• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.215-239
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• 2015

A goal of this study is figuring out how fraction learning centered on various representation activities influences the fraction comprehension and mathematical attitudes. The study focused on 33 4th-grade students of B elementary school in Seoul. In the study, 15 fraction learning classes comprising enactive, iconic, and symbolic representations took place over 6 weeks. After the classes, the ratio of the students who achieved relational understanding increased and the students averagely recorded 90 pt or more on the fraction comprehension test I, II and III. Two-dependent samples t-test was conducted to analyze a significant difference in mathematical attitudes between pre-test and post-test. On the test result, there was the meaningful difference with 0.01 level of significance. To conclude, the fraction learning centered on various representation activities improves students' relational understanding and fraction understanding. In addition, the fraction learning centered on various representation activities gives positive influences on mathematical attitudes since it increases learning orientation, self-control, interests, value cognition, and self-confidence of the students and decreases fears of the students.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.85-108
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• 2008

In this study, we created, implemented, and evaluated the impact of proportional reasoning authentic investigative activities on the mathematical content and pedagogical knowledge and attitudes of pre-service elementary and middle school mathematics teachers. For this purpose, a special teaching model was developed, implemented, and tested as part of the pre-service mathematics teacher training programs conducted in Israeli teacher colleges. The model was developed following pilot studies investigating the change in mathematical and pedagogical knowledge of pre- and in-service mathematics teachers, due to experience in authentic proportional reasoning activities. The conclusion of the study is that application of the model, through which the pre-service teachers gain experience and are exposed to authentic proportional reasoning activities with incorporation of theory (reading and analyzing relevant research reports) and practice, leads to a significant positive change in the pre-service teachers' mathematical content and pedagogical knowledge. In addition, improvement occurred in their attitudes and beliefs towards learning and teaching mathematics in general, and ratio and proportion in particular.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using graphing calculators on students' understanding of the linear and quadratic function concepts. The populators of this study are tenth graders at high school in Seoul, one class for the treatment group and another class for the comparison group, and experiment period is 14 weeks including two weeks for school regular exams.Function tests used in the study was proposed which described a conceptual knowledge of functions in terms of the following components: a) Conceptual understanding, b) Interpreting a function in terms of a verbal experission, c) Translating between different representations of functions, and d) Mathematical modeling a real-world situation using functions. Even though the group test means of the individual components of conceptual understanding, interpreting, translating, mathematical modeling did not differ significantly, there is evidence that the two groups differed in their performance on conceptual understanding. It was shown that students learned algebra using graphing calculators view graphs more globally. The attitude survey assessed students' attitudes and perceptions about the value of mathematics, the usefulness of graphs in mathematics, mathematical confidence, mathematics anxiety, and their feelings about calculators. The overall t-test was not statistically significant, but the students in the treatment group showed significantly different levels of anxiety toward mathematics.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.243-262
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• 2017

This study has its purpose on improving mathematic education by analyzing the effects of the teaching and learning process which adopted 'FOCUS Problem Solving Steps' on student's mathematical problem solving ability and their mathematical attitude. The result is as follows. First, activities through FOCUS Problem Solving Steps showed positive effect on students' problem solving ability. Second, among mathematical attitudes, mathematical curiosity, reflection and value are proved to have statistically meaningful effect and from the result that analyzed changes of subject students, we could suppose that all 6 elements of mathematical attitude had positive effect. Third, by solving questions through FOCUS steps, students felt satisfaction when they success by themselves. If projects which adopted FOCUS Problem Solving Steps take effect continuously by happiness from the process of reviewing and reflecting their own fallacy and solving that, we might expect meaningful effect on students' problem solving ability. Through this study, FOCUS Problem Solving Steps had positive effect not only on students' mathematical problem solving ability but also on formation of mathematical attitude. As a result, it implies that FOCUS Problem Solving Steps need to be applied to other grades and fields and then studied more.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.559-577
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of discourse-based math instructions on the students' mathematical attitudes and learning achievements by providing fifth graders with an opportunity to take active part in learning during math classes and applying discourse-based math instructions, which are to expand the speaking experiences as the most fundamental way to express ideas in communication. Those research efforts led to the following results: First, the discourse-based math instructions turned out to have positive influences on flexibility, will power, curiosity, reflection, and value of mathematical attitudes. When the results were reviewed before and after the instructions without considering the subvariables of attitude, there were statistically significant differences(p<0.01), which indicates that the discourse-based math instructions exerted very positive effects on the students mathematical attitudes. Second, there were no statistically significant effects in learning achievements between the experimental and comparative group, but the experimental group, which recorded low mean scores in the pre-test, increased their mean scores by 3.81 points in the post-test, which suggests that the discourse-based math instructions had positive influences on them. Third, the subjects' responses on the questionnaire on discourse-based instructions reveal that the discourse-based math instructional provided them with an opportunity to explore solutions in various ways. In short, discourse-based math instructions have positive influences on mathematical attitudes and are effective in increasing communication ability.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.27-51
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• 2001

