• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.207-218
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• 1999

The purpose of this thesis is to help the teachers in school to widen the knowledge and to understand the North Korean society by comparative analysis of South and North Korean elementary school's mathematics education process and text books. It is needless to say that we need to have more knowledge and understanding about North Korea as the international and national situation is changing so rapidly these days. One of the most effective ways to understand North Korea is to understand their education. So, 1 wrote this thesis as a way of getting ready for the united Korea by knowing mathematics texts and their system, composition, contents of elementary school in North Korea If this little try is going to be a help in anyway, I will try to do a better study in future.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.367-385
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• 2004

This study intends to compare the way of introducing fractions in elementary mathematics textbooks of south and those of north Korea. After thorough investigations of the seven differences were identified. First, the mathematics textbooks of south Korea use concrete materials like apples when they introduce equal partition context, while those of north Korea do not use that kind of concrete materials. Second, in the textbooks of south Korea, equal partition of discrete quantities are considered after continuous ones are introduced. This is different from the approach of the north Korean text-books in which both quantities are regarded at the same time. Third, the quantitative fraction which refers to the rational number with unit of measure at the end of it, is hardly used in the textbooks of south. However, the textbooks of north Korea use it as the main representations of fractions. Fourth, in the textbooks of south Korea, vanous activities related to fractions are more emphasized, while in the textbooks of north Korea, various meanings of fractions textbooks from south and north Korea focused on the ways of introducing partition approach and equivalence relation as operational schemes of fractions, the following play an important role before defining fraction. Fifth, the textbooks of south Korea introduce equivalent fractions with number one using number bar, and do not consider the reason why that sort of fractions are regarded. On the contrary, the textbooks of north Korea introduce structural equivalence relation by using various contexts including length measure and volume measure situations. Sixth, whereas real-life contexts are provided for introducing equivalent fractions in the textbooks of south Korea, visual explanations and mathematical representations play an important role in the textbooks of north Korea. Seventh, the means of finding equivalent fractions are provided directly in the textbooks of south Korea, whereas the nature of equivalent fractions and the methods of making equivalent fractions are considered in the textbooks of north Korea.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.165-175
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• 2000

The situation of unification has been changing in the rapid speed. In this condion it is most important that we understand North Korea's current situation correctly, by overcoming the differences between South and North Korea and trying to pursuit the national homogeneity. One of the most effective ways to understand North Korea is to understand their education. So, I wrote this thesis as a way of getting ready for the united Korea by konwing mathematics texts and their system, composition, contents of junior high school in North Korea Anyway, I hope that this study will be helpful to the integration of mathematics education after unification of North and South

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.77-94
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• 2003

This study attempts to compare the topic "approximate value" in mathematics text-books of the 2nd year of South Korean junior high schools and that of the 3rd year of North Korean high schools. In addition, a survey questionnaire was distributed to junior and senior high school students as well as to mathematics teachers in South Korea. Based on the results of the survey, this study attempts to uncover the issues within the current teaching methods of "approximate value" and proposes the directions in which the teaching of approximate value should go in order to enhance mathematical thinking power and creativity of the students. First, it Is necessary to teach students how an error applies to the real world. To accomplish this end, it may be worthwhile to consider introducing the relative errors with more seriousness. Second, it is more important to teach the way of thinking which is concealed in the background of the calculation methods of approximate values than to simply teach mere calculation methods. Third, it is necessary to teach the calculation of approximate value with more realistic examples. Fourth, It is needed to teach students what the differences are when the terminology of "approximately" and "about" is used in real life and in mathematics.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.558-564
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• 2004

This research investigated the connection between science textbook contents in Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and those in Republic of Korea (ROK). Both text books in the field of earth science were analyzed and classified into 70 categories based on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Comparison was specifically made between the elementary and middle school text books of both countries; the result are as follows: First, the scope and the level of the textbooks' contents are quite different between DPRK and ROK. Text books in the South are much limited in concepts and terms than those in the North. In contrast, textbooks in DPRK are written mainly to explain concepts. Second, there are many common contents of the textbooks in DPRK and Republic of Korea. The level and scope of the contents in Republic of Korea are more inquisitive, quantitative and detailed than those in DPRK. Third, we found content connections in science textbooks between primary and secondary schools in both countries: 27 items (38.5%) are related in ROK and 19 items (27.1%) in DPRK.