• School Mathematics
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.55-75
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• 2005

Mathematical symbolizing is an important part of mathematics learning. But many students have difficulties m symbolizing mathematical ideas formally. If students had experiences inventing their own mathematical symbols and developing them to conventional ones natural way, i.e. learning mathematical symbols via expressive approaches, they could understand and use formal mathematical symbols meaningfully. These experiences are especially valuable for students who meet mathematical symbols for the first time. Hence, there are needs to investigate how early elementary school students can and should experience meaningful mathematical symbolizing. The purpose of this study was to analyze students' mathematical symbolizing processes and characteristics of theses. We carried out teaching experiments that promoted meaningful mathematical symbolizing among eight first graders. And then we analyzed students' symbolizing processes and characteristics of expressive approaches to mathematical symbols in early elementary students. As a result, we could places mathematical symbolizing processes developed in the teaching experiments under five categories. And we extracted and discussed several characteristics of early elementary students' meaningful mathematical symbolizing processes.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.371-388
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• 2007

This is a case study trying to understand from the view of affordance which certain three middle school students perceive an activation of previous knowledge in the course of problem solving when they solve algebra word problems with a previous knowledge. The results of this study showed that at first, every subjects perceived the text as affordance which explaining superficial similarities, that is, a working(painting)situation rather than problem structure and then activated the related solution knowledge on the ground of the experience of previous problem solving which is similar to current situation. The subject's applying process for solving knowledge could be arranged largely into two types. The first type is a numeral information connected with the described problem situation or a symbolic representation of mathematical meaning which are the transformed solution applied process with a suitable solution formula to the current problem. This process achieved by constructing a virtual mental model that indicating mathematical situation about the problem when the solver read the problem integrating symbolized information from the described text. The second type is a case that those subjects symbolizing a formal mathematical concept which is not connected with the problem situation about the described numeral information from the applied problem or the text of mathematical meaning, which process is the case to perceive superficial phrases or words that described from the problem as affordance and then applied previously used algorithmatical formula as it was. In conclusion, on the ground of the results of this case study, it is guessed that many students put only algorithmatical knowledge in their memories through previous experiences of problem solving, and the memories are connected with the particular phrases described from the problems. And it is also recognizable when the reflection process which is the last step of problem solving carried out in the process of understanding the problem and making a plan showed the most successful in problem solving.

• 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.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.247-282
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• 2011

In the elementary school mathematics textbooks of the 7th national curriculum, just simple construction education is provided by having students draw a circle and triangle with compasses and drawing vertical and parallel lines with a set square. The purpose of this study was to examine the mathematical thinking of sixth-grade elementary school students in the construction process in a bid to give some suggestions on elementary construction guidance. As a result of teaching the sixth graders in gifted and nongifted classes about the equal division of line segments and evaluating their mathematical thinking, the following conclusion was reached, and there are some suggestions about that education: First, the sixth graders in the gifted classes were excellent enough to do mathematical thinking such as analogical thinking, deductive thinking, developmental thinking, generalizing thinking and symbolizing thinking when they learned to divide line segments equally and were given proper advice from their teacher. Second, the students who solved the problems without any advice or hint from the teacher didn't necessarily do lots of mathematical thinking. Third, tough construction such as the equal division of line segments was elusive for the students in the nongifted class, but it's possible for them to learn how to draw a perpendicular at midpoint, quadrangle or rhombus and extend a line by using compasses, which are more enriched construction that what's required by the current curriculum. Fourth, the students in the gifted and nongifted classes schematized the problems and symbolized the components and problem-solving process of the problems when they received process of the proble. Since they the urally got to use signs to explain their construction process, construction education could provide a good opportunity for sixth-grade students to make use of signs.