• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.85-102
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• 2000

The concept of variables is central to mathematics teaching and learning in junior and senior high school. Understanding the concept provides the basis for the transition from arithmetic to algebra and necessary for the meaningful use of all advanced mathematics. Despite the importance of the concept, however, much has been written in the last decade concerning students' difficulties with the concept. This Thesis is based on research to investigate the hypothesis that LOGO programming will contribute to 6th grader' learning of variables. The aim of the research were to; .investigate practice on pupils' understanding of variables before the activity with a computer; .identify functions of LOGO programming in pupils' using and understanding of variable symbols, variable domain and the relationship between two variable dependent expressions during the activity using a computer; .investigate the influence of pupils' mathematical belief on understanding and using variables. The research consisted predominantly of a case study of 6 pupils' discourse and activities concerning variable during their abnormal lessons and interviews with researcher. The data collected for this study included video recordings of the pupils'work with their spoken language.

• Korean Journal of Mathematics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.109-120
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• 2023

The Berezin symbol à of an operator A on the reproducing kernel Hilbert space 𝓗 (Ω) over some set Ω with the reproducing kernel k_λ is defined by $${\tilde{A}}(\lambda)=\,\;{\lambda}{\in}{\Omega}$$. The Berezin number of an operator A is defined by $$ber(A):=\sup_{{\lambda}{\in}{\Omega}}{\mid}{\tilde{A}}({\lambda}){\mid}$$. We study some problems of operator theory by using this bounded function Ã, including estimates for Berezin numbers of some operators, including truncated Toeplitz operators. We also prove an operator analog of some Young inequality and use it in proving of some inequalities for Berezin number of operators including the inequality ber (AB) ≤ ber (A) ber (B), for some operators A and B on 𝓗 (Ω). Moreover, we give in terms of the Berezin number a necessary condition for hyponormality of some operators.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.169-186
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to find new material for developing teaching and learning materials for the gifted class of elementary school students by using the rotatable tangram made by modifying the traditional tangram. Rotatable tangram can be justified by gifted students through mathematical communication. However, even gifted class students have some limitations in finding and justifying triangles and rectangles of all sizes unless they go through the 'symbolization' stage at the elementary school level. Therefore, students who need an inquiry process for letters and symbols need to provide supplementary learning materials and additional questions. It is expected that the material of rotatable tangram for the development of teaching and learning materials for elementary school gifted students will contribute to the development of mathematical reasoning and mathematical communication ability.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.248-262
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• 2016

The study documents the analysis on characters and symbols shown in the pavement markings in the perspective of mathematics educators. The purpose of this study is to propose a pavement marking method that can enhance readability from the driver's eye position. To this end, this study analyzed the figure of the pavement markings that can be actually recognized by the projective geometry perspective. As a result, it proposed alternatives to the current pavement markings by introducing the concept of the compression ratio. Results of the study are as follows. First, the rule was established to obtain the compression ratio. If the observation of two viewing angles are x and y, then the compression ratio S is ${\sin}y/{\cos}\(\frac{x-y}{2}\)$. Second, we presented two alternatives to the pavement marking method for the displayed information. One is a method for improving the pavement markings in terms of the compression ratio, the other is a method by varying vertical length of the pavement markings while holding its width constant. Based on the outcomes from this study, a mathematical analysis can be further studied for the perception of speed according to the types of pavement marking line.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.45-55
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• 2014

Lacan gives an explanation on our real actual world by the concepts the "Real", the "Imaginary" and the "Symbolic". Although this three registers are not far from each other, they never can be unified. Among animals, only human has interest in the "truth". The concept of truth is discussed and debated in several contexts, including philosophy and religion. Many human activities depend upon the concept, which is assumed rather than a subject of discussion, including science, law, and everyday life. Language and words are a means by which humans convey information to one another, and the method used to determine what is a "truth" is termed a criterion of truth. Accepting then that "language is the basic social institution in the sense that all others presuppose language", Lacan found in Ferdinand de Saussure's linguistic division of the verbal sign between signifier and signified a new key to the Freudian understanding that "his therapeutic method was 'a talking cure'". The purpose of this paper is to understand Lacan's psychology and psychoanalysis by using the mathematical concepts and mathematical models, especially geometrical and topological models. And re-explanation of the symbolic model and symbols can help students understand new ideas and concepts in the educational scene.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.23-43
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• 2010

