• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.183-201
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• 2005

Illustrations and letters are two components of school textbooks. In the case of low grades of elementary school, textbook's illustrations play an important role in learning because many parts of curriculums(lessons) are represented by the visual forms through illustrations. So elementary mathematics textbook's illustrations have to make clear mathematical concepts and principles by visual simplification and bring out of the interest and motivation of elementary school students' learning. In this paper, we analysed the external and content aspects of textbook's illustrations, focusing on the textbook of the second grade. We investigated number, kindness, size, ratio, and clearness of illustrations in regard to external aspects. On the aspects of content, we analysed the role of illustrations and the degree of agreement with contents. Also we classified types of error in the textbook's illustrations and presented examples of errors which was found.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.37-54
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• 2018

Despite the significance of fraction in elementary mathematics education, it is not easy to teach it meaningfully in connection with real life in Korea. This study aims to investigate and analyze 3rd grade students' understanding on unit fraction concepts and on comparison of unit fractions and to identify the parts which need to be supplemented in relation to unit fraction. For these purposes, I reviewed previous studies and extracted chapters which cover unit fractions in elementary mathematics textbooks based on 2009 revised curriculums and analyzed teaching contexts and visual representations of unit fractions. From this point of view, I constructed a test which consists of three problems based on Chval et al(2013) to investigate students' understanding on unit fraction. To apply this test, I selected forty-one 3rd grade students and examined that students' aspects of understanding on unit fraction. The results were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In this study, I present the analysis results and provide implications and some didactical suggestions for teaching contexts and visual representations of unit fraction based on the discussion.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.215-230
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• 2024

Congruences and symmetry are familiar concepts that can be encountered in everyday life. In order to effectively understand and acquire these concepts, the role of appropriate visual examples is important. This analysis examined various visual examples used in the process of learning the concepts of congruence and symmetry in elementary mathematics textbooks and focused on the use of convex polygons and concave polygons. As a result of the analysis, various types of polygons were used as visual examples for teaching and learning of congruence and symmetry in textbooks. The frequency of use of concave polygons was higher in the order of congruence, line symmetry, and point symmetry, and it was confirmed that it was used more frequently in the process of exploring properties than in the introduction of the concept. Based on these results, a plan to utilize concave polygons in teaching and learning of congruence and symmetry was sought.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.85-91
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to analyze elementary students' understanding the relationship between perimeter and area in geometric figures. In this study, the questionaries were used. In the survey, the subjects were elementary school students in In-cheon city. They were 86 students of the fifth grade, 86 of the sixth. They were asked to solve the problems which was designed by the researcher and to describe the reasons why they answered like that. Study findings are as following; Students have misbelief about the concept of the relationship between perimeter and area in geometric figures. Therefore, 1 propose the method fur teaching about the relationship between perimeter and area in geometric figures. That is teaching via problem solving.. In teaching via problem solving, problems are valued not only as a purpose fur learning mathematics but also a primary means of doing so. For example, teachers give the problem relating the concepts of area and perimeter using a set of twenty-four square tiles. Students are challenged to determine the number of small tiles needed to make rectangle tables. Using this, students can recognize the concept of the relationship between perimeter and area in geometric figures.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.157-177
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• 2006

The concepts of ratio and proportion do not develop in isolation. Rather, they are part of the individual's multiplicative conceptual field, which includes other concepts such as multiplication, division, and rational numbers. The current study attempted to clarify the beginning of this development process. One fourth student, Kyungsu, was encourage to schematize his trial-and-error-based method, which was effective in solving so-called missing-value tasks. This study describes several advancements Kyungsu made during the teaching experiment and analyzes the challenges Kyungsu faced in attempting to schematize his method. Finally, the mathematical knowledge Kyungsu needed to further develop his ratio and proportion concepts is identified. The findings provide additional support for the view that the development of ratio and proportion concepts is embedded within the development of the multiplicative conceptual field.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.233-249
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• 2022

Measurement plays an important role in both school mathematics and real life. Among the measurement areas, length is the first to learn and is the basis for measurement. Time is measured in its own way and is characterized by being the most abstract. This study attempted to analyze elementary mathematics textbooks and representations in real life to examine how the length and time of learning in school mathematics differ from those represented in real life. Based on this, we tried to derive implications for the direction of measurement education and elementary math textbooks. As a result of the analysis, the concept of length was used the same in real life and school mathematics. However, terms such as distance, depth, and height were not defined, and the representation of the approximate value was presented in a fragmentary form. In addition, there were parts where students were likely to feel confused in school mathematics and real life, such as the same units such as 'minutes and seconds' were used in time. Therefore, considering these differences, it is necessary to consider the direction of composition of math textbooks and teaching and learning so that students can connect school mathematics and real life and understand widely about measurement concepts.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.55-74
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• 2014

This study examined the potential teaching strategies of prospective elementary teachers and their perceptions of the procedural/conceptual nature of examples. Fifty-four prospective teachers participated in this study, engaging in two-phase tasks. Analysis of data indicated that: (a) Overall, the participants' perceptions were geared toward putting emphasis on conceptual understanding rather than procedural understanding; but (b) Generally, procedure-oriented strategies were more frequently incorporated in participants' potential teaching plans. This implied that participants' preconceived ideas regarding math examples were not always reliable indicators of their potential teaching strategies. Implications and suggestions for mathematics teacher preparation are discussed.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using graphing calculators on students' understanding of the linear and quadratic function concepts. The populators of this study are tenth graders at high school in Seoul, one class for the treatment group and another class for the comparison group, and experiment period is 14 weeks including two weeks for school regular exams.Function tests used in the study was proposed which described a conceptual knowledge of functions in terms of the following components: a) Conceptual understanding, b) Interpreting a function in terms of a verbal experission, c) Translating between different representations of functions, and d) Mathematical modeling a real-world situation using functions. Even though the group test means of the individual components of conceptual understanding, interpreting, translating, mathematical modeling did not differ significantly, there is evidence that the two groups differed in their performance on conceptual understanding. It was shown that students learned algebra using graphing calculators view graphs more globally. The attitude survey assessed students' attitudes and perceptions about the value of mathematics, the usefulness of graphs in mathematics, mathematical confidence, mathematics anxiety, and their feelings about calculators. The overall t-test was not statistically significant, but the students in the treatment group showed significantly different levels of anxiety toward mathematics.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.435-455
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• 2015

This study is aimed at analyzing the level change and features of mathematical communication in elementary students' expository writing. 20 students of 5th graders of elementary school in Seoul were given expository writing activity for 14 lessons and their worksheets was analyzed through four categories; the accuracy of the mathematical language, logicality of process and results, specificity of content, achieving the reader-oriented. This study reached the following results. First, The level of expository writing about concepts and principles was gradually improved. But the level of expository writing about problem solving process is not same. Middle class level was lower than early class, and showed a high variation in end class again. Second, features of mathematical communication in expository writing were solidity of knowledge through a mathematical language, elaboration of logic based on the writing, value of the thinking process to reach a result, the clarification of the content to deliver himself and the reader. Therefore, this study has obtained the conclusion that expository writing is worth keeping the students' thinking process and can improve the mathematical communication skills.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.19-34
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• 2002

The 7th national mathematics curriculum lays emphasis on an interrelation of several subjects and a connection between mathematics and real life. In this reason, this study focuses on the enhancement of sound understanding nuclear energy which is one of important factor(concepts or contents) dealt with in the other subjects such as science, environment, social studies, etc.. Recently, even though it is insistent that nuclear energy be so important and request in the future society, there are still strong pro and cons regarding the use of it. In this study, teaching-and-learning materials were developed dealing with using nuclear energy, and consequently they might be used in math class for the purpose of enhancement of mathematical learning ability and of recognition on nuclear energy. In this study, Material 1 included a matter of the necessity for nuclear power plants using the ratio concept, and Material 2 did on a matter of the efficiency of nuclear energy and the unclear of nuclear power plants using ratio-graph, in the elementary and upper school mathematics. Material 3 focused on a matter of the principles of nuclear power plants using the properties of exponential law in high school mathematics. Ultimately, it is hoped in the study that more diverse instructional materials dealing with diverse situations inside and outside mathematics would be developed.