• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.263-289
• /
• 2017

New mathematics textbooks for elementary school students are under development according to the 2015 national revised curriculum. Not only contents but also framework of textbooks may be interesting to the mathematics educators and researchers. Considering the high dependency on textbooks in elementary classrooms, the influence of the framework of textbooks in mathematics learning cannot be overlooked. The unit and lesson frameworks of the textbook are important because they are directly related to the quality of mathematic lessons, especially when teachers make a lesson plan based on the unit and lesson frameworks of the textbook. This study is to analyse the unit and lesson frameworks of elementary school mathematics textbooks and to find out elementary school teachers' preference about its analysed key points. For longitudinal analysis, we selected 3rd-grade mathematics textbooks of 5th, 6th, 7th, the 2007, and the 2009 national revised curriculums. For horizontal analysis, we selected 3rd-grade mathematics textbooks of Korea, Japan, United States and Finland. We compared unit and lesson frameworks of various textbooks, and abstracted key elements of the textbook frameworks, and constructed survey questions. Looking at results from survey questions based on analysed key points, we were able to grasp the teachers' preference for unit and lesson frameworks for mathematics textbook. Based on the results of this study, some implications for the development of framework for new mathematics textbooks are suggested.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.589-610
• /
• 2022

This study aimed to derive pedagogical implications by comparing and analyzing how the concept of pi is taught in 10 different elementary mathematics textbooks, which are scheduled to be applied from 2023. We developed a textbook analysis framework by previous studies on the concept of pi and the teaching of pi, and analyzed in terms of three instructional elements (i.e. inferring conceptsof pi, understanding properties of pi, and applying relationships). We derived the need to emphasize various contexts for estimation of pi, presentation of problem situations that provide motivation to actually measure diameters and circumferences, providing an opportunity to explore the properties of measurement, and an experience the flexibility of selecting an approximate value of pi. Based on the above conclusions and pedagogical implications through the research results., we suggested ways to teach the concept of pi in elementary mathematics and improvement points for developing textbooks focusing on the context of introduction of pi and the use of technological tools.

• School Mathematics
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.209-228
• /
• 2017

Understanding decimal numbers is important in mathematics as well as real-life contexts. However, lots of students focus on procedures or algorithms of decimal numbers without understanding its meanings. This study analyzed teaching method related to decimal numbers in a series of mathematics textbooks of Korea, Japan, Singapore and the US. The results showed that three countries except Japan introduced the decimal numbers as another name of fraction, which highlights the relation between the concept of decimal numbers and fractions. And limited meanings of decimal numbers were shown such as 'equal parts of a whole' and 'measurement'. Especially in the korean textbooks, relationships between the decimals were dealt instrumentally and small number of models such as number lines or $10{\times}10$ grids were used repeatedly. Based these results, this study provides implications on what and how to deal with decimal numbers in teaching and learning decimal numbers with textbooks.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.31-41
• /
• 1999

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.133-157
• /
• 2008

This paper is based on theory of Usiskin who defined inclusively the various concepts of algebra among many theories classifying a type of the algebra. For this purpose, we examined the curriculum of the algebra of Korea, America and Japan, then analyzed where the problems in "Letter and Formula" of the textbooks fall under Usiskin's concepts of algebra.

• School Mathematics
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.663-690
• /
• 2017

The aim of this study is to look into the meaning and sub-factors of spatial orientation, compare and analyze mathematics curriculums and textbooks of several countries with respect to spatial orientation and offer suggestions to improve teaching spatial orientation in elementary school mathematics in Korea. In order to attain these purposes, this study examined the meaning and sub-factors of spatial orientation through the theoretical consideration regarding various studies on spatial sense. Based on such examination, this study compared and analyzed mathematics curriculums and textbooks used in South Korea, Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Finland, United States of America, and Germany with respect to contents of mathematics curriculum and textbooks in grades, sub-factors of spatial orientation, and contexts for spatial orientation. In the light of such theoretical consideration and analytical results, this study provided suggestions for improving teaching spatial orientation in elementary schools in Korea as follows: extending content of spatial orientation in mathematics curriculum, emphasizing spatial orientation across the several grades, especially in the upper grades, providing opportunities to learn the sub-factors of location, direction, coordinates, route, and distance variously, and utilizing various familiar and realistic contexts in the world around students.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.1-21
• /
• 2010

This paper analyzed the contents and instructional methods of various plane figures presented mainly in a series of elementary mathematics textbooks on the basis of the analysis of related contents in the 2007 revised national mathematics curriculum. As such, this paper provided detailed analyses of how textbooks would implement the vision and intention of the curriculum, how the definition of each plane figure in the textbooks might be different from its mathematical definition, and how textbooks would introduce each plane figure. It is expected that the issues and suggestions stemming from this analysis will be informative in designing new instructional materials.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.283-308
• /
• 2021

This study aims to analyze statistical tasks in Korean and Singaporean textbooks with the mathematical modeling perspective and compare the learning contents and experiences of students from both countries. I analyzed mathematical modeling tasks in the textbooks based on five aspects: (1) the mathematical modeling process, (2) the data type, (3) the expression type, (4) the context, and (5) the mathematical activity. The results of this study show that Korean and Singaporean textbooks provide the highest percentage of the "working-with-mathematics" task, the highest percentage of the "matching task," and the highest percentage of the "picture" task. The real-world context and mathematical activities used in Korean and Singaporean textbooks differed in percentage. This study provides implications for the development of textbook tasks to support future mathematical modeling activities. This includes providing a balanced experience in mathematical modeling processes and presenting tasks in various forms of expression to raise students' cognitive level and expand the opportunity to experience meaningful mathematizing. In addition, it is necessary to present a contextually realistic task for students' interest in mathematical modeling activities or motivation for learning.

• School Mathematics
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.571-591
• /
• 2015

Even though fractions make up one of the most important concepts in the domain of numbers in elementary math, it is difficult to teach or learn them due to their different quantity concepts and notation methods from natural numbers and their various concepts. The didactic transposition of fractions is thus important, and there is a need to examine the didactic concepts of fractions used in the South Korean textbooks for its research. This study compared elementary math textbooks among South Korea, Taiwan, and China and investigated differences in the instructional time and order of fraction concepts in the textbooks according to their didactic concepts and also differences in the instructional methods according to quantitative concepts.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.125-140
• /
• 2023

In elementary school mathematics, the addition and subtraction of fractions are difficult for students to understand but very important concepts. This study aims to examine the teaching methods and visual aids utilized in the context of common denominator fraction addition and subtraction. The analysis focuses on evaluating the lesson flow and the utilization of visual representations in one national textbook and ten certified textbooks aligned with the current 2015 revised curriculum. The results show that each textbook is composed of chapter sequences and topics that reflect the curriculum faithfully, with each textbook considering its own order and content. Additionally, each textbook uses a different variety and number of visual representations, presumably intended to aid in learning the operations of fractions through the consistency or diversity of the visual representations. Identifying the characteristics of each textbook can lead to more effective instruction in fraction operations.