• School Mathematics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.65-88
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• 2011

Epistemological development process of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus is considered in a history of mathematical notions and the genetic process of the Fundamental Theorem is arranged by the order of geometric, algebraic and formalization steps. Based on this, we studied students' episte- mological obstacles and error and analyzed the content of textbooks related the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Then, We developed the "Folding Back Model" of the fundamental theorem of calculus for students to lead meaningful faithfully. The Folding Back Model consists of "the Framework of thou- ght"(figure V-1) and "the Model of genetic understanding of concept"(figure V-2). The framework of thought in the Folding Back Model is included steps of pedagogical intervention which is used "the Monitoring working questions"(table V-3) by the mathematics teacher. The Folding Back Model is applied the Pirie-Kieren Theory(1991), history of mathematical notions and students' epistemological obstacles to practical use of instructional design. The Folding Back Model will contribute the professional development of mathematics teachers and improvement of thinking skills of students when they learn the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.46 no.2 s.117
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• pp.193-205
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• 2007

In this paper, we focus on the product rule and sum rule which are considered as the most fundamental counting tools of Combinatorics. Despite of the importance of these rules in both educational and social aspects, they are taught superficially in class. We take the survey through both internet and questionaire to investigate how thoroughly students understand the rules. Then we discuss about the results of the survey and suggest effective teaching methods to improve students' understanding of these rules.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.171-185
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• 2004

Students are exposed to a concept of tangent from a specific context of the relation between a circle and straight lines at the 7th grade. This initial experience might cause epistemological obstacles regarding learning concepts of tangent to additional curves. The paper provides a method of how to introduce a series of concepts of tangent in order to lead students to revise and improve the concept of tangent which they have. As students have chance to reflect and revise a series of concepts of tangent step by step, they realize the facts that the properties such as 'meeting the curve at one point' and 'touching but not cutting the curve' may be regarded as the proper definition of tangent in some limited contexts but are not essential in more general contexts. And finally students can grasp and appreciate that concept of tangent as the limit of secants and the relation between tangent and derivative.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.439-447
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• 2011

In this paper, we developed the application for measure an area that it compute a space coordinate of real object to represent through a camera by using the Orientation sensor of smart devices. The application will help to solve a problems of an epistemological obstacles in an area learning. We conducted an expert evaluation for the application of educative usability, educative effect and etc.. The expert group was comprised of elementary school teacher who teach curriculum of an area in mathematics. In result, it was positively evaluated in terms of educative usability.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.417-444
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• 2008

Many research papers on the college students' functional concept show they have poor understanding on this topic. To compare the results with that of Korean students, four interrelated topics are chosen: How do they understand the concept of function?; what are their misconceptions including epistemological obstacles?; How do the function concepts develop and are acquired? For this a survey has been conducted to 95 engineering students just before they start Calculus course. We have done research on other major areas including psychology, economics and statistics to see how function is defined in these areas. Function definitions from US math text books are also introduced. Based on the these and the survey, some suggestions are made on the new curriculum which treat function as a correspondence relation. Vertical line test should be added to the Algebra II/Pre calculus course to check the univalent property.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-31
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• 2007

Negative numbers have been one of the most difficult mathematical concepts, and it was only 200 years ago that they were recognized as a real object of mathematics by mathematicians. It was because it took more than 1500 years for human beings to overcome the quantitative notion of numbers and recognize the formality in negative numbers. Understanding negative numbers as formal ones resulted from the Copernican conversion in mathematical way of thinking. we first investigated the historic and the genetic process of the concept of negative numbers. Second, we analyzed the conceptual fields of negative numbers in the aspect of the additive and multiplicative structure. Third, we inquired into the levels of thinking on the concept of negative numbers on the basis of the historical and the psychological analysis in order to understand the formal concept of negative numbers. Fourth, we analyzed Korean mathematics textbooks on the basis of the thinking levels of the concept of negative numbers. Fifth, we investigated and analysed the levels of students' understanding of the concept of negative numbers. Sixth, we analyzed the symbolizing process in the development of mathematical concept. Futhermore, we tried to show a concrete way to teach the formality of the negative numbers concepts on the basis of such theoretical analyses.

• School Mathematics
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.397-415
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• 2006

This paper is to find out the reason why students often make mistakes with 0 during computation and to get some instructional implication. For this, history of 0 is reviewed and mathematics textbook and workbook are analyzed. History of 0 tells us that the ancients had almost the same problem with 0 as we have. So we can guess children's problems with 0 have a kind of epistemological obstacles. And textbook analysis tells us that there are some instructional problems with 0 in textbooks: method and time of introducing 0, method of introducing computational algorithms, implicit teaching of the number facts with 0, ignoring the problems which can give rise to errors with 0. Finally, As a reult of analysis of Japanese and German textbooks, three instructional implications are induced:(i) emphasis of role of 0 as a place holder in decimal numeration system (ii) explicit and systematic teaching of the process and product of calculation with 0 (iii) giving practice of problems which can give rise to errors with 0 for prevention of systematical errors with 0.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.543-555
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• 2010

In his early poems, Wallace Stevens shows us different gestures, compared with his later poems, when he acquires reality by faculty of imagination. The former is made of ontological violence while the latter is revealed by bareness of less sensuality. However, they are the identical gestures, though from different angles, to accomplish things as they are rather than the ideas of things. In "Sunday Morning," ontological violence occurs in such epistemological couples as thought and thing, mind and world, and imagination and reality. Especially, in order to recuperate his poetic reality, Stevens undermines the traditional hierarchy between heavenly divinity and earthly divinity. In the poem, Christianity faces a critical challenge and then it is disempowered by the earthly divinity. Additionally, by disadvantaging religion, he wants to raise his poetic issue of the faculty of imagination to acquire reality. Stevens' concept of imagination is less subjective and more transcendental than Kantian one. After the ontological violence, Christian divinity and mythic gods leave ontological boundary for earthly divinity in an ambiguous way. In other words, between "Sunday" and "sunny day," the ontological conflicts haunt us throughout the poem as if the violence would happen between imagination and reality. For Stevens, both Christian divinity and mythic gods are mere obstacles to real divinity; both play a mere role of imagination before reality is revealed. Whatever reality is, imagination is always ready to draw an ontological line of reality in an ambiguous way, regardless of how long it lasts. In general, most ontological violence requires such physical remnants of conflicts as borderline, deaths, and pains which still prevail in the poem. Those ontological remnants remain to be found on earth. The sky is an abstract borderline between heaven and earth because in a sense, it belongs to both earthly landscape and heavenly sphere. Without any ontological borderline or threshold, there is no recognition of the divinity because the vitality of divinity is inflamed in continuous transgression of the other. After the final ontological conflict between heaven and earth, there remains only ambiguous borderline near the earth beside the friendlier sky.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.453-475
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• 2007

School algebra starts with introducing algebraic expressions which have been one of the cognitive obstacles to the students in the transfer from arithmetic to algebra. In the recent studies on the teaching school algebra, algebraic thinking is getting much more attention together with algebraic expressions. In this paper, we examined the processes of the transfer from arithmetic to algebra and ways for teaching early algebra through algebraic thinking factors. Issues about algebraic thinking have continued since 1980's. But the theoretic foundations for algebraic thinking have not been founded in the previous studies. In this paper, we analyzed the algebraic thinking in school algebra from historico-genetic, epistemological, and symbolic-linguistic points of view, and identified algebraic thinking factors, i.e. the principle of permanence of formal laws, the concept of variable, quantitative reasoning, algebraic interpretation - constructing algebraic expressions, trans formational reasoning - changing algebraic expressions, operational senses - operating algebraic expressions, substitution, etc. We also identified these algebraic thinking factors through analyzing mathematics textbooks of elementary and middle school, and showed the middle school students' low achievement relating to these factors through the algebraic thinking ability test. Based upon these analyses, we argued that the readiness for algebra learning should be made through the processes including algebraic thinking factors in the elementary school and that the transfer from arithmetic to algebra should be accomplished naturally through the pre-algebra course. And we searched for alternative ways to improve algebra curriculums, emphasizing algebraic thinking factors. In summary, we identified the problems of school algebra relating to the transfer from arithmetic to algebra with the problem of teaching algebraic thinking and analyzed the algebraic thinking factors of school algebra, and searched for alternative ways for improving the transfer from arithmetic to algebra and the teaching of early algebra.