• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.163-192
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• 2009

Currently, our country operates gifted education only as a special curriculum, which results in many problems, e.g., there are few beneficiaries of gifted education, considerable time and effort are required to gifted students, and gifted students' educational needs are ignored during the operation of regular curriculum. In order to solve these problems, the present study formulates the following research questions, finding it advisable to conduct gifted education in elementary regular classrooms within the scope of the regular curriculum. A. To devise a teaching plan for the gifted students on mathematics in the elementary school regular classroom. B. To develop a learning program for the gifted students in the elementary school regular classroom. C. To apply an in-depth learning program to gifted students in mathematics and analyze the effectiveness of the program. In order to answer these questions, a teaching plan was provided for the gifted students in mathematics using a differentiating instruction type. This type was developed by researching literature reviews. Primarily, those on characteristics of gifted students in mathematics and teaching-learning models for gifted education. In order to instruct the gifted students on mathematics in the regular classrooms, an in-depth learning program was developed. The gifted students were selected through teachers' recommendation and an advanced placement test. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the gifted education in mathematics and the possibility of the differentiating teaching type in the regular classrooms were determined. The analysis was applied through an in-depth learning program of selected gifted students in mathematics. To this end, an in-depth learning program developed in the present study was applied to 6 gifted students in mathematics in one first grade class of D Elementary School located in Nowon-gu, Seoul through a 10-period instruction. Thereafter, learning outputs, math diaries, teacher's checklist, interviews, video tape recordings the instruction were collected and analyzed. Based on instruction research and data analysis stated above, the following results were obtained. First, it was possible to implement the gifted education in mathematics using a differentiating instruction type in the regular classrooms, without incurring any significant difficulty to the teachers, the gifted students, and the non-gifted students. Specifically, this instruction was effective for the gifted students in mathematics. Since the gifted students have self-directed learning capability, the teacher can teach lessons to the gifted students individually or in a group, while teaching lessons to the non-gifted students. The teacher can take time to check the learning state of the gifted students and advise them, while the non-gifted students are solving their problems. Second, an in-depth learning program connected with the regular curriculum, was developed for the gifted students, and greatly effective to their development of mathematical thinking skills and creativity. The in-depth learning program held the interest of the gifted students and stimulated their mathematical thinking. It led to the creative learning results, and positively changed their attitude toward mathematics. Third, the gifted students with the most favorable results who took both teacher's recommendation and advanced placement test were more self-directed capable and task committed. They also showed favorable results of the in-depth learning program. Based on the foregoing study results, the conclusions are as follows: First, gifted education using a differentiating instruction type can be conducted for gifted students on mathematics in the elementary regular classrooms. This type of instruction conforms to the characteristics of the gifted students in mathematics and is greatly effective. Since the gifted students in mathematics have self-directed learning capabilities and task-commitment, their mathematical thinking skills and creativity were enhanced during individual exploration and learning through an in-depth learning program in a differentiating instruction. Second, when a differentiating instruction type is implemented, beneficiaries of gifted education will be enhanced. Gifted students and their parents' satisfaction with what their children are learning at school will increase. Teachers will have a better understanding of gifted education. Third, an in-depth learning program for gifted students on mathematics in the regular classrooms, should conform with an instructing and learning model for gifted education. This program should include various and creative contents by deepening the regular curriculum. Fourth, if an in-depth learning program is applied to the gifted students on mathematics in the regular classrooms, it can enhance their gifted abilities, change their attitude toward mathematics positively, and increase their creativity.

• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.97
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• pp.87-104
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• 2020