This research has the purpose of seeking and developing the efficient method for the students suffering from the problem “underachievement”, by improving learning and teaching method, by increasing students' interest in learning and desire to study, and by changing their weak and poor teaming attitudes into desirable and positive ones.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.131-142
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• 2017

The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of debate and discussion instruction in mathematics class on mathematics study achievements and attitudes in elementary school. To conduct the research, two classes were verified as the homogeneous groups by a preliminary examination on the fourth grade of J elementary school. After mathematics class, the subjects were conducted the same mathematics study achievement and attitude tests in two groups and were analyzed with descriptive statistics, independent t-test, t-test. Accordingly, debate and discussion instruction in mathematics class is more effective than regular lecture method instruction. debate and discussion instruction in mathematics classes are believed students will participate in the question and understand the mathematical principles and concepts themselves through action to solve the problem and influenced I have a positive attitude towards mathematics.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.35-61
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in Korean middle school students' affective attitudes toward mathematics over the past 5 cycles of TIMSS. To this end, we first analyzed the changes in students' affective attitudes towards mathematics in five major countries, and then analyzed the changes in Korean students' affective attitudes toward mathematics by item. As a result of the study, there were positive changes in Korean students' interest, confidence, and value perception of mathematics during the recent 5 cycle of TIMSS. Korean male students' affective attitude toward mathematics is higher than that of female students, and the gender gap has been increasing recently. There was a large difference in the affective attitudes toward mathematics among Korean students, depending on their achievement level, and in particular, the affective attitudes toward mathematics of students at the lower achievement level remained significantly low. Item-level analysis revealed a decrease in Korean students' awareness of the necessity of mathematics in daily life. Based on these results, we discussed the implications for cultivating Korean students' affective attitudes. It is hoped that the results of this study will be meaningfully used as basic data for examining the performance of mathematics education in Korea and contribute to developing measures to foster students' positive attitudes toward mathematics.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.249-262
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• 2010

Large Midwest university faculty members proposed the Science and Technology Enhancement Program Project (STEP) to improve students' learning in the secondary mathematics classroom using modules of inquiry-based teaching. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the STEP Project on students' attitude toward mathematics. Hierarchical linear models (HLM) were used to evaluate the impact of the STEP Project. The sample group for the study was 130 ninth grade students enrolled in Integrated Algebra I in a large urban school district. The school was one of eight secondary schools that participated in the STEP Project. The classes in the treatment group were three of five classes ordered in terms of the highest, middle, and lowest mean GPA. The control group consisted of two other middle GPA classes. The classes had an average of 25 students. Teachers who previously had been involved in the STEP Project taught all treatment and control classes. The inquiry-based teaching activities provided by the project were confined to the treatment classes. The survey measuring students' attitudes toward mathematics were obtained for both groups of students. The inquiry-based teaching affected students' attitudes toward mathematics (p < 0.07, ES = 3.07). Especially, students who had preexisting low attitudes toward mathematics were significantly affected by treatment (p < 0.02, ES = 0.02), while the treatment positively affected African American students overall at p < 0.08 (ES = 0.58).

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.147-160
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine (1) if sociocultural factors that are known to influence gender gap in mathematics achievement are gender equitable for Singaporean eighth grade students, (2) if there is a higher level of gender equitability in students' attitudes towards mathematics and (3) how sociocultural factors influence mathematics achievement for Singaporean eighth grade students. This study is based on 5,923 Singaporean eighth grade students who participated in TIMSS 2011 assessment. The study found that there were no statistically significant gender differences in 'parental involvement in education' and 'teacher efficacy.' There were no statistically significant gender differences in students' attitudes of 'like learning mathematics,' and 'value learning mathematics'. A significant gender difference was identified for the attitude of 'confident with mathematics.' The boys displayed a higher level of confidence in mathematics than the girls consistent with other study findings for Asian students. The degree of effect from 'parental involvement in education,' 'teacher efficacy,' and 'confident with mathematics' on mathematics achievement are found to be stronger for girls than boys. The finding implies that girls' mathematics achievement can benefit from having more positive encouragement and involvement of parents and teachers and strengthening confidence in mathematics.