Impacting Student Confidence : The effects of using virtual manipulatives and increasing fraction understanding. (수학에 대한 자신감 증진: 가상학습교구를 통한 분수 개념 이해의 결과)
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- Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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- v.14 no.2
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- pp.207-219
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- 2004
There have been studies reporting the increase in student confidence in mathematics when using technology. However, past studies indicating a positive correlation between technology and confidence in mathematics do not explain why they see this positive outcome. With increased availability and easy access to the Internet in schools and the development of free online virtual manipulatives, this research was interested in how the use of virtual manipulatives in mathematics can affect students confidence in their mathematical abilities. Our hypothesis was that the classes using virtual manipulatives which allows students to connecting dynamic visual image with abstract symbols will help students gain a deeper conceptual understanding of math concept thus increasing their confidence and ability in mathematics. The participants in this study were 46 fifth-grade students in three ability groups: one high, one middle and one low. During a two-week unit on fractions, students in three groups interacted with several virtual manipulative applets in a computer lab. Data sources in the project included a pre and posttest of students mathematics content knowledge, Confidence in Learning Mathematics Scale, field notes and student interviews, and classroom videotapes. Our aim was to find evidence for increased level of confidence in mathematics as students strengthened their understanding of fraction concepts. Results from the achievement score indicated an overall main effect showing significant improvement for all ability groups following the treatment and an increase in the confidence level from the preassessment of the Confidence in Learning Mathematics Scale in the middle and high ability groups. An interesting finding was that the confidence level for the low ability group students who had the highest confidence level in the beginning did not change much in the final confidence scale assessment. In the middle and high ability groups, the confidence level did increase according to the improvement of the contest posttest. Through interviews, students expressed how the virtual manipulatives assisted their understanding by verifying their answers as they worked and facilitated their ability to figure out math concept in their mind and visually.
This research investigated the Revised mathematics curriculum and the National Achievement Test of Japan that advanced by leaps and bounds in PISA 2012. As compared with Korea, Japan shows similar trends in the affective domain and the cognitive domain of international achievement test. To put it concretely, this research compared and analyzed the mathematics contents domain of the 2009 revised mathematics curriculum of Korea and the 2008 revised mathematics curriculum of Japan being applied. The analysis was conducted in many aspects including overall of Japanese mathematics education system, the contents to be covered in each grade, and the methods of essential learning themes. We compared the mathematics contents dealt with each country based on the framework of analysis such as