• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.343-364
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• 2017

Despite the significance of functional thinking at the elementary school level there has been lack of research on teachers who play a major role in making students be engaged in functional thinking. This study surveyed 119 elementary school teachers to investigate their knowledge of functional thinking for teaching. A written assessment for this study was developed with a focus on the knowledge of mathematical tasks and instructional strategies to teach functional thinking. The results of this study showed that many teachers were able to design tasks corresponding to both the additive relationship and the multiplicative relationship, and to justify some strategies to promote functional thinking. However, some teachers had lack of understanding with regard to the core ideas of functional thinking. Based on these results this study is expected to suggest implications on what aspects of knowledge are further needed for elementary school teachers to promote students' functional thinking.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.41-54
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to find out what mathematical situation means, how to pose a meaningful situation and how situation-centered teaching could be done. The obtained informations will help learners to improve their math abilities. A survey was done to investigate teachers' perception on teaching-learning in mathematics by elementary teachers. The result showed that students had to find solutions of the textbook problems accurately in the math classes, calculated many problems for the class time and disliked mathematics. We define mathematical situation. It is artificially scene that emphasize the process of learners doing mathematizing from physical world to identical world. When teacher poses and expresses mathematical situation, learners know mathematical concepts through the process of mathematizing in the mathematical situation. Mathematical situation contains many concepts and happens in real life. Learners act with real things or models in the mathematical situation. Mathematical situation can be posed by 5 steps(learners' environment investigation step, mathematical knowledge investigation step, mathematical situation development step, adaption step and reflection step). Situation-centered teaching enhances mathematical connections, arises learners' interest and develops the ability of doing mathematics. Therefore teachers have to reform textbook based on connections of mathematics, other subject and real life, math curriculum, learners' level, learners' experience, learners' interest and so on.

• School Mathematics
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.411-424
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• 2010

The fractional concept consists of various meaning, so that it is difficult to understand in primary school mathematics. In this article, we intend to analyze the cognition of 54 pre-service elementary teachers about the operations of partitioning and iterating that are based on Steffe's fraction schemes. The following fraction problem is used in this analysis: If the bar $\Box$ represent 3/8, then create a bar that is equivalent to 4/3. In our analysis, the 43% of pre-service elementary teachers can be well to treat the operations of partitioning and iteration. The 33% are use the equivalent fractions. But the 19% is not good. From the our analysis, it is important that pre-service elementary teachers must be have experimental(operational) thinking as the science education. And in this study we apply the operations of partitioning and iterating to the fraction activity of textbooks.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.43-59
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• 2015

In the present study, the changes of mathematics teachers' verbal feedback between ten years ago and later were examined using a coding scheme on the types of teacher verbal feedback. Based on the analysis, it is found that teachers intend to use encouraging strategies to make responses to students ten years later. In addition, the duration used in communication between the teacher and individual student is being longer while the frequency of communication becomes less compared ten years ago. Meanwhile, the difference between good lesson ten years ago and common lesson ten years later is not so apparent. It can be inferred that the quality of teaching has being developed.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.121-139
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• 2008

This study analyzed problem presenting and solving activities in elementary school mathematics class to enhance insights of teachers in class for providing real meaning of learning. Following research problems were selected to provide basic information for improving to sound student oriented lesson rather than teacher oriented lessons. Protocols were made based on video information of 5th grade elementary school 'Na' level figure and measurement area 3. Congruence of figures, 4. Symmetry of figures, and 6. Areas and weight. Protocols were analyzed with numbering, comment, coding and categorizing processes. This study is an qualitative exploratory research held toward three teachers of 5th grade for problem solving activities analysis in problem presenting method, opportunity to providing method to solve problems and teachers' behavior in problem solving activities. Following conclusions were obtained through this study. First, problem presenting method, opportunity providing method to solve problems and teachers' behavior in problem solving activities were categorized in various types. Second, Effective problem presenting methods for understanding in mathematics problem solving activities are making problem solving method questions or explaining contents of problems. Then the students clearly recognize problems to solve and they can conduct searches and exploratory to solve problems. At this point, the students understood fully what their assignments were and were also able to search for methods to solve the problem. Third, actual opportunity providing method for problem solving is to provide opportunity to present activities results. Then students can experience expressing what they have explored and understood during problem solving activities as well as communications with others. At this point, the students independently completed their assignments, expressed their findings and understandings in the process, and communicated with others. Fourth, in order to direct the teachers' changes in behaviors towards a positive direction, the teacher must be able to firmly establish himself or herself as a teaching figure in order to promote students' independent actions.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2010

