• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.69-88
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• 2017

One of the most important activities in the process of mathematical modeling is to build models by conjecturing mathematical rules and principles in the real phenomena and to validate the models by considering its validity. Due to uncertainty and ambiguity inherent real-contexts, various strategies and solutions for mathematical modeling can be available. This characteristic of mathematical modeling can offer a proper environment in which creativity could intervene in the process and the product of modeling. In this study, first we analyze the process and the product of mathematical modeling, especially focusing on the students' models and validating way, to find evidences about whether modeling can facilitate students'creative thinking. The findings showed that the students' creative thinking related to fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality emerged through mathematical modeling.

• 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.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.167-202
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• 2023

A central problem of mathematics teaching worldwide is probably the insufficient adaptive handling of tasks-especially in computational practice phases and modeling tasks. All students in a classroom must often work on the same tasks. In the process, the high-achieving students are often underchallenged, and the low-achieving ones are overchallenged. This publication uses different modeling of the tennis serve as an example to show a possible solution to the problem and develops and discusses one adaptive task each for middle school, high school, and college using three mathematical models of the tennis serve each time. From model to model within the task, the complexity of the modeling increases, the mathematical or physical demands on the students increase, and the new modeling leads to more realistic results. The proposed models offer the possibility to address heterogeneous learning groups by their arrangement in the surface structure of the so-called parallel adaptive task and to stimulate adaptive mathematics teaching on the instructional topic of mathematical modeling. Models A through C are suitable for middle school instruction, models C through E for high school, and models E through G for college. The models are classified in the specific modeling cycle and its extension by a digital tool model, and individual modeling steps are explained. The advantages of the presented models regarding teaching and learning mathematical modeling are elaborated. In addition, we report our first teaching experiences with the developed parallel adaptive tasks.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.257-276
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• 2023

Mathematical modeling can be described as a series of processes in which real-world problem situations are understood, interpreted using mathematical methods, and solved based on mathematical models. The effectiveness of mathematics instruction using mathematical modeling has been demonstrated through prior research. This study aims to explore insights for mathematical modeling instruction by analyzing the metacognitive characteristics shown in the mathematical modeling cycle, according to the mathematical thinking styles of elementary math gifted students. To achieve this, a mathematical thinking style assessment was conducted with 39 elementary math gifted students from University-affiliated Science Gifted Education Center, and based on the assessment results, they were classified into visual, analytical, and mixed groups. The metacognition manifested during the process of mathematical modeling for each group was analyzed. The analysis results revealed that metacognitive elements varied depending on the phases of modeling cycle and their mathematical thinking styles. Based on these findings, didactical implications for mathematical modeling instruction were derived.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.181-196
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• 2011

In mathematical modeling tasks, where students are exposed to model-eliciting for real and open problems, students are supposed to formulate and use a variety of mathematical skills and tools at hand to achieve feasible and meaningful solutions using appropriate problem solving strategies. In contrast to problem solving activities in conventional math classes, math modeling tasks call for varieties of mathematical ability including mathematical creativity. Mathematical creativity encompasses complex and compound traits. Many researchers suggest the exhaustive list of criterions of mathematical creativity. With regard to the research considering the possibility of enhancing creativity via math modeling instruction, a quantitative scheme to scale and calibrate the creativity was investigated and the assessment of math modeling activity was suggested for practical purposes.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.483-501
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• 2013

The present study is to focus on thinking about the possibility of using mathematical modeling in the elementary schools. As well-known, mathematical education in Korea, even though students' high achievement in mathematics, has a lot of problems regarding their attitudes toward mathematics. Mathematical modeling is regarded as playing an important role in helping improve the current problems embedded in elementary mathematics education. Thus, this study reviewed the background that mathematical modeling attracted lots of attentions by many mathematics researchers, the definitions of mathematical modeling and the similarities and differences between problem solving and mathematical modeling. In addition, the processes and main features of well-known three representative models of mathematical modeling were reviewed, and each case of research on mathematical modeling in the elementary schools in Korea and foreign countries was introduced, respectively. Finally, this study suggests that mathematical modeling needs to be dealt with in the elementary school curriculum, together with the improvement of teachers' recognition for mathematical modeling.

• East Asian mathematical journal
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.217-237
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• 2019

This Modeling is a cyclical process of creating and modifying models of empirical situations to understand them better and improve decisions. The role of modeling and teaching mathematical modeling in school mathematics has received increasing attention as generating authentic learning and revealing the ways of thinking that produced it. In this paper and interactive lecture session, we will review a subset of the related literature, discuss benefits and challenges in teaching and learning mathematical modeling, and share our attempts to improve traditional textbook problems so that they can become more authentic modeling activities and implications for instruction and assessment as well as for research.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.497-516
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to compare the process of mathematical modeling in mathematical modeling class according to group organization, and to investigate whether it shows improvement in mathematical reasoning ability. A total of 24 classes with 3 mathematical modeling activities were designed to investigate the research problem. The result of this study showed that the heterogeneous groups performed better than the homogeneous groups in terms of both the performance ability of mathematical modeling and mathematical reasoning ability. This study implies that, with respect to group design for applying mathematical modeling in teaching mathematics, heterogeneous group design would be more efficient than homogeneous group design.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.747-770
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• 2012

In this study, we develop the mathematical modeling teaching materials focused function units of mathematics textbooks and establish the appropriate teaching and learning model. Using mathematical modeling materials and developed instructional materials for teaching high school students is aimed to improve the academic achievement, mathematical attitude and fear. The problem of this study is as follows : First, between the groups using mathematical modeling and a traditional textbook teaching academic achievement groups showed that there is a difference? Second, between the groups using mathematical modeling and a traditional textbook teaching mathematics between groups showed that there is a difference of mathematical attitude and fear? Third, what are the lessons for the students' responses using mathematical modeling?

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.371-391
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to analyze manifestation examples and effects of group creativity in mathematical modeling and to discuss teaching and learning methods for group creativity. The following two points were examined from the theoretical background. First, we examined the possibility of group activity in mathematical modeling. Second, we examined the meaning and characteristics of group creativity. Six students in the second grade of high school participated in this study in two groups of three each. Mathematical modeling task was "What are your own strategies to prevent or cope with blackouts?". Unit of analysis was the observed types of interaction at each stage of mathematical modeling. Especially, it was confirmed that group creativity can be developed through repetitive occurrences of mutually complementary, conflict-based, metacognitive interactions. The conclusion is as follows. First, examples of mutually complementary interaction, conflict-based interaction, and metacognitive interaction were observed in the real-world inquiry and the factor-finding stage, the simplification stage, and the mathematical model derivation stage, respectively. And the positive effect of group creativity on mathematical modeling were confirmed. Second, example of non interaction was observed, and it was confirmed that there were limitations on students' interaction object and interaction participation, and teacher's failure on appropriate intervention. Third, as teaching learning methods for group creativity, we proposed students' role play and teachers' questioning in the direction of promoting interaction.