• School Mathematics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.457-478
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to investigate middle school students' understanding and development of function graphs. We collected the data from the teaching experiment with two middle school students who had not yet received instruction on linear function in school. The students participated in a 15-day teaching experiment(Steffe, & Thompson, 2000). Each teaching episode lasted one or two hours. The students initially focused on numerical values rather than the overall relationship between the variables in functional situations. This study described meaning, role of and students' responses for the given tasks, which revealed the students' understanding and development of function graphs. Especially we analyzed students' responses based on their methods to solve the tasks, reasoning that derived from those methods, and their solutions. The results indicate that their continuous reasoning played a significant role in their understanding of function graphs.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.213-231
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to analyze the 6th graders' understanding of the concepts of variable on various aspects of school algebra. For this purpose, the test of concepts of variable targeting a sixth-grade class was conducted and then two students were selected for in-depth interview. The level of mathematics achievement of the two students was not significantly different but there were differences between them in terms of understanding about the concepts of variable. The results obtained in this study are as follows: First, the students had little basic understanding of the variables and they had many cognitive difficulties with respect to the variables. Second, the students were familiar with only the symbol '${\Box}$' not the other letters nor symbols. Third, students comprehended the variable as generalizers imperfectly. Fourth, the students' skill of operations between letters was below expectations and there was the student who omitted the mathematical sign in letter expressions including the mathematical sign such as x+3. Fifth, the students lacked the ability to reason the patterns inductively and symbolize them using variables. Sixth, in connection with the variables in functional relationships, the students were more familiar with the potential and discrete variation than practical and continuous variation. On the basis of the results, this study gives several implications related to the early algebra education, especially the teaching methods of variables.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.249-264
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• 2021

This article is devoted to investigating young learners' understanding of elapsed time from socio-cultural perspectives. The socio-cultural perspective benefits to access and personalize mathematics learning as how to have a mathematical object to be able to realize signifiers with the help of many other mathematical words and mediators. In terms of the realization of signifiers, I analyzed performances on elapsed time tasks of students in Grades 3 (n=115) and interviewed focal students. Quantitative analysis on students' performance identified that students perform differently when the task provided with the analog clock signifier. It suggested that students might think in a different way upon the given signifier even for the same elapsed time, especially when given as the analog clock. Qualitative analysis on focal students' interviews visualized how the students' understanding were different by displaying individual realization trees on elapsed time. The particular location of the analog clock signifier on each realization tree provided a personalized explanation about low performance on the task with analog clock signifier. The finding suggested that the realization of a specific signifier could be a key point in elapsed time understanding. I discussed why a majority of students face difficulty in elapsed time learning indicated analog clock and the advantage of moving elapsed time strands to higher grades in the school mathematics curriculum.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.135-142
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• 2001

The selected questions for this study was their conversation in problem solving way of working together. To achieve its purpose researcher I chose more detail questions for this study as follows. $\circled1$ What is the difference of strategy according to its level \ulcorner $\circled2$ What is the mathematical ability difference in problem solving process concerning its level \ulcorner This is the result of the study $\circled1$ Difference in the strategy of each class of students. High class-high class students found rules with trial and error strategy, simplified them and restated them in uncertain framed problems, and write a formula with recalling their theorem and definition and solved them. High class-middle class students' knowledge and understanding of the problem, yet middle class students tended to rely on high class students' problem solving ability, using trial and error strategy. However, middle class-middle class students had difficulties in finding rules to solve the problem and relied upon guessing the answers through illogical way instead of using the strategy of writing a formula. $\circled2$ Mathematical ability difference in problem solving process of each class. There was not much difference between high class-high class and high class-middle class, but with middle class-middle class was very distinctive. High class-high class students were quick in understanding and they chose the right strategy to solve the problem High class-middle class students tried to solve the problem based upon the high class students' ideas and were better than middle class-middle class students in calculating ability to solve the problem. High class-high class students took the process of resection to make the answer, but high class-middle class students relied on high class students' guessing to reconsider other ways of problem-solving. Middle class-middle class students made variables, without knowing how to use them, and solved the problem illogically. Also the accuracy was relatively low and they had difficulties in understanding the definition.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.351-375
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• 2012

This research is a case study of the changes of students's problem solving ability and affective characteristics when we apply to general students MG-CPS model which is creative problem solving model for gifted students. MG-CPS model which was developed by Kim and Lee(2008) is a problem solving model with 7-steps. For this study, we selected 7 first grade students from girl's high school in Seoul. They consisted of three high level students, two middle level students, and two low level students and then we applied MG-CPS model to these 7 students for 5 weeks. From the study results, we found that most students's describing ability in problem understanding and problem solving process were improved. Also we observed that high level students had improvements in overall problem solving ability, middle level students in problem understanding ability and guideline planning ability, and that low level students had improvements in the problem understanding ability. In affective characteristics, there were no significant changes in high and middle level classes but in low level class students showed some progress in all 6 factors of affective characteristics. In particular, we knew that the cause of such positive changes comes from the effects of information collection step and presenting step of MG-CPS model.