Myogilsang on Diamond Mountain, signed and dated (2000) by Seon-u Yeong (1946-2009), is the first work by a North Korean artist to enter the collection of the National Museum of Korea (fig. 1a). The donor acquired the painting directly from the artist in Pyeongyang in 2006. In consequence, there are no issues with the painting's authenticity.This painting is the largest among all existing Korean paintings, whether contemporary or from the Joseon Dynasty, to depict this iconography (see chart 1. A Chronological List of Korean Myogilsang Paintings.) It is ink and color on paper, measures 130.2 × 56.2 centimeters, and is in a hanging scroll format. Since this essay is intended as a brief introduction of the painting and not in-depth research into it, I will simply examine the following four areas: 1. Seon-u Yeong's background; 2. The location and the traditional appellation of the rock-cut image known as Myogilsang; 3. The iconography of the image; and 4) A comparative analysis of Seon-u Yeong's painting in light of other paintings on the same theme. Finally, I will present two more of his works to broaden the understanding of Seon-u Yeong as a painter. 1. Seon-u Yeong: According to the donor, who met Seon-u at his workshop in the Cheollima Jejakso (Flying Horse Workshop) three years before the artist's death, he was an individual of few words but displayed a firm commitment to art. His preference for subjects such as Korean landscapes rather than motifs of socialist realism such as revolutionary leaders is demonstrated by the fact that, relative to his North Korean contemporaries, he seems to have produced more paintings of the former. In recent years, Seon-u Yeong has been well publicized in Korea through three special exhibitions (2012 through 2019). He graduated from Pyeongyang College of Fine Arts in 1969 and joined the Central Fine Arts Production Workshop focusing on oil painting. In 1973 he entered the Joseon Painting Production Workshop and began creating traditional Korean paintings in ink and color. His paintings are characterized by intense colors and fine details. The fact that his mother was an accomplished embroidery specialist may have influenced on Seon-u's choice to use intense colors in his paintings. By 1992, he had become a painter representing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with several titles such as Artist of Merit, People's Artist, and more. About 60 of his paintings have been designated as National Treasures of the DPRK. 2. The Myogilsang rock-cut image is located in the Manpok-dong Valley in the inner Geumgangsan Mountain area. It is a high-relief image about 15 meters tall cut into a niche under 40 meters of a rock cliff. It is the largest of all the rock-cut images of the Goryeo period. This image is often known as "Mahayeon Myogilsang," Mahayeon (Mahayana) being the name of a small temple deep in the Manpokdong Valley (See fig. 3a & 3b). On the right side of the image, there is an intaglio inscription of three Chinese characters by the famous scholar-official and calligrapher Yun Sa-guk (1728-1709) reading "妙吉祥"myogilsang (fig. 4a, 4b). 3. The iconography: "Myogilsang" is another name for the Bhodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The Chinese pronunciation of Myogilsang is "miaojixiang," which is similar in pronunciation to Mañjuśrī. Therefore, we can suggest a 妙吉祥 ↔ Mañjuśrī formula for the translation and transliteration of the term. Even though the image was given a traditional name, the mudra presented by the two hands in the image calls for a closer examination. They show the making of a circle by joining the thumb with the ring finger (fig. 6). If the left land pointed downward, this mudra would conventionally be considered "lower class: lower life," one of the nine mudras of the Amitabha. However, in this image the left hand is placed across its abdomen at an almost 90-degree angle to the right hand (fig. 6). This can be interpreted as a combination of the "fear not" and the "preaching" mudras (see note 10, D. Saunders). I was also advised by the noted Buddhist art specialist Professor Kim Jeong-heui (of Won'gwang University) to presume that this is the "preaching" mudra. Therefore, I have tentatively concluded that this Myogilsang is an image of the Shakyamuni offering the preaching mudra. There is no such combination of hand gestures in any other Goryeo-period images. The closest I could identify is the Beopjusa Rock-cut Buddha (fig. 7) from around the same time. 4. Comparative analysis: As seen in , except for the two contemporary paintings, all others on this chart are in ink or ink and light color. Also, none of them included the fact that the image is under a 40-meter cliff. In addition, the Joseon-period paintings all depicted the rock-cut image as if it were a human figure, using soft brushstrokes and rounded forms. None of these paintings accurately rendered the mudra from the image as did Seon-u. Only his painting depicts the natural setting of the image under the cliff along with a realistic rendering of the image. However, by painting the tall cliff in dark green and by eliminating elements on either side of the rock-cut image, the artist was able to create an almost surreal atmosphere surrounding the image. Herein lies the uniqueness of Seon-u Yeong's version. The left side of Seon-u's 2007 work Mount Geumgang (fig. 8) lives up to his reputation as a painter who depicts forms (rocks in this case) in minute detail, but in the right half of the composition it also shows his skill at presenting a sense of space. In contrast, Wave (fig. 9), a work completed one year before his death, displays his faithfulness to the traditions of ink painting. Even based on only three paintings by Seon-u Yeong, it seems possible to assess his versatility in both traditional ink and color mediums.