• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.39-52
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• 2012

Research in teachers' knowledge for teaching mathematics (KTM) has been gradually growing for the past several years. With various conceptualizations about what teachers need to teach mathematics, there have been studies to find out the relationship between teachers' KTM and their students' achievement. In this paper, I reviewed various conceptualizations of teacher's mathematical knowledge for teaching, and existing qualitative and quantitative studies about this relationship. Based on the review, I identified the challenges to studying this relationship mainly focusing on the existence of a phase-teaching practice-between teachers' KTM and students' learning. Considering the challenges that have been identified in the literature review, I proposed topics for future studies that would contribute to our understanding how the teachers' KTMare related to their students' achievement, and investigate further about whether and how teacher-student interaction in classroom is related to changes in teachers' KTM.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-36
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• 1999

The case of four classrooms analyzed in this study point to many commonalities in the challenges of reforming mathematics teaching in Korea and the U. S. In both national contexts we have seen the need fur a clear distinction between implementing new student-centered social practices in the classroom, and providing significant new loaming opportunities for students. In particular, there is an important need to distinguish between attending to the social practices of the classroom and attending to students conceptual development within those social practices. In both countries, teachers in the less successful student-centered classes tended to abdicate responsibility fur sense making to the students. They were more inclined to attend to the literal statements of their students without analyzing their conceptual understanding (Episodes KA5 and UP 2). This is easy to do when the rhetoric of reform emphasizes student-centered social practices without sufficient attention to psychological correlates of those social practices. The more successful teachers tended to monitor the understanding of the students and to take proactive measures to ensure the development of that understanding (Episodes KO5 and UN3). This suggests the usefulness of constructivism as a model (or successful student-centered instruction. As Simon(1995) observed, constructivist teachers envision a hypothetical learning trajectory that constitutes their plan and expectation for students learning from the particular if the trajectory is being followed. If not, the teacher adjusts or supplements the task to obtain a more satisfactory result, or reconsider her or his assumptions concerning the hypothetical learning trajectory. In this way, the teacher acts proactively to try to ensure that students are progressing in their understanding in particular ways. Thus the more successful student-centered teacher of this study can be seen as constructivist in their orientation to student conceptual development, in comparison to the less successful student-centered teachers. It is encumbant on the authors of reform in Korea and the U. S. to make sure that reform is not trivialized, or evaluated only on the surface of classroom practices. The commonalities of the two reform endeavores suggest that Korea and the U. S. have much to share with each other in the challenges of reforming mathematics teaching for the new millennium.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.175-182
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• 2004

The design of learning environments which encourage students to work in a creative manner on mathematical problems is a creative process in itself. The concept of the Saturday University program is described in which pre-service teachers are guided at teaching students in extra-curriculum activities on interdisciplinary topics. In the process of the didactical reconstruction of mathematical problems, the pre-service teachers go through the stages of a revolving door model y.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1452-1469
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• 2012

This study examined the science learning environments experienced by Korean and U.S. preservice elementary science teachers during their 3-week clinical experience. Observational experiences of 97 Korean and 112 U.S preservice teachers were surveyed with an instrument that we developed for the study. Follow-up interviews provided a clearer picture of what preservice teachers observed and experienced in science classrooms during their clinical experiences. Korean preservice teachers experienced a variety of science teaching environments, whereas the U.S. preservice teachers reported limited opportunities to observe science teaching and learning in terms of 6 identified facets that we posed. Along with our interpretation of the contrast in findings, some of the challenges are discussed in providing preservice teachers with opportunities to observe, experience, and teach in effective science learning environments during the clinical experience.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.451-465
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges of pre-service teachers for good science teaching with focus on the process of imparting meaning of teaching subject. We have detailed research questions such as, 'What the pre-service teachers thought about teaching subject? How they grasped the meaning of the teaching subject? and What kinds of methods they have used to expose the meaning in their classes?'. We had four pre-service teachers who took the class 'Teaching methods in physics teaching' as voluntary participants in the first semester of 2017. The results show that there are common features in the process of imparting meaning of the teaching subject. The participants started to think about fundamental/existential answer to the question, 'Why should we teach science to students?'. In addition, they grasped the meaning of the teaching subject by using the specific key words. And they tried to link the teaching components with the teaching subject as the center. This challenging process led pre-service teachers to form teachers' identity and to enhance teacher professionalism.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.47-66
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• 2011

