• Research in Mathematical Education
• /
• v.9 no.1 s.21
• /
• pp.25-45
• /
• 2005

Background Phenomenography suggests that more variation is associated with wider ways of experiencing phenomena. In the discipline of mathematics, broadening the 'lived space' of mathematics learning might enhance students' ability to solve mathematics problems Aims The aim of the present study is to: 1. enhance secondary school students' capabilities for dealing with mathematical problems; and 2. examine if students' conception of mathematics can thereby be broadened. Sample 410 Secondary 1 students from ten schools participated in the study and the reference group consisted of 275 Secondary 1 students. Methods The students were provided with non-routine problems in their normal mathematics classes for one academic year. Their attitudes toward mathematics, their conceptions of mathematics, and their problem-solving performance were measured both at the beginning and at the end of the year. Results and conclusions Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the problem-solving performance of students receiving non-routine problems improved more than that of other students, but the effect depended on the level of use of the non-routine problems and the academic standards of the students. Thus, use of non-routine mathematical problems that appropriately fits students' ability levels can induce changes in their lived space of mathematics learning and broaden their conceptions of mathematics and of mathematics learning.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.61-72
• /
• 2001

In this paper we collect applications of secondary school mathematics which can be used in classroom instruction. With these applications we can also show the utility of mathematics.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.219-229
• /
• 1999

Nowadays the use of computer has a tendency to be being increased in classroom. Also, Many mathematics teachers are attempting to use computer efficiently in classroom. Computer has unique functions such as graphic, animation, and error correction. As graphic and animation can make the content of mathematics visible and make it easy for learners to study mathematics, it is desirable to develop the computer educational program and use it in teaching and learning mathematics. Especially, before concepts study on the unit of Figure or Function, the use of graphic or animation is efficient by being able to understand easily the content. The purpose of this thesis is to produce the computer program on the Movement of Figure in the unit of Equation of Figure which is in mathematics curriculum for the first grade of high school. In teaching and learning mathematics by use of this program, the educational effects are expected as follows: 1. It is expected that this program will stimulate the interest of learners by using animation and acoustic (sound) effect and so learners' voluntary and active thinking activity will be shown. 2. It will be helpful to form exact concept because it is possible to understand intuitively the basic concepts on the Movement of Figure by using graphic and animation. 3. It is expected that the repeated study of this program already designed will remove the fear of incomplete parts and help review them. 4. It is possible to change from teacher-centered instruction, which is the blind point of recent mathematics education, to the learner-centered instruction. However, it is necessary to realize that using the educational engineering (computer) in mathematics education cannot always cause learners to study mathematics very well and that computer cannot take the place of mathematics teacher. Accordingly, computer will be treated as aids which help learners study difficult part.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.463-485
• /
• 2011

This study was to investigate the effects of mathematical history-based mathematics teaching on mathematical communication and attitudes of elementary students, through selecting mathematical history content to apply to elementary mathematics and devising an instruction model to use effectively. For this purpose, while the experimental group received instruction using mathematical history and the comparative group lecture-based instruction using the common textbook, both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to analyze gathered data. To conclusion, first, instructions using mathematical history were helpful for increasing the student's participation in communication, and secondly helped the students justify their opinions to others with mathematical logic.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.57-74
• /
• 2005

The aim of this study is to reflect Vygotsky's theory of Zone of Proximal Development and other scholars' scaffolding theories emboding the theory and to examine the effects of mathematics instruction by scaffolding. The subjects of this study consist of 8 fifth graders attending S elementary school which is located in San-Chung county. The teaching-learning processes were videotaped and analysed according to scaffolding components. The results between pretest and posttest regarding to fraction were compared and the responses of students to a questionnaire on the mathematical attitude before and after the teaching experiment. It concludes that mathematics instruction by scaffolding was effective to improve students' mathematical learning ability and positive mathematical attitude.

• Research in Mathematical Education
• /
• v.9 no.1 s.21
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2005

This paper investigates instructional strategies with potential for improving students' achievement in word problem solving. This review compares and analyzes the direct instruction (DI) and cognitively guided instruction (CGI) research on K-3 word problem solving mathematics students in a demonstration of my position that teachers need to understand student mathematical thinking to enhance students' achievement in word problem solving. CGI provides a more appropriate instructional model than DI for teaching word problem solving. For example, student-centered, conceptual understanding, and children's informal or invented problem solving strategies communicating with each other mathematically, etc. Korean teachers and teacher educators need to consider implementing CGI teaching strategies.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.429-459
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to help the students deepen their mathematical understanding and practitioner improve her mathematics lessons. The teacher-researcher developed mathematical situation based problem solving instruction model which was modified from PBL(Problem Based Learning instruction model). Three lessons were performed in the cycle of reflection, plan, and action. As a result of performance, reflective knowledges were noted as followed points; students' mathematical understanding, mathematical situation based problem solving instruction model, improvement of mathematics teachers.

• Research in Mathematical Education
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.141-153
• /
• 2015

This paper compares and contrasts the perspectives of effective mathematics teaching by 135 elementary school teachers, 132 middle school teachers, and 124 high school teachers using a questionnaire in South Korea. All groups of teachers chose in common the teaching and learning strand as the most important for effective mathematics instruction. However, elementary school teachers placed greater importance on the curriculum and content strand than their counterparts did. Elementary school teachers tended to agree more upon the 48 items related to good mathematics teaching than their counterparts did. The similarities and differences among the groups of teachers are expected to provoke discussion of what constitutes high-quality mathematics instruction and how such perspectives may be situated in the socio-cultural context.

• School Mathematics
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.447-473
• /
• 2001

Since the greater part of mathematical concepts have been developed in the direction of “from the concrete and realistic aspects to the abstract level”, children should be secured to learn mathematics genetically with various manipulative materials. The aim of this study is to instigate the active use of geoboards in mathematics classroom. To achieve this arm, we first embodied the several significances on the use of geoboards in mathematics instruction. And we then performed an instruction that children discover and justify the formula related to the area of trapezoid by exploring with geoboards, and analyzed the instructional episode to support our assertion about some secure merit accompanied by using geoboards. From this study, we obtained the conclusion that geoboard activity contains many significances such as children can explore congruence, symmetry, similarity, fundamental properties of figures, and pattern. Futhermore, geoboard activity enable children to transform a figure into other equivalently, develop spatial sense, have basic experiences for coordinate geometry, build a concrete model to explain abstract ideas, and foster the ability of problem solving and mathematical thinking.

• Research in Mathematical Education
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.169-180
• /
• 2013

Communicating about mathematics is an essential component in learning mathematics and is a key standard for successful learning in a mathematics classroom using stories and storytelling as a catalyst to mathematics instruction. This, however, can make learning math for students with language deficiencies since they are working toward mastering both basic language proficiency as well as the specialized language needed for mathematics. This is a particular concern because the number of students of multicultural families is rapidly increasing. In this paper, we discuss the challenges and complexities of language-deficient students learning math in a classroom where communication is a key standard for successful learning, and suggest implications for teaching, by presenting an USA elementrny teacher's scaffolding to make reading and solving word problems less intimidating for her language learner students as well as native speaking students.