• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.97-114
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of digital mathematics textbook on spatial abilities, interest and achievement of 6th graders. For this, research questions were set as follow: A. Is there any difference in cognitive ability in the space perception test between the experimental group and the control group. B. What distinctive attributes exist between the experimental group and the control group in the Spatial abilities? C. Is there any difference in learners' interest and achievement between the experiment group and the control group. To investigate the research questions, two classes of 6th grade children were selected from an elementary school in Daejeon and assigned one as experimental group and the other as control group. The experimental group studied mathematics using Digital Textbooks under an individual PC environment while the control group studied using the existing book-type textbooks. The following results and conclusions were obtained from the research. First, the effect of the Digital Textbooks on children's mathematics achievement was not statistically meaningful even though there was some progress in children's achievement. Furthermore, it was not found that the usage of a Digital Textbooks consistently influenced improvement in the students' interest in mathematics. Second, there were some positive changes in the achievement of Spatial ability of the middle subgroup of pretest score in the experiment group. It can have some educational implication that the Digital Textbooks can affect positively to the middle group in mathematics achievement who dominated more than 50% of the class. Third, the number of correct answers was found to be somewhat higher than that of the control group in spatial reasoning items. This means that the learning environment with Digital Textbooks allow more opportunities for manipulating geometric objects physically and mentally. Therefore, It seems necessary to offer various resources such as digital contents for students' geometric learning. For future research, It is strongly recommended to fix the bugs of the digital textbook programs and to upgrade the operating system of the computer.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.499-512
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• 2014

Architecture is usually seen as a product of art and technology. However, most historical buildings also exemplify various sophisticated principles of mathematics. Outstanding examples of architecture around the world such as Seokguram, Daewoongjun of Bulguksa, Muryangsujeon of Buseoksa, and the Parthenon provide students with a great opportunity to study their underlying mathematical properties and principles. The activity of identifying and investigating such mathematical principles in historical buildings enables students to realize that mathematics is a practical subject, and thus provides justification for the study and importance of mathematics. For the purpose of this study historical architecture was reviewed with this in mind in order to develop STEAM education materials focused on elementary school mathematics. The result of this study is as follows: first of all, appropriate examples of historical architecture were selected on the basis of the 2009 revised curriculum's content and teaching goals. These involved chapters on 'proportion', 'symmetry', 'movement of figures', 'building blocks', and 'triangles'. Secondly, a meta-analysis was performed on the historical buildings that clearly illustrate mathematical principles. Thirdly, STEAM education materials focused on elementary mathematics using architectural examples were developed which made actual application in classrooms possible. And lastly, surveys of professional groups were conducted to verify whether the produced materials were suitable teaching resources.