This study examines strategies and obstacles encountered in infusing digital resources in the middle school mathematics and science classroom. It draws on data from principals, technology coordinators and math and science teachers in three urban middle schools in United States. All three of these schools have recently invested heavily in technology hardware and high speed Internet connectivity and as such they provide an opportunity to look beyond well documented obstacles such as outdated computers and poor Internet access. The logistical, preparatory, pedagogical and curricular challenges encountered by teachers within the study have important implications for professional development efforts aimed at improving science education through the integration of Web-based resources.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2020

As a part of the second-year monitoring study on the implementation of the 2015 revised science curriculum in middle schools, this study focuses more on examining middle school science teachers' perceptions on the process-based assessment (PBA). A total of 105 middle school science teachers (44 teachers from science leading schools, 61 teachers from ordinary schools) responded to the survey questionnaire, and 16 teachers participated in interviews. The results include teachers' perceptions on the changes in their teaching and assessment methods, some challenges of implementing PBA, and educational implications of PBA. Survey results indicate that the teachers perceived themselves using more PBA methods after the 2015 revised science curriculum was launched. The teachers in science-leading schools present statistically higher average scores to the items on the PBA utilization than the ones in ordinary schools. However, the teachers felt confused in conceptually differentiating PBA from prior performance-based assessment. They also experienced some conflicts when implementing PBA under the achievement-oriented school atmospheres. In addition, they often faced difficulties in securing objectivity and reliability of PBA and felt the burden of evaluating individual students. This study suggests the necessity of giving more authority and trust to science teachers regarding PBA, constructing more supportive environment to cultivate teacher competency as evaluation experts, and the need to reduce task burden. However, some teachers who actively implemented PBA express some level of satisfaction as observing students' positive reaction to PBA.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.85-92
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• 2021

Distance learning for students with intellectual disabilities can prove beneficial, particularly if adjusted to their educational characteristics and needs. This study seeks to identify the views of parents living in Saudi Arabia, regarding the opportunities offered by distance learning for students with intellectual disabilities, alongside their challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research employed qualitative methods using semi-structured interviews with six parents of students with intellectual disabilities. The results revealed a number of both opportunities and challenges, including issues related to the family, in addition, the data highlighted difficulties related to the educational process (i.e. a lack of variety of educational methods) and technical issues related to access to the Internet and the insufficient computer skills of both teachers and students. The findings have several important implications for future practice, including the need for training workshops for parents concerning the online platform, as well as further research to determine students' perspectives of their experiences with distance learning.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.93-109
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• 2024

This study compared the perceptions of 548 Korean and Indonesian secondary school teachers in the COVID-19 era and examined factors affecting their intention to continue online learning. Based on survey data, the two countries were compared on seven factors (teaching readiness, challenges and issues, competencies that require training, sources of support, types of support, and endurance). Furthermore, we examined what factors influence the intention to continue online learning. As a result, Korean teachers perceived their teaching readiness for online learning to be less than that of Indonesian teachers. Indonesian teachers perceived that they did not receive sufficient support. Additionally, factors affecting the intention to continue online learning differed depending on the country. Based on these results, we suggested implications for integrating online learning into mathematics education.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2023

This study analyzes the tasks selected and implemented by pre-service mathematics teachers to support students' development of epistemic actions. Data was collected from 20 students who participated in a mathematics education curriculum theory course during one semester, and multiple data sources were used to gather information about the microteaching sessions. The study focused on the tasks selected and demonstrated during microteaching by pre-service teachers. The results suggest that providing students with a variety of learning opportunities that engage them in different combinations of abductive and deductive epistemic actions is important. The tasks selected by pre-service teachers primarily focused on understanding concepts, calculation, and reasoning. However, the use of engineering tools may present challenges as it requires students to engage in two epistemic actions simultaneously. The study's findings can inform the development of more effective approaches to mathematics education and can guide the development of teacher training programs.