• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.283-304
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• 2004

This study is to make strides toward an enriched understanding of changing a prevailing teacher-centered mathematics classroom culture to a student-centered culture by analyzing six reform-oriented classrooms of three elementary school teachers throughout a year This study provided a detailed description of important classroom episodes to explore how the participants in each class established a reform-oriented mathematics microculture. Despite the exemplary form of student-centered instruction, the content and qualities of the teaching practices are somewhat different in the extent to which students' ideas become the center of mathematical discourse and activity. Given the similarities in terms of general social norms and the differences in terms of socio-mathematical norms and mathematical practice, this study addresses some crucial issues on understanding the culture of elementary mathematics classroom in transition.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.525-547
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• 2015

This study analyzed the written texts of textbook and the teacher's discourse explaining 'the relationship between quadratic functions and quadratic equations' in the 9th grade high school mathematics class. Data consisted of the lecture recordings and the textbooks were analyzed based on the Halliday's systemic functional linguistics. According to the results, the written texts of the textbook used lexico-grammatical strategies such as generalization using hyponomy of meanings, mathematical objectification through nominalization and materialization of meaning through change in themes to compose mathematical concepts. The textbook generalized from an example in the description of formulating mathematical concepts, and in this process the organizational interactions of discourse-semantic level and lexico-grammartical level appeared. On the other hand, the teacher's doscourse appeared the change in transitivity and the addition of the reasons and the process. Also the teacher used explanation process of formulating the relationship between quadratic functions and quadratic equations. The linguistic characteristics of the teacher were linguistic implication and omission of lexemes due to contextual ommission. And there was no use of structural lexico-grammatical resources that influence the discourse-semantic level. This results provide a new framework for analyzing mathematical discourse, and suggest the lexico-grammatical strategies that can be used to explain mathematical concepts by teachers in math classrooms.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.35-46
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• 2018

In this perspective paper, we present seven elements of the appropriate educator mindset for teaching in the constructivist elementary mathematics classroom. The elements include supporting students as they construct their own understanding, eliminating deficit view of slow learners, setting new understanding and growth as the learning objective, providing opportunities to co-construct meaning with peers, using student contributions as the source of curricular material, encouraging all students to participate in learning, and providing instruction not bounded by time. In our struggles to provide authentic, inclusive elementary classrooms, we hope that our discussion of the educator mindset can increase discourse on constructivism from philosophy to practice in the community of mathematics education and policy makers.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.423-443
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• 2007

Based on the framework of Huffered-Ackles, Fuson and Sherin(2004), data were analyzed in terms of 3 components: explaining(E), questioning(Q) and justifying(J) of students' mathematical concepts and problem solving in a math classroom. The students used varied presentations to explain and justify their mathematical concepts and ideas. They corrected their mathematical errors or misconceptions through discourses. In addition, they constructed and clarified their concepts and thinking while they were interacted. We were able to recognize there was a special feature in discourses that encouraged the students to construct and develop their mathematical concepts. As they participated in math class and received feedback on their learning, the whole class worked cooperatively in a positive way. Their discourse was improved from the level of the actual development to the level of the potential development and the pattern of interaction moved from ERE(Elicitaion-Response-Elaboration to PD(Proposition Discussion).

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.239-256
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• 2001

The notion of metaphor has been increasingly popular in research of mathematics education. In particular, metaphor becomes a useful unit for analysis to provide a profound insight into mathematical reasoning and problem solving. In this context, this paper takes metaphor as an analytic unit to examine the relationship between objectivity and subjectivity in mathematical reasoning. Specifically, the discourse analysis focuses on the code switching between literal language and metaphor in mathematical discourse. It is shown that the linguistic code switching is parallel with the switching between two different kinds of mathematical knowledge, that is, factual knowledge and mathematical imagination, which constitute objectivity and subjectivity in mathematical reasoning. Furthermore, the pattern of the linguistic code switching reveals the dialectical relationship between the two poles of mathematical reasoning. Based on the understanding of the dialectical relationship, this paper provides some educational implications. First, the code-switching highlights diverse aspects of mathematics learning. Learning mathematics is concerned with developing not only technicality but also mathematical creativity. Second, the dialectical relationship between objectivity and subjectivity suggests that teaching and teaming mathematics is socioculturally constructed. Indeed, it is shown that not all metaphors are mathematically appropriated. They should be consistent with the cultural model of a mathematical concept under discussion. In general, this sociocultural perspective on mathematical metaphor highlights the sociocultural organization of teaching and loaming mathematics and provides a theoretical viewpoint to understand epistemological diversities in mathematics classroom.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.46 no.2 s.117
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• pp.173-192
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• 2007

