• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.111-125
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• 2000

This paper presents cross-national perspectives on challenges in implementing current mathematics education reform ideals. This paper includes detailed qualitative descriptions of mathematics instruction from unevenly successful second-grade classrooms both in Koran and in the U. S with regared to reform recommendations. Despits dramatic differences in mathematics achivement between Korean and the U.S student. problems in both countries with regard to mathematics education are perceived to be very similar. The shared problems have a common origin in teacher-centered instruction. Educational leaders in both countries have persistently attempted to change the teacher-centered pedagogy to a student-centered approach. Many teachers report familiarity with and adherence to reform ideas, but their actual classroom teaching practices do not reflect the full implications of the reform ideals. Given the challenges in implementing reform, this study explored the breakdown that may occur between teachers adoption of reform objectives and their successful incorporation of reform ideals by comparing and contrasting two reform-oriented classrooms in both countries. This comparison and contrast provided a unique opportunity to reflect on possible subtle but crucial issues with regard to reform implementation. Thus, this study departed from past international comparisons in which the common objective has been to compare general social norma of typical mathematics classes across countries. This study was and exploratory, qualitative, comparative case study using grounded theory methodology based on constant comparative analysis for which the primary data sources were classroom video recordings and transcripts. The Korean portion of this study was conducted by the team of four researchers, including the author. The U.S portion of this study and a brief joint analysis were conducted by the author. This study compared and contrasted the classroom general social norms and sociomathematical norms of two Korean and two U.S second-grade teachers who aspired to implement reform. The two classrooms in each country were chosen because of their unequal success in activating the reform recommendation. Four mathematics lessons were videotaped from Korean classes, whereas fourteen lessons were videotaped from the U.S. classes. Intensive interviews were conducted with each teacher. The two classes within each country established similar participation patterns but very different sociomathematical norms. In both classes open-ended questioning, collaborative group work, and students own problem solving constituted the primary modes of classroom participation. However in one class mathematical significance was constituted as using standard algorithm with accuracy, whereas the other established a focus on providing reasonable and convincing arguments. Given these different mathematical foci, the students in the latter class had more opportunities to develop conceptual understanding than their counterparts. The similarities and differences to between the two teaching practices within each country clearly show that students learning opportunities do not arise social norms of a classroom community. Instead, they are closely related to its sociomathematical norms. Thus this study suggests that reform efforts highlight the importance of sociomathematical norms that established in the classroom microculture. This study also provides a more caution for the Korean reform movement than for its U.S. counterpart.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.47-59
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• 2009

Recently our society confronts with the concern over the college students' apparent lack of understanding and interesting of mathematics. In late 1980s the calculus reform movement in US was triggered to increase both passing rates and a general interest in the subject. The purpose of this paper is to investigate teaching of college calculus and its curriculum in order to promote students' interesting and understanding. We deal with 4 questions. Firstly, we research the history and motivation of the calculus reform movement in US. Secondly, we do case study about the debate between reformed and traditional calculus. Then we evaluate the effectiveness of reformed calculus in comparison to traditional calculus. Finally we investigate possible ways to apply reformed calculus in our university mathematics education and suggest some points to improve teaching calculus.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.89-101
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• 1999

The reform movements of current mathematics education have based on several major ideas, in order to provide a new vision of the teaching and loaming of mathematics. Of the ideas, the motto of communication of mathematics appears to be a significant factor to change teaching practices in mathematics classroom. Through Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, the psychological background is presented for both supporting the motto and extracting important suggestions of the reform of mathematics education. The development of higher mental functions is explained by internalization, semiotic mediation, and the zone of proximal development. Above all, emphasis is put on the concepts of scaffolding and inter subjectivity related to the zone of proximal development. Seven implications are proposed by Vygotsky's sociocultural theory for the new forms of the teaching and learning of mathematics.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.69-88
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• 1999

The Hong Kong mathematics curriculum has launched its reform in recent years. It was the first time that a holistic review of syllabi from Primary 1 through Secondary 7 was made. The curriculum development agency also decided to base the reform on sound pedagogical foundations. That was assisted with academic research where the views of various stakeholders were investigated in detail. Surveys were conducted with students, parents, teachers, employers, university professors, and curriculum designers and they give a full picture of mathematics teaching and learning in Hong Kong. The rich data collected should shed light on the development of mathematics curriculum in other regions with similar socio-cultural and educational settings.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 1999

The present study extends previous research in this area by investigating perceptions of change and reactions to reform efforts by pre-service and practicing secondary school mathematics teachers in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America. Interviews were used to gather data about school experiences, teaching practices, and planned changes in mathematics programs. Analysis of the interview data supported earlier findings with respect to the well-planned nature of lessons by PRC teachers and the influence of mathematics contents and examination systems in the PRC. Findings also indicated a general agreement among teachers from both countries favoring less lecturing and more discussion and interactive activities. There were contrasts by nationality in descriptions of future teaching, ideal lessons, sources of teaching ideas, and preferences about school mathematics programs.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.119-126
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• 2001

In this paper we deal with two questions: 1) How have prospective teachers reflected mathematics curriculum reform in their planning of mathematics lessons\ulcorner 2) To what extent were the pre-service teachers able to be reflective about their planning of mathematics lessons\ulcorner Form analyses of videotapes, field notes, discussions among the college students, we found four features in the prospective teacher\\`s lesson plans and their teaching.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.71-89
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• 2011

This article discusses and reviews the mathematics education of F. Klein who had a leading role in the reform movement of mathematics education from the late 19th century. We are mainly investigated the 'Erlanger Antrittsrede' in 1872 that showed Klein's view on early mathematics education and the 'Meraner Lehrplan f$\"{u}$r Mathematik' in 1905 that Widely known, the basis of the curriculum of modern mathematics education. Based on this, We discusses the educational implications-the purpose and methods of mathematics education, teacher education and so on.

• 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.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.79-93
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• 2019

Choi Yoon Sik is a person who can not be omitted when discussing the history of mathematics in Korea. He is a mathematician who led Korean mathematics community after liberation from Japan. However, he took interests in mathematics education in middle and high school also. Choi Yoon Sik should be remembered as a leading person not only in the history of mathematics but also in the history of mathematics education in Korea. Choi Yoon Sik thought that histo-genetic principle, intuitive principle, and practical principle are important in mathematics education by help of Okura Kinnosuke's view, with hope to reform the mathematics education in Korea. He also argued that mathematics has educational values.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.143-161
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• 2001

This paper explores how unequally successful mathematics practices were constructed in the two elementary mathematics classrooms. The interview data that pertain to the two teachers' personal reflections on the influences on their professional development were used as a source of inquiry to identify the underlying factors that might account for the differences and the similarities in implementing reform ideals in teaching mathematics. This affords not only exploration of the challenges of moving teaching practices toward student-centered approaches but also insight of the processes of developing mathematics teaching practices through teachers\`own career paths.