The purpose of this research was to analyze questioning types of the Korean Elementary Mathematics Textbook in grade 3 and suggest the direction of questioning strategies for enhancing creativity in mathematics lessons. For the research, the researcher analyzed questioning types of the 3rd grade mathematics textbook and the changes of the questions compared with the questions in the previous textbooks. The author suggested the following recommendations. First, the questioning strategies of the revised mathematics textbook tends more to enhance students' creativity than the previous ones did. Second, teachers need to know the students' level of mathematics before starting their mathematics lessons because teachers can provide more effective differentiated questioning to the students. Third, students can response tuned to their level of mathematics if they meet with open-ended questions. It is desirable to develop good open-ended questions to fit students' abilities. Last, teachers should provide opportunities for students to share their own mathematical thinking. In risk-free environment, students can willingly participate at debating over mathematics proofs and refutation. Teachers should make efforts to make the classroom norm or culture free to debate among students, which leads to enhancement of students' creativity or mathematical creativity.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.143-160
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• 2016

Despite the recent increasing interest in classroom expertise of teachers for gifted there has been lack of research on exploring or analyzing the components of classes for gifted tailored to the characteristics of each subject matter Given this, this study looked for the components of performance domain of classes for gifted in mathematics and then analyzed one teacher's 12 lessons in terms of the components. The features of the lessons included the establishment of classroom atmosphere by considering the characteristics of mathematically gifted students, the introduction of or expansion to mathematically enriched tasks, promotion to mathematically higher thinking, and emphasis of mathematical pattern, connections, and utility. This study is expected for researchers to provide a practical case on how to analyze elementary classes for gifted in mathematics. It also helps teachers who teach gifted students to develop professional vision of mathematics instruction and to increase their classroom expertise.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.433-457
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• 2022

An effective teacher community helps the participating teachers improve their instructional quality. This study reports a teacher community consisting of 15 elementary school teachers and one teacher educator. This paper analyzed 15 mathematics lessons in which the teachers implemented the five practices for orchestrating productive mathematics discussions by Smith and Stein (2018) based on the grade-specific discussions as well as the whole community's discussions. The results of this study showed that the overall levels of each practice either increased gradually or maintained at the highest Level 4, as mathematics lessons had been implemented. Specifically, the following practices were quite successful: setting goals for a lesson, selecting an appropriate task, anticipating student responses, and selecting student solutions. However, both sequencing and connecting student solutions were implemented at various levels. Monitoring student work tended to remain at Level 2 which included incorrect implementation of the practice. This paper closes with implications related to the skillful implementation of the five practices through a teacher community.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 1998

The purpose of this research is to analyze the problem of mathematic education of Korean Kindergarten, to search for the solution of the problem in korean Kindergarten. In particular, materials are mostly made and used by the teachers themselves, consuming too much time. Mathematics education materials available in Kindergartens were found to be insufficient. The reasons were the lack of effort by teachers to develop new materials as well as the lack of marketed materials.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.147-164
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• 2011

The national mathematics curriculum revised in 2007 emphasized students' mathematical communication and the curriculum is currently applied to all grades. In order to promote students' mathematical communication, the teacher needs to understand full implications and apply them to instruction. This study examined how teachers employed mathematical communication in their instruction and how they perceived it. The results showed that teachers had lack of understanding of student-centered instruction and mathematical communication. They also did not use various representation activities and discussion-based activities as expected. The number of students per classroom was reported by teachers as a main barrier to promote mathematical communication, but it did not make substantial differences in practice. Building on the results, this paper included implications for improving teachers' conception of mathematical communication.