We define mathematical learning as a process of overcoming framing difference of teachers and students, two main subjects in a mathematics class. We have reached this definition to the effect that we can grasp a mathematical classroom per so and understand students' mathematical learning in the context. We could clearly understand the process in which the framing differences are overcome by analyzing mutual negotiation of informants in specific cultural models, both in its form as well as in its meaning. We review both of the direct and indirect forms of negotiation while keeping track of 'evolution of subject' in terms of content of negotiation. More specifically, we discuss direct negotiation briefly and review indirect negotiation from three distinct themes of (1) argument structure, (2) revoicing, and (3) development patterns and narrative structure of proof. In addition, we describe the content of negotiation under the title of 'Evolution of Subject.' We found that major modes of mutual negotiation are inter-reference and appropriation while the product of continued negotiation is inter-resemblance.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.63-92
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• 2020

Student engagement in high-level, cognitively demanding instruction is pivotal for student learning. However, many teachers are unable to maintain such instruction, especially in instances of non-responsive students. This case study of three middle school teachers explores prompts that aim to move classroom discussions past student silence. Prompt sequences were categorized into Progressing, Focusing, and Redirecting Actions, and then analyzed for maintenance of high levels of cognitive demand. Results indicate that specific prompt types are prone to either raise or diminish the cognitive demand of a discussion. While Focusing Actions afforded students opportunities to process information on a more meaningful level, Progressing Actions typically lowered cognitive demand in an effort to get through mathematics content or a specific method or procedure. Prompts that raise cognitive demand typically start out as procedural or concrete and progress to include students' thoughts or ideas about mathematical concepts. This study aims to discuss five specific implications on how teachers can use prompting techniques to effectively maintain cognitively challenging discourse through moments of student silence.

• School Mathematics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.571-591
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to understand the characteristics of mathematical discourse about the length in the class that learns the length of the curve defined by definite integral. For this purpose, this study examined the discourse about length by paying attention to the usage of the word 'length' in the class participants based on the communicative approach. As a result of the research, it was confirmed that the word 'length' is used in three usages - colloquial, operational, and structural usage - in the process of communicating with the discourse participants. Particularly, each participant did not recognize the difference even though they used different usage words, and this resulted in ineffective communication. This study emphasizes the fact that the difference in usage of words used by participants reduces the effectiveness of communication. However, if discourse participants pay attention to the differences of these usages and recognize that there are different discourses, this study suggests that meta - level learning can be possible by overcoming communication discontinuities and resolving conflicts.

• School Mathematics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.135-149
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• 2003

We present an understanding about students' conceptual model of differential equations, based on the discourse data that were collected in a differential equations course at a university in Korea. An interpretive approach is taken to analyze classroom discourse. This paper consists of three main parts. First, we completely analyze the students' use of conceptual metaphor in a university differential equations class. Secondly, we identify conceptual metaphors representing students' conceptual model of differential equations. Finally, we describe the mathematical characteristics of the conceptual metaphors identified in detail. Among other things, this paper reveals that there exists dual aspects of the students' conceptual model of differential equations. In other words, in the differential equations course observed we found that the students very often used two kinds of conceptual metaphor,“machine metaphor”and“fictive motion metaphor”, that have contrastingly different mathematical characteristics. In order to interpret the duality, we take a sociocultural perspective, and this perspective suggests and helps us to realize the significance of understanding of cognitive diversity in mathematics classroom.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.257-273
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• 2004

In this paper, we analyze what the components of mathematics teacher` knowledge are, and find that mathematics teacher need knowledge of three areas: subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. Studies of practicing teachers suggest that When teachers lack understanding in their respective disciplines, it inhibits them from providing students the best learning opportunities, but that a teacher possessing pedagogical content knowledge provides learners with multiple approaches into learning. Some teachers having sound knowledge of mathematics and students were able to respond appropriately to students' questions, design appropriate learning activities involving a variety of mathematical representations, and orchestrate mathematical discourse in the classroom. Thus, it appears that mathematics teachers' knowledge positively affect teaching and student learning..