• 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 for History of Mathematics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.97-118
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• 2011

This study aimed finding effective models for the teaching the concept of function. We selected two models. One is discrete model which focuses on the 'corresponding relation of the elements of the sets(domain and range). The other is continuous model which focuses on the dependent relationship of the two variables connected in variable phenomenon. A vending machine model was used as a discrete model, and a water bucket model was used as a continuous model in our study. We taught 2 times about the concept of function using two models to the 60 students (7th grade, 2 classes) living in Taebak city, and tested it twice, after class and about 3 months later. A vending machine model was helpful in understanding the definition of function in the 7th grade math textbook. Also, it was helpful to making concept image and to recalling it. On the other hand, students who used the water bucket model had a difficultly in understanding the all independent variables of the domain corresponding to the dependent variables. But they excelled in tasks making formula expression and understanding changing situations.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.117-134
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• 2020

Based on the current curriculum, students learn the concept of fraction in the 3rd grade for the first time. At that time, fraction is introduced as whole-part relationship. But as the idea of fraction expands to improper fraction and so on, fraction as measurement would be naturally appeared. In that situation where fraction as whole-part relationship and fraction as measurement are dealt together, it is necessary for students to get experiences of understanding and exploring unit and whole adequately in order to fully understand the concept of fractions. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze how to deal with unit fractions, how to implement activities to find the standard of reference from the part, and what visual representations were used to help students to understand the concept of fractions in elementary mathematics textbooks from the 7th to the 2015 revised curriculum. And we analyzed 60 3rd graders' understanding of finding and drawing the whole by looking at the part. Several didactical implications for teaching the concept of fractions were derived from the discussion according to the analysis results.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.277-289
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• 2016

Fraction is one of the concepts which are difficult to elementary school students. So, many researches about fraction were performed in mathematics education research. In special, fraction has so many subordinative concepts-proper fraction, improper fraction, mixed number. We have to concentrate on the conceptual understanding in teaching of fraction. In this case, a mixed number and improper fraction are concepts which can convert respectively. And there are methods that a mixed number and improper fraction can be converted. So, it's needed to analyze the converting methods in textbooks for getting the implication of teaching in this areas. In this study, I analyzed the Korean and foreign's textbooks. I certified the methods-using addition expression, using part-whole model in the textbooks. For the conceptual understanding, I suggested to use the fusion of the various part-whole fraction models and addition expression more than the algorithm in converting between a mixed number and improper fraction. It's reason that the use of models in converting between a mixed number and improper fraction is important for the relational understanding.

• School Mathematics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.317-334
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to grasp pre-service secondary teachers' understanding-realities for Taylor series convergence conceptions and to examine a teaching way using GeoGebra based on the understanding-realities. In this study, most pre-service teachers have abilities to calculate the Taylor series and radius of convergence, but they are vulnerable to conceptual problems which give meaning of the equality between a given function and its Taylor series at any point. Also they have some weakness in determining the change of radius of convergence according to the change of Taylor series' center. To improve their weakness, we explore a teaching way using dynamic and CAS functionality of GeoGebra. This study is expected to improve the pedagogical content knowledge of pre-service secondary mathematics teachers for infinite series treated in high school mathematics.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.359-374
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• 2014

Students' difficulties and errors in relation to mathematical proofs are worth while to say one of the dilemmas in mathematics education. The potential elements of their difficulty are scattered over the process of proving in geometry as well as algebra. This study aims to investigate whether middle school students understand the context of algebraic proof including literal expressions. We applied 24 third-grade middle school students a test item which shows a proof including a literal expression and missing the conclusion. Over the half of them responded wrong answers based on only the literal expression without considering its context. Three of them were interviewed individually to show their thinking. As a result, we could find some characteristics of their thinking including the perspective on proof as checking the validity of algebraic expression and the gap between proving and understanding of proof etc. From these, we also discussed about several didactical implications.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.335-352
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• 2008

The purpose of this research was to investigate the descriptive evaluation method that focuses on the problem solving process of the student. The goal was to evaluate the students' understanding of the subject rather than the students' ability to find the final answer. The descriptive evaluation is being suggested as a way of examining the thought process of the student by performing a structured analysis of the problem solving process. Today, there are not enough descriptive evaluation resources available for teachers to effectively carry out this alternative assessment method in the elementary school mathematics curriculum. This research is a case study on the development of resources for descriptive evaluation in grade 4 mathematics. We designed the development process for descriptive evaluation and its rubric for all 8 units of the 4-Na level of mathematics in the elementary school curriculum. Three descriptive problems were developed for each of the 8 units for a total of 24 problems. The rubric consisted of three areas of assessment, 1) understanding of the problem, 2) problem solving, and 3) mathematical communication. The problems were first pilot tested in two 4th grade classes. Modified problems were then tested in a different 4th grade classroom. The study showed that the three defined areas of evaluation framework (problem understanding, problem solving and mathematical communication) were measurable and analyzable using the developed grading rubric. We then conclude that he descriptive evaluation could be used as an effective tool for improving teacher performance in elementary school mathematics.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.369-385
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• 2023

As the 2022 revised mathematics curriculum emphasizing competency cultivation was announced, the researcher analyzed the connection between competency, content system, and achievement standards in elementary school mathematics curriculum. The results of the analysis of the link between the competency of the curriculum revision research report, its sub-elements, the 'process and skills' of the curriculum content system, and the achievement standard verb are as follows. First, most of the five curriculum competencies (problem solving, reasoning, communication, connection, and information processing) of the mathematics department are implemented as "process-skills" of the content system, which is further specified and presented as an achievement-based verb. Second, the five competencies were not implemented with the same weight in all areas, and the appropriate process-skills were differentiated and presented according to the content of knowledge-understanding by area/grade group. Third, verbs of the achievement standards were more rich than before in the 2022 revised elementary school mathematics curriculum. Fourth, 'understanding' throughout the entire area was still presented as the highest proportion. Through the research results, the researcher discussed clearly establishing the meaning of problem-solving capabilities in the future and developing and presenting "understanding" as a more specific process or skills.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-25
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to investigate the degree of mathematics teachers' recognition and understanding of mathematics education curriculum at the college of education. The subject of this study is 30 secondary school mathematics teachers who graduated from the department of mathematics education at the college of education. To accomplish this study, loather's knowledge is divided into two groups such as 'subject matter knowledge' (ready-made mathematics) and 'pedagogical content knowledge' (school mathematics and its teaching planning and methods). As a result, this study examines which subjects are required to achieve the pedagogical content knowledge in order to be a professional mathematics teacher.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.87-100
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• 2004

There is great enthusiasm among many mathematics educators to seek to understand how mathematical history can be employed to emphasize the usefulness of mathematics and to make it even more useful. This study focused on reviewing the history of mathematics to provide a 'source of insight.' In this study, the reasons for including the history of mathematics in the mathematics curriculum were divided into three domains: cognitive, affective, and sociocultural. Each domain included the followings: mathematical thinking and understanding; development of a positive attitude and increase motivation; and last, humanistic facets and sociocultural experience. At the same time, we need to develope a pedagogical approach that allows educators to use history properly. Furthermore, we must integrate the historical topics into regular curricula including the syllabus historically-informed grounds.