• Hwankyungkyoyuk
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.87-98
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• 2010

This study examined college students' environmental knowledge, attitudes as well as their behaviors in Busan. Among four areas (biodiversity, carbon cycle, ozone, and global warming) of environmental knowledge, students represented the most understanding on global warming, and the least understanding on biodiversity. In regards to environmental attitude, students represented the lowest scores in reality of limits to growth, and the highest scores in antianthropocentrism. With respect to environmental-friendly behavior, less than 30% of students responded that they always tried to use less paper towels. In addition, only 24% of students responded that they always recycle e-waste. These college students did not represent gender difference in environmental knowledge, attitude as well as behavior. Moreover, there was a strong relationship between environmental knowledge and attitude, while no relationship between environmental knowledge and behavior as well as between environmental attitude and behavior.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.199-223
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to investigate how first and second graders in middle school take in integrated understanding about the concept of function. The data was collected through the questionnaire conducted by the first and second-year students at A, B middle school in Cheongju. The questionnaire consisted of 14 questions related to the extent of understanding a concept of function, the ability to express function and to translate function. The results are summarized as follows. First, the percentage of correct answer made a difference according to the types of representation. Questions leading students to translate a task into a table or an equation showed quite high correct response rates. However, questions asking students to translate a task into graphs showed high incorrect responses. Second, the result shows that students have the different viewpoints depending on their grades when they have to determine whether the suggested situation belongs to function. The first-year students tended to consider function as the concept of 'definition'. On the other hand, the second-year students emphasized 'equation' of function. Finally, only a few students can distinguish the various situations and representations into the definition of function. This result shows that students didn't get the integrated understanding of the concept of function.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.499-521
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• 2013

This paper analyzed the relationship between middle school students' belief about understanding with regard to mathematical concepts, procedures, and applications of the procedures. In order to gain our purpose, the academic achievement results of midterm examination of 139 middle school students and the surveys about their beliefs about understanding, mathematical concepts, and mathematical procedures were collected. And the cross analysis and the frequency analysis of SPSS were conducted. The research results showed that students' belief about understanding are irrelevant to their academic achievements. And the percentage of the students who believe that they understand was almost the same with the percentage of the students who understand the procedures. But there were differences between the percentage of the students who believe that they understand and the percentage of the students who understand the concepts. Through these, it is conformed. Students' belief about understanding does not mean they understand mathematical concepts. They just can solve mathematical problems through mechanical procedures.

• School Mathematics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.261-280
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• 2009

This study was motivated by recognizing the weakness of teaching and learning about the concepts of statements in high school mathematics curriculum. To report the reality of students' understanding about statements, this study investigated the 33 first-year undergraduate students' understanding about the concepts of statements by giving them 22 statement problems. The problems were selected based on the conceptual framework including five types of statement concepts which are considered as the key ideas for understanding mathematical reasoning and proof in college level mathematics. The analysis of the participants' responses to the statement problems found that their understanding about the concepts of prepositions are very limited and extremely based on the instrumental understanding applying an appropriate remembered rule to the solution of a preposition problem without knowing why the rule works. The results from this study will give the information for effective teaching and learning of statements in college level mathematics, and give the direction for the future reforming the unite of statements in high school mathematics curriculum as well.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.319-334
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• 2019

In this study, using the tasks related trigonometric functions, the degree of high school students' understanding of the function concept was examined through the level of Hitt(1998). First, the degree of the students' understanding was classified by level, then the concept understanding was reclassified by the process or the object. As a result, high school students' concept understanding showed incompleteness in three stages. It was possible to know that the process in the interpretation of the graph is the main perspective, and the operation of algebraic representation is regarded as important. Based on these results, it seems necessary to study the teaching-learning method which can understand trigonometric functions from various perspectives. It seems necessary to study a lesson model that can reach function concept's understanding level 5 that maintains consistency between problem solving and representation system.