• The Mathematical Education
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.81-99
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• 2000

The Purpose of this study is to develop and implement an alternative secondary mathematics curriculum to enhance creative problem-solving abilities. The curriculum consisting of three main elements-content knowledge, process knowledge and creative thinking sills-as developed. Lessons were taught by a problem-based-learning method in an experimental group. In order to examine the effect of the curriculum, performance assessment was developed and used for pre and post.. There were significant group differences in the creative problem-solving abilities, so we could examine the effect of developed program and confirm the group differences in the attitude for lessons. But there were no significant group differences in motive for learning, a study skill and the achievement test.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.91-106
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• 2012

This study reports pre-service teachers' problem solving process on the problem-based learning(PBL) employed in an elementary mathematics method course. The subjects were 6 pre-service teachers(students). The data were collected from classroom observation. The research results were described by problem solving stages. In understanding the problem stage, students identified what problem stand for and made a problem solving planned sheet. In curriculum investigation stage, students went through investigation and re-investigation process for solving the task. In problem solving stage, students selected the best strategy for solving the task and presented and shared about problem solving results.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.471-487
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• 2008

Inventive mathematical thinking, original mathematical problem solving ability, mathematical invention and so on are core concepts, which must be emphasized in all branches of mathematical education. In particular, Polya(1981) insisted that inventive thinking must be emphasized in a suitable level of university mathematical courses. In this paper, the author considered two cases of inventive problem solving ability shown by his many students via real analysis courses. The first case is about the proof of the problem "what is the derived set of the integers Z?" Nearly all books on mathematical analysis sent the question without the proof but some books said that the answer is "empty". Only one book written by Noh, Y. S.(2006) showed the proof by using the definition of accumulation points. But the proof process has some mistakes. But our student Kang, D. S. showed the perfect proof by using The Completeness Axiom, which is very useful in mathematical analysis. The second case is to show the infinite countability of NxN, which is shown by informal proof in many mathematical analysis books with formal proofs. Some students who argued the informal proof as an unreasonable proof were asked to join with us in finding the one-to-one correspondences between NxN and N. Many students worked hard and find two singled-valued mappings and one set-valued mapping covering eight diagrams in the paper. The problems are not easy and the proofs are a little complicated. All the proofs shown in this paper are original and right, so the proofs are deserving of inventive mathematical thoughts, original mathematical problem solving abilities and mathematical inventions. From the inventive proofs of his students, the author confirmed that any students can develope their mathematical abilities by their professors' encouragements.

• East Asian mathematical journal
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.451-462
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• 2018

This study analyzed the learning components of the web-based adaptive math learning programs in order to develop adaptive math learning program using artificial intelligence. The components of the web-based adaptive math learning program set for analysis are classified into learning process presentation, concept learning, problem presentation, problem solving process, and learning result processing then analyzed three programs. As a result of analysis, the typical characteristic of components is that it uses a method of repeatedly presenting the same type of problem in order to learn one concept.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.195-219
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• 2006

This study was proposed to analyze mathematical communication activity and mathematical attitudes while students were solving project problem and to consider how the conclusions effects mathematics education. This study analyzed through qualitative research method. The questions for this study are following, First, how does the process of the mathematical communication activity proceed during solving project problem in a small group? Second, what reactions can be shown on mathematical attitudes during solving project problem in a small group? Four project problems sampled from pilot study in order to examine these questions were applied on two small groups consisting of four 5th grade students. It was recorded while each group was finding out the solution of the given problems. Afterward, consequences were analyzed according to each question after all contents were noted. Consequently, conclusions can be derived as follows. First, it was shown that each student used different elements of contents in mathematical communication activity. Second, during mathematical communication activity, most students preferred common languages to mathematical ones. Third, it was found that each student has their own mathematical attitude. Fourth, Students were more interested in the game project problem and the practical using project problem than others.

• East Asian mathematical journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.565-587
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to analyze the understanding of the meaning of fraction division and fraction division algorithm of elementary mathematical gifted students through the process of problem posing and solving activities. For this goal, students were asked to pose more than two real-world problems with respect to the fraction division of ${\frac{3}{4}}{\div}{\frac{2}{3}}$, and to explain the validity of the operation ${\frac{3}{4}}{\div}{\frac{2}{3}}={\frac{3}{4}}{\times}{\frac{3}{2}}$ in the process of solving the posed problems. As the results, although the gifted students posed more word problems in the 'inverse of multiplication' and 'inverse of a cartesian product' situations compared to the general students and pre-service elementary teachers in the previous researches, most of them also preferred to understanding the meaning of fractional division in the 'measurement division' situation. Handling the fractional division by converting it into the division of natural numbers through reduction to a common denominator in the 'measurement division', they showed the poor understanding of the meaning of multiplication by the reciprocal of divisor in the fraction division algorithm. So we suggest following: First, instruction on fraction division based on various problem situations is necessary. Second, eliciting fractional division algorithm in partitive division situation is strongly recommended for helping students understand the meaning of the reciprocal of divisor. Third, it is necessary to incorporate real-world problem posing tasks into elementary mathematics classroom for fostering mathematical creativity as well as problem solving ability.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.221-249
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate students decision-making progress through ill-structured problem solving process. For this study, 25 fifth graders in an elementary school were observed by applying ABCDE model (Analyze - Browse - Create - Decision making - Evaluate), and analyzed their decision-making progress analyzing framework which follows 3 steps - making their own decision, discussing/revising with peers, and lastly decision making/solving problem. Upper two groups with better performance in ill-structured problem solving model among 6 groups showed active discussion in group and decision making process with 3 steps (making their own decision, discussing/revising with peers). Even though their decisions are not good-fit to mathematical reasoning result, development and application of ill-structured problems would bring better ability of high level thinking and problem solving to students.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.541-563
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the curriculum, in which pre-service teachers experience mathematical process and develop assessment items and standards through the process experience in a mathematical essay course, affects the pre-service teachers and suggest its implications for teacher education. Fourty nine pre-service teachers, registered at a mathematical essay course in a K university in Seoul, developed mathematical essay problems and their assessment standards, and their developed processes were analyzed. According to the analysis results, first, mathematical essay problems developed by the fifty students reflect components of mathematical processes. Especially, one characteristic in revising assessment items shows that pre-service teachers considered not only justification process through different levels of difficulty and mathematical reasoning, but also logical descriptions through problem solving, when they worked on group discussions and examined middle school and high school students' responses. Second, while pre-service teachers developed rubrics for their assessment items and revised the rubrics based on students' responses, they established assessment standards which employed mathematical process by focusing on problem solving process rather than results and considering students' unexpected problem solving. The results imply a concrete method in planning and executing a mathematical essay course which makes use of mathematical process in teacher education.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.57-75
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• 2014

Problem Solving has been emphasized for recent decades, and many research case studies have been used to improve students' Problem Solving abilities. However, the gap of students' abilities can be easily shown after enrollment into school in spite of scholar's attempt to reduce students' level of differentiation. Besides, it is clear that teachers have been too readily assisting students' and not allowing them to acquire the process of Problem Solving, and this may be due to impatience. Therefore, students seem to show signs of the dependent tendency towards teachers and other materials. This tendency easily allows students' to depend on teaching resources without attempting any developmental mechanism of Problem Solving. The presupposition of this study is that every student must solve a problem without any assistance, and also this study is to provide new cognitive strategies for both teachers and students who want to solve their problems by themselves through the process of visible Problem Solving. After applying the student-based problem-solving model by this study, it was found to be effective. Therefore this will lead to the improvement of the Problem Solving and knowledge acquisition of students.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.309-330
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• 2024

This study analyzed the productive struggles experienced by the sixth-grade elementary school students when productively overcoming the struggles they encountered during mathematical problem-solving. By analyzing their processes of solving multi-strategic and open-ended problems, productive struggles were categorized according to two steps of problem-solving. Additionally, we examined the factors that support students in overcoming these struggles, distinguishing between individual, peer, and teacher influences. The study identifies four types of productive struggles during the problem-understanding step and six during the plan devising and carrying-out step. In the problem-understanding step, the most prevalent type involved overcoming difficulties to grasp the elements and conditions of the problem, while in the plan devising and carrying-out step, persistence in problem-solving was the most common. The factors supporting productive struggles were ranked in order of influence: individual, peer, and teacher support. Teacher support played a significant role during the problem-understanding step, whereas individual and peer supports were more influential during the plan devising and carrying-out step. Based on these findings, the study offers some didactical implications for understanding the characteristics of productive struggles and strategies for effectively supporting students through the problem-solving process.