• The Mathematical Education
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.363-380
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• 2023

This study analyzed the difficulties and mathematical modeling knowledge improvement that an elementary school teacher experienced in modifying a mathematics textbook task to a mathematical modeling task. To this end, an elementary school teacher with 10 years of experience participated in teacher-researcher community's repeated discussions and modified the average task in the data and pattern domain of the 5th grade. The results are as followings. First, in the process of task modification, the teacher had difficulties in reflecting reality, setting the appropriate cognitive level of mathematical modeling tasks, and presenting detailed tasks according to the mathematical modeling process. Second, through repeated task modifications, the teacher was able to develop realistic tasks considering the mathematical content knowledge and students' cognitive level, set the cognitive level of the task by adjusting the complexity and openness of the task, and present detailed tasks through thought experiments on students' task-solving process, which shows that teachers' mathematical modeling knowledge, including the concept of mathematical modeling and the characteristics of the mathematical modeling task, has improved. The findings of this study suggest that, in terms of the mathematical modeling teacher education, it is necessary to provide teachers with opportunities to improve their mathematical modeling task development competency through textbook task modification rather than direct provision of mathematical modeling tasks, experience mathematical modeling theory and practice together, and participate in teacher-researcher communities.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.285-309
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• 2022

A large body of previous studies investigated mathematical tasks by analyzing the design process prior to lessons or textbooks. While researchers have revealed the significant roles of mathematical tasks within written curricular, there has been a call for studies about how mathematical tasks are implemented or what is experienced and learned by students as enacted curriculum. This article proposes a mathematical task analytic framework based on a holistic definition of tasks encompassing both written tasks and the process of task enactment. We synthesized the features of the mathematical tasks and developed a task analytic framework with multiple dimensions: breadth, depth, bridging, openness, and interaction. We also applied the scoring rubric to analyze three multiplication tasks to illustrate the framework by its five dimensions. We illustrate how a series of tasks are analyzed through the framework when students are engaged in multiplicative thinking. The framework can provide important information about the qualities of planned tasks for mathematics instruction (proactive) and the qualities of implemented tasks during instruction (reactive). This framework will be beneficial for curriculum designers to design rich tasks with more careful consideration of how each feature of the tasks would be attained and for teachers to transform mathematical tasks with the provision of meaningful learning activities into implementation.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.443-454
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• 2009

This study reviewed the notion and strategies of mathematical creativity from two point of view, mathematics and creativity. By these reviews, the spectrum was presented as frame of mathematical creativity task. Creativity and mathematics were seen as polar opposites and mathematical creativity task fit clearly at various points in this spectrum. Some focused on the quantity of ideas and originality from creative point of view. On the other hand, some focused on reasoning, insight, and generalization from mathematical point of view. The tasks on the spectrum were served as the vehicle of mathematical creativity and mathematics classroom. Therefore, there were some specific suggestions that mathematics classroom could be made a place where students and teachers would be able to foster their mathematical creativity.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.327-340
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• 2011

In this paper we propose an inquiry task on the subject of congruent triangles. The task deals with conditions that are sufficient for congruency, and conditions that are insufficient. The aim of the task is to find the minimal number of identical components in two triangles that is sufficient to ensure congruency.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.773-778
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• 2020

In this paper, we analyzed the effects of musical stimuli on humans in performing mathematical tasks through EEG measurements. The musical stimuli were divided into preferred music and non-preferred music, and mathematical tasks were divided into memorization task and procedure task. The data measured in the EEG experiments was divided into frequency bands of Theta, SMR, and Mid-beta because of the concentration. In our results, preferred music causes more positive emotional response than no music and non-preferred music regardless of the type of mathematical task.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.107-127
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of mathematical instruction through performance task activities based on the The Backward Design, which was suggested at first by Wiggins & McTighe in 1998. The Design deals with a performance assessment task involving the whole objective and its entire content of a lesson. Based on the Backward Design, this study established the mathematical instructional materials, which deal with the concept of 'the sector' taught in middle school, with one large performance task including three small tasks. It is important that in the lesson students be guided to achieve the several learning goals by themselves through reasoning activities. For this purpose, a formal interview was carried out by the subject of three middle school mathematics teachers. As a result, in order to implement the instruction utilizing the performance tasks more efficiently in future, it is required that a large performance task should be selected or developed including the content or problem contexts to be relevant with the real-life challenging situations. In addition, to make students enhance reasoning skills, it is strongly requested that the tasks including the utilization of supplementary materials such as technological devices or manipulatives be dealt with in a lesson.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.675-690
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• 2015

This study explore the features of mathematical tasks as an effective means to foster pre-service primary teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching and develop mathematical task for pre-service primary teachers. As a result, prospective teachers have while solving a mathematical task, converting a given situation to a mathematical problem, and solve problems through connections with existing knowledge, and experience seeing the existing mathematical concepts from a new perspective. Finally, we discussed the conditions for a suitable mathematical task in teacher education.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.155-176
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• 2012

It is an important issue to explore classroom environments which are conducive to developing students' mathematical performance. This study explores the effects of different classroom environments (solution-demand and corresponding-time setting) on mathematical performances. Fourteen and eighteen prospective teachers were required to prove a task under different conditions respectively: a) Cognitive demand of multiple-solution corresponding time of three hours, and b) Cognitive demand of a right solution corresponding time of 20 minutes. We used SOLO as the assessment tool for mathematical performance from quality perspective. