• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.189-203
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to analyze the strengths and weaknesses resulting from a study of elementary mathematics lessons among in-service teachers and to discuss implications for the direction of improvement of the study on elementary mathematics lessons based on teacher learning community. The results of this study showed that the study on elementary mathematics lessons based on teacher learning community improved teacher knowledge related to teaching mathematics, enhanced teacher's accomplishment and self-esteem, made it possible for participant teachers to teach one another, created atmosphere in which teachers investigated instruction via sustainable and systematic lesson study. However, some limitations were noticed such as regulations by the social norms of the teacher learning community, the influence of an expert teacher, teachers' unprofessional decision making, and lack of systematic evaluation and reflection on lessons. Based on these results, this paper closes with critical implications to enhance teacher learning community.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.21-49
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• 2004

본 논문은 학생중심 수학교실문화를 구현하려고 노력하는 3명의 초등학교 교사들이 공동으로 1년간의 프로젝트에 참여하면서 경험하게 되는 교수법 개발 과정에 관한 사례를 소개한다. 이를 바탕으로, 수학 교사 학습 및 교수법 개발에 있어서의 성공과 난제가 무엇인지 살펴보고, 본 프로젝트에서 새롭게 적용해 본 교사 중심의 정기적인 수업 논의 모임을 통한 탐구 공동체 형성과정과 이를 통한 교사 학습에 관한 쟁점을 논의한다.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.267-286
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• 2017

This study analyzed the processes of lesson plan, implementation, and reflection by a professional learning community with five teachers who were teaching second grade students in the same elementary school. The results of the study showed that the learning community helped the teachers prepare for a lesson effectively, enhance their teaching practices, and reflect on their teaching methods. However, the teachers had difficulties in re-designing and implementing the collaborative lesson plan in their classrooms and had a tendency to talk about their feelings about lessons rather than meaningful comments for subsequent lessons. The successes and difficulties revealed through this study are expected to provide us with directions of learning communities for improving teachers' professional development.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.119-130
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to explain the long term growth and development of elementary teachers' Professional Learning Communities(PLC) about mathematics implemented on an institutional basis. Especially, it is meaningful to analyze and present the development process and characteristics of PLC, which was started by the basis on the collaboration of a National University of Education and its affiliated elementary school. In this study, PLC activities during three years were analyzed according to the capacities and dimensions of a professional learning community. The developmental capacity of the PLC analyzed in this study can be summarized as follows. In the first year, development of organizational competence in terms of capacity, resources, structure, and system of exchanges was the main factor in personal competence, and the development of individual competence began to share collective learning and practice. In the second year, personal exchanges were active in all the topics of activities, and personal level competence was activated such that more activities of critical knowledge formation were performed on an individual level. On the basis of the development of the individual level formed in the second, individual competence and organizational capacity developed. Factors that have influenced the development of capacities of PLC include: disclosure of activities outside the community, participation in outsiders, provision of procedures to share equal participation and leadership, voluntary and critical participation of teachers, improvement of mathematics teaching methods, sharing themes and visions.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.191-206
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to find an implication for a direction to improve professional development in mathematics by exploring elementary school teachers' perception of the need for professional development in mathematics. To this end, 4 elementary school teachers were organized into one focus group, and group discussion materials were collected and analyzed based on cases of mathematics professional development needs. As a result of the study, the elementary school teachers' perception that the need for professional development in mathematics is both unnecessary and necessary. The perception of unnecessary was influenced by the easy level of elementary school mathematics content and the ease of teaching. Also, the perception of necessary factors were considering various aspects of mathematics teaching, changing the accumulation of failures in mathematics classes, maintaining authority of students, demand for class improvement due to social change, the impact of school work, the influence of the community of professional development and peers in school, and efforts to grow as teachers. Based on these results, the author discussed ways to promote teachers' participation in mathematics professional development by considering elementary school teachers' perceptions of the need of mathematics professional development.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.363-380
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• 2023

This study analyzed the difficulties and mathematical modeling knowledge improvement that an elementary school teacher experienced in modifying a mathematics textbook task to a mathematical modeling task. To this end, an elementary school teacher with 10 years of experience participated in teacher-researcher community's repeated discussions and modified the average task in the data and pattern domain of the 5th grade. The results are as followings. First, in the process of task modification, the teacher had difficulties in reflecting reality, setting the appropriate cognitive level of mathematical modeling tasks, and presenting detailed tasks according to the mathematical modeling process. Second, through repeated task modifications, the teacher was able to develop realistic tasks considering the mathematical content knowledge and students' cognitive level, set the cognitive level of the task by adjusting the complexity and openness of the task, and present detailed tasks through thought experiments on students' task-solving process, which shows that teachers' mathematical modeling knowledge, including the concept of mathematical modeling and the characteristics of the mathematical modeling task, has improved. The findings of this study suggest that, in terms of the mathematical modeling teacher education, it is necessary to provide teachers with opportunities to improve their mathematical modeling task development competency through textbook task modification rather than direct provision of mathematical modeling tasks, experience mathematical modeling theory and practice together, and participate in teacher-researcher communities.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.531-549
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• 2023

Despite the significance of mathematics teacher guidebooks as a support for teacher learning, there are few studies that address how elementary mathematics teacher guidebooks support teacher learning. The purpose of this study was to analyze the educative features of elementary mathematics teacher guidebooks for grades 3 and 4. For this, six units from each of ten kinds of teacher guidebooks were analyzed in terms of seven dimensions of Teacher Learning Opportunities in Korean Mathematics Curriculum Materials (TLO-KMath). The results of this study showed that mathematics content knowledge for teaching was richly provided and well organized. Teacher guidebooks provided teacher knowledge to anticipate and understand student errors and misconceptions, but were not enough. Sample dialogues between a teacher and students were offered in the teacher guidebooks, making it easier for teachers to identify the overall lesson flow and key points of classroom discourse. Formative assessment was emphasized in the teacher guidebooks, including lesson-specific student responses and their concomitant feedback examples per main activity. Supplementary activities and worksheets were provided, but it lacked rationales for differentiated instruction in mathematics. Teacher knowledge of manipulative materials and technology use in mathematics was provided only in specific units and was generally insufficient. Teacher knowledge in building a mathematical community was mainly provided in terms of mathematical competency, mathematical classroom culture, and motivation. This paper finally presented implications for improving teacher guidebooks to actively support teacher learning.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.95-115
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• 2023

Even the teachers who agree with the necessity of effective mathematical discussions find it difficult to orchestrate such discussions in the actual lessons. This study focused on analyzing the difficulties 15 elementary school teachers faced in applying "the five practices for orchestrating productive mathematics discussions" to their lessons. Specifically, this study analyzed the process of planning, implementing, and reflecting on the lessons to which three or four teachers as a teacher community applied the five practices. The results of this study showed that the teachers experienced difficulties in selecting and presenting tasks tailored to the student levels and class environment, monitoring all students' solutions, and identifying the core mathematical ideas in student solutions. In addition, this study revealed practical and specific difficulties that had not been described in the previous studies, such as writing a lesson plan for effective use, simultaneously performing multiple teacher roles, and visually sharing student presentations. This study is expected to provide practical tips for elementary school teachers who are eager to promote effective mathematical discussions and to provoke professional discourse for teacher educators through specific examples.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.521-537
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• 2022

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted, interrupted, and changed the way we normally prepare our teacher candidates in teacher preparation programs. In this paper, we, two mathematics teacher educators (MTEs), reflect our own experiences in appropriating, transforming, reconstructing, and modifying our pedagogies of teacher education in making a transition from face-to-face to online environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a collaborative self-study, we discussed issues, challenges, changes, opportunities, and innovations of teaching an elementary mathematics methods course in the online environment. Using a constant comparison method, we explored the following three themes: (1) using virtual manipulatives; (2) creating collaborative, interactive, and shared learning experiences for preservice teachers; and (3) making preservice teachers engaged in student thinking. These findings indicated that online teaching requires transformative knowledge for teacher educators. Transferring face-to-face to online is not a simple matter of putting the existing content to online; it should focus on pedagogical improvement in teaching mathematics rather than technology's sake or how it can be repurposed in a new online environment in a way that students' learning is optimized. The findings of this study provide implications for unpacking MTEs' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), creating collaborative learning experiences for preservice teachers, and designing a collaborative self-study between MTEs engaged in the community of professional learning.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.313-330
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• 2015

The classification is an important activity that is directly related to concept formation. Thus it will need to be made meaningful learning to classification through learner-centered teaching. But we doubts weather teaching and learning to the classification are reflected in the constructivist philosophy of 'learner-centered' well or not. The purpose of this study was to analyze critically the content of elementary textbooks and guidebook for teachers relating to the classification of angles and triangles in terms of constructivism. As a result, there is a problem in the classification of angles that are not provided a reasonable chance to set criteria by agreement of the communities. There is a problem in the classification of triangles that has the characteristics of radical development in terms of diversity. In addition, response of students was predicted like anyone who already acquired knowledge. And it has the shortcomings that the opportunity to have a choice and a discussion to hierarchical and partition classification are not provided. The followings are proposed based on such features; faithful reflection of 'Learner-centered' principle, careful prediction of student response, teaching that focus on process than results.