This study is to investigate how much highschool students, who have learned functional concepts included in the Middle school math curriculum, understand chapters of the function, to analyze the types of errors which they made in solving the mathematical problems and to look for the proper instructional program to prevent or minimize those ones. On the basis of the result of the above examination, it suggests a classification model for teaching-learning methods and teaching material development The result of this study is as follows. First, Students didn't fully understand the fundamental concept of function and they had tendency to approach the mathematical problems relying on their memory. Second, students got accustomed to conventional math problems too much, so they couldn't distinguish new types of mathematical problems from them sometimes and did faulty reasoning in the problem solving process. Finally, it was very common for students to make errors on calculation and to make technical errors in recognizing mathematical symbols in the problem solving process. When students fully understood the mathematical concepts including a definition of function and learned procedural knowledge of them by themselves, they did not repeat the same errors. Also, explaining the functional concept with a graph related to the function did facilitate their understanding,

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.255-279
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• 2014

This study is to investigate the change of intelligent and affective domains through the student self-evaluation to identify causes of wrong answers. Through this evaluation, students could have opportunities to solve the given mathematical problems basically and to reflect their problem-solving process, and further to recognize which mathematical content(concepts or expressions, symbols, etc.) led them to solve the problems incorrectly or wrong. Through this process, they would correct their wrong process and answers and to reinforce the prerequisite knowledges relevant to the problems, and furthermore, to enhance problem-solving abilities. To accomplish this, this study was executed as a case study on the subject of four tenth graders. The subject consisted of two boys and two girls. In this study, three essay types of mathematical problems in tenth grade level were chosen from several domestic tests in Korea. Based on the original three essay type of problems, three types of similar problems, namely equivalent problem, similar problem, and isomorphic problems were reconstructed, respectively by the researchers. The subjects were guided to solve the original three problems, and they corrected their wrong parts of the first problem of the three problems. They solved an equivalent problem of the first problem and executed self evaluation and also corrected wrong parts. Next, they dealt with a similar problem of the first problem and executed self evaluation and also corrected wrong parts. Next, while dealing with an isomorphic problem of the first problem, the subjects did the same things. Thus, for the second and third original problems, the study was implemented in the same way. To explore their intelligent and affective domains through student self-evaluation in-depth, the subjects were interviewed formally before and after conducting the experiment and interviewed informally two times, and the recordings were audio-typed.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.287-307
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• 2003

This study analyzed the concept of equal symbol(=) that is the most symbol used in learning of mathematics and investigated students' understanding of that. The equal symbol is endowed with the 'same', 'equal', and 'equivalent' meaning, represented by =, but students interpret the meaning of equal symbol according to the mathematical con text. Thus, we analyzed the equal symbol on the basis of the theory of conceptual fields. In the theory of conceptual fields, concept is a three-tuple of three sets of situation, operational invariants and symbolic representations, and the operational invariants are the concept-in-action and the theorems- in-action. With the analysis contents, we investigated how students read = by korean, what equals in the expression containing = or by what meaning students used =, and which they could correct the error for =. This study imply that we should consider the symbol notation agreed by mathematical society, the meaning, and the situational context that it used, when we teach the mathematics symbols.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.419-442
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• 2023

This study investigated fifth graders' understanding of variables from a generalized arithmetic and a functional perspectives of early algebra. Specifically, regarding a generalized perspective, we included the property of 1, the commutative property of addition, the associative property of multiplication, and a problem context with indeterminate quantities. Regarding the functional perspective, we covered additive, multiplicative, squaring, and linear relationships. A total of 246 students from 11 schools participated in this study. The results showed that most students could find specific values for variables and understood that equations involving variables could be rewritten using different symbols. However, they struggled to generalize problem situations involving indeterminate quantities to equations with variables. They also tended to think that variables used in representing the property of 1 and the commutative property of addition could only be natural numbers, and about 25% of the students thought that variables were fixed to a single number. Based on these findings, this paper suggests implications for elementary school students' understanding and teaching of variables.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.101-116
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to survey mathematics teacher's cognition of proof along with their proof forms of expression and proof ability, and to explore the relationship between their proof scheme and teaching practice. This study shows that mathematics teachers tend to regard proof as a deduction from assumption to conclusion and that they prefer formal proof with mathematical symbols. Mathematics teachers also recognize that prof is an important area in school mathematics but they reveal poor understanding of teaching methods of proof. Teachers tend to depend on the proof style employed in mathematics textbooks. This study demonstrates that a proof scheme is a major factor of determining the teaching method of proof.