductions of our mathematics curriculum contents are not faster than Singapore's, but they have more concrete ranges of contents than us. Thirdly, the focus of Singapore's mathematics education lies on problem solving, and we can find some good examples of contents of textbook focussed on problem solving. Some mathematical concepts are introduced simply without any process of students discoveries or investigations, and the focus lies on the problem solving using the concepts. Fourthly, Singapore's mathematics textbooks are more emphasis on the internal connections than ours.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.157-170
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• 2017

Mathematics was the main domain of PISA 2012, and both paper-based and computer-based assessment of mathematics (CBAM) were conducted. PISA 2012 was the first large-scale computer-based mathematics assessment in Korea, and it is meaningful in that it evaluated students' mathematical literacy in problem situations using dynamic geometry, graph, and spreadsheet. Although Korea ranked third in CBAM, the use of ICT in mathematics lessons appeared to be low. On the other hand, this study focused on Singapore, which ranked first in CBAM. The Singapore Ministry of Education developed online programs such as AlgeTools and AlgeDisc, and implemented the programs in classes by specifying them in mathematics curriculum and textbooks. Thus, this study investigated influential factors on computer-based assessment of mathematics by comparing the results of Korea and Singapore, and aimed to provide meaningful evidence on the direction of Korea's ICT-based mathematics education. The results showed that ICT use at home for school related tasks, attitudes towards computers as a tool for school learning, and openness and perseverance of problem solving were positively associated with computer-based mathematics performance, whereas the use of ICT in mathematics class by teacher demonstration was negatively related. Efforts are needed to improve computer use and enhance teaching techniques related to ICT use in Korean math classes. Future research is recommended to examine how effectively teachers use ICT in mathematics class in Singapore.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.227-245
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• 2018

Debates of calculators in mathematics lessons sometimes have happened in both countries that students rarely use calculators in math lessons including Republic of Korea and countries that students usually use calculators in math lessons. Korea has tried to activate usage of calculators in math lessons as the revision of national math curriculums and the development the strategies to support schools and math teachers. On the other hand, Singapore has the different educational strategies to use calculators in math lessons, but students have higher math achievements in TIMSS and interests in math lessons than Korea. This study intended to study the difference between Korea and Singapore on the usage of calculators in math lessons. To accomplish this, the study compared math curriculums of two countries on the usage of calculators and analysed TIMSS 2015 related with the survey items about calculators in math lessons. This study results in some suggestions that we should do in oder to use calculators in math lessons effectively.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.441-457
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to analyze Korean students' mathematics achievement characteristics and draw implications for better math education in schools through comparing the results of three east Asian top level countries, Korea, Singapore, and Japan in PISA 2012 results. As a results, the rate of correct answers of Korea students was relatively low compared with those of Singapore, but relatively higher than Japan. From the results of effect size, similar results from t-test was discovered. As shown in analysis according to sub-elements in math assessment framework, the Korean students had low effect size in every sub-elements than Singapore. and they had high effect size at most of sub-elements than Japan, except "personal" context. In top performing level(above level 5), the Korean students had high effect size at "quantities" in mathematical contents, and "employ" in mathematical processes compared with Singapore. And they had row effect size at 6 sub-elements compared with Japan.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.287-307
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• 2016

In this study, mathematics exams for university entrance in the USA, the UK, Australia, Singapore, and Japan are investigated. We look into SAT, ACT and AP-course in the USA, GCE A-level test in the UK and Singapore, VCE in Australia, and UECE (University Entrance Center Exam) and individual university's admission tests in Japan. Those exams are analyzed in terms of exam system, mathematical contents, types of items, and testing time. Based on the result five issues on university entrance exam system in Korea are drawn out: types of tests, mathematical contents, item types, sub-items, and opening tests results to the public.

• School Mathematics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.473-491
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• 2010

In the TIMSS assessment goal and open TIMSS 2007, Singapore recorded a lower overall achievement level compared with Korea; however, the excellent results shown by Singapore furnished an opportunity for various countries to research into the education in Singapore. This paper conducted a comparative analysis of the "Proportion, Proportional Expression, and Percentile" area out of the three topics involving "Fractions and Decimals", "Proportion, Proportional expression, and Percentile", and "Measurement", in all of which Singapore exhibited a higher percentage of correct answers than Korea. The paper was able to discover the following differences through a comparative analysis of how Korean and Singaporean textbooks deal with the open questions of TIMSS 2007 after looking into them according to four assessment goals. First, the Singaporean textbook introduced the concept of proportion one year ahead of the Korean textbook. Second, the Singaporean textbook repeatedly coped with the topic of "Proportion, Proportional Expression, and Percentile" in depth and by academic year, and its volume was larger than that of the Korean textbook. Third, there was a difference in the introduction and definition of the concept of proportion. Fourth, the way of introducing a proportional expression was also different, and the Singaporean textbook proposed many more questions that utilize this expression in ordinary life. Based on these differences, the paper suggested implications that could be applied to the Korean curriculum and textbook.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.509-521
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• 2020

This study began with the discovery of the concept of frequency density in Singapore textbooks and in a set of subject contents of the UK's General Certificate of Secondary Education. To understand the mathematical meaning of frequency density, the mathematical connection of frequency density was considered in terms of mathematics internal connections and mathematics external connections. In addition, the teaching method of frequency density was introduced. In terms of mathematical internal connections, the connections among the probability density function, relative frequency density, and frequency density in high school statistics were examined. Regarding mathematical external connections, the connection with the density concept in middle school science was analyzed. Based on the mathematical connection, the study suggested the need to introduce the frequency density concept. For the teaching method of frequency density, the Singapore secondary mathematics textbook was introduced. The Singapore textbook introduces frequency density to correctly represent and accurately interpret data in histograms with unequal class intervals. Therefore, by introducing frequency density, Korea can consistently teach probability density function, relative frequency density, and frequency density, emphasizing the mathematical internal connections among them and considering the external connections with the science subject. Furthermore, as a teaching method of frequency density, we can consider the method provided in the Singapore textbook.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.239-261
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• 2008

This study presents results by the content areas in mathematics. Average performance is provided for five content areas: number, algebra, measurement, geometry, and data. Relative achievement is shown among the content areas for 4 countries in comparison to Korea. In number, Korea had lower average achievement than Singapore, especially for ratio proportion percent. Among 5 countries, Korea had the highest average achievement in algebra and geometry, but the lowest in attributes and units of measurement. In data, Korean students didn't learn the followings successfully: a) comparing characteristics of data sets and using mean, median, range, and shape of distribution, b) interpreting data sets (e.g., draw conclusions, make predictions, and estimate values between and beyond given data points), c) evaluating interpretations of data with respect to correctness and completeness of interpretation.