• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.157-170
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• 2017

Mathematics was the main domain of PISA 2012, and both paper-based and computer-based assessment of mathematics (CBAM) were conducted. PISA 2012 was the first large-scale computer-based mathematics assessment in Korea, and it is meaningful in that it evaluated students' mathematical literacy in problem situations using dynamic geometry, graph, and spreadsheet. Although Korea ranked third in CBAM, the use of ICT in mathematics lessons appeared to be low. On the other hand, this study focused on Singapore, which ranked first in CBAM. The Singapore Ministry of Education developed online programs such as AlgeTools and AlgeDisc, and implemented the programs in classes by specifying them in mathematics curriculum and textbooks. Thus, this study investigated influential factors on computer-based assessment of mathematics by comparing the results of Korea and Singapore, and aimed to provide meaningful evidence on the direction of Korea's ICT-based mathematics education. The results showed that ICT use at home for school related tasks, attitudes towards computers as a tool for school learning, and openness and perseverance of problem solving were positively associated with computer-based mathematics performance, whereas the use of ICT in mathematics class by teacher demonstration was negatively related. Efforts are needed to improve computer use and enhance teaching techniques related to ICT use in Korean math classes. Future research is recommended to examine how effectively teachers use ICT in mathematics class in Singapore.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.481-506
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• 2019

Perpendicularity and parallelity are important concepts in Mathematics as well as real-life contexts. However, those concepts are rather reduced in 2015 revised curriculum compared to previous 2009 revised curriculum. This study firstly analyzed teaching method related to perpendicularity and parallelity in a series of mathematics textbooks of Korea, Singapore and Japan. Moreover, the unit of perpendicularity and parallel was redesigned in a way to understand the concepts meaningfully and to give opportunities for students to explore how to make perpendicular and parallel lines. The results showed that noticeable changes has been as the curriculum was revised in Korea. Also, three countries showed some differences in concepts definition and learning activities. This study is expected to suggest implications for how to teach perpendicularity and parallelity in elementary school mathematics.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.205-224
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• 2017

A model method has been known as the main characteristic of Singaporean elementary mathematics textbooks. However, little research has been conducted on how the model method is employed in the textbooks. In this study, we extracted contents related to the model method in the Singaporean elementary mathematics curriculum and then analyzed the characteristics of the model method applied to the textbooks. Specifically, this study investigated the units and lessons where the model method was employed, and explored how it was addressed for what purpose according to the numbers and operations. The results of this study showed that the model method was applied to the units and lessons related to operations and word problems, starting from whole numbers through fractions to decimals. The model method was systematically applied to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division tailored by the grade levels. It was also explicitly applied to all stages of the problem solving process. Based on these results, this study described the implications of using a main model in the textbooks to demonstrate the structure of the given problem consistently and systematically.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.44 no.4 s.111
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• pp.497-508
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• 2005

The investigation of the curriculum in other countries provides meaningful implications to reflect our own curriculum. Since Korea is now under the curriculum revision, international comparative research was conducted with the curricula of Singapore and India to elicit some implications. These two countries were especially chosen because their curricula have not been actively investigated yet. Singapore mathematics curriculum starts the tracking based on students' mathematical ability from the 4th grade, and provides different curricula for the three tracks. This differentiated curriculum provides rich implications to next Korean curriculum which aims to classify the contents based on students' mathematical achievements. Indians, who have contributed significantly in the history of mathematics, have unique mathematics curriculum, remote from so called 'canonical curriculum'. After the U.S. announced the Curriculum and Evaluation Standard for School Mathematics in 1989 and the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics in 2000, many countries benchmarked these NCTM documents, and Korea was no exception. Since each country has their own school system, educational environment, and national mentality, it is not desirable to just adopt the curriculum of other countries. In this regard, Indians who have preserved their own mathematics curriculum can be a model. In sum, when we revise the curriculum, it is required to keep the balance between the open-mindedness to accept the strengths of other curricula, and the conservative attitude to preserve our own characteristics of the curriculum.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.453-473
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• 2018

In this study, we analyzed the contents of speed concept presented in Korean, Japanese, Singapore, and American elementary mathematics textbooks, and drew implications for the teaching of speed concept in elementary schools. We developed a textbook analysis framework by theoretical discussions on the characteristics of the speed concept based on the proportional relationship and the previous researches on the speed in elementary mathematics. We analyzed the textbooks of four countries and drew some suggestions for improving the teaching of speed concept in Korean elementary schools.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.251-278
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to obtain implications for mathematical education by analyzing how the multiplication and division of decimal numbers are presented in the elementary mathematics textbooks in Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Finland. Compared to the fact that students often have misconceptions about multiplication and division of decimal numbers, there have been not many comparative studies in recent elementary mathematics textbooks. For this study, we selected elementary mathematics textbooks those are widely used in Japan, Singapore, and Finland along with Korean elementary mathematics textbooks. We chose the textbooks because the students in the selected countries have scored high in international achievement studies such as TIMSS and PISA. The analysis was examined in terms of elementary mathematics curriculum related to multiplication and division of decimal numbers, introduction and content, real-life situations, use of visual models, and formalization methods of algorithms. As a result of the study, the mathematics curricula related to multiplication and division of decimal numbers includes estimation in Korea and Finland, while Japan and Singapore emphasize real-life connections more, and Finland completes the operations in secondary schools. The introduction and content are intensively provided in a short period of time or distributed in various grades and semesters. The real-life situations are presented in a simple sentence format in all countries, and the use of visual models or formalization of algorithms is linked to the operations of natural numbers in unit conversions. Suggestions were made for textbook development and teacher training programs.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.441-457
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to analyze Korean students' mathematics achievement characteristics and draw implications for better math education in schools through comparing the results of three east Asian top level countries, Korea, Singapore, and Japan in PISA 2012 results. As a results, the rate of correct answers of Korea students was relatively low compared with those of Singapore, but relatively higher than Japan. From the results of effect size, similar results from t-test was discovered. As shown in analysis according to sub-elements in math assessment framework, the Korean students had low effect size in every sub-elements than Singapore. and they had high effect size at most of sub-elements than Japan, except "personal" context. In top performing level(above level 5), the Korean students had high effect size at "quantities" in mathematical contents, and "employ" in mathematical processes compared with Singapore. And they had row effect size at 6 sub-elements compared with Japan.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.505-525
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• 2021

In this study, we investigated how multiplication by 2-digit numbers had been taught in elementary mathematics textbooks of Korea, Japan, Singapore, and USA. As a result of analysis, we found as follows. Korean textbooks do not teach the multiplication by 10 and the multiplication by power of 10, but Japanese, Singapore, and US textbooks explicitly teach related content. In the '×tens' teaching, Japanese and American textbooks teach formally the law of association of multiplication applied in the process of calculating the partial product of multiplication. The standard multiplication algorithm generally followed a standard method of recording partial product result according to the law of distribution, but the differences were confirmed in the multiplication model, the teaching method of the law of distribution, and the notation of the last digit '0'. Based upon these results, we suggested some proposals for improving the multiplication teaching.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.25-43
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• 2009

The fraction concept consists of various meanings and is one of the abstract and difficult in elementary school mathematics. This study intends to find out the implication for introducing the fraction concept by comparing mathematics textbooks of Korea and Singapore. Both countries' students peformed well in recent TIMMSs. Some implications are as follows; The term 'equal' is not defined and the results of various 'equal partitioning' activities can not easily examined in Korea's mathematics textbook. And contexts of introducing fractions as a quotient and a ratio are unnatural in Korea's mathematics textbook in comparison with Singapore's mathematics textbook. So these ideas should be reconsidered in order to seek the direction for improvement of it. And Korea's textbooks need the emphasis on the fraction as a measure and on constructing fraction concept by unit fraction.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.335-354
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore alternative ways of teaching derivatives in a way that emphasizes intuition. For this purpose, the contents related to derivatives in Korean curriculum and textbooks were analyzed by comparing with contents in Singapore Curriculum and textbooks. Singapore, where the curriculum deals with derivatives relatively earlier than Korea, introduces the concept of derivatives and differentiation as the slope of tangent instead of the rate of instantaneous change in textbook. Also, Singapore use technology and inductive extrapolation to emphasize intuition rather than form and logic. Further, from the results of the exploration of other foreign cases, we confirm that the UK and Australia also emphasized intuition in teaching derivatives and differentiation. Based on the results, we discuss the meaning and implication of introducing derivatives and teaching differentiation in a way that emphasizes intuition. Finally, we propose the implications for the alternative way of teaching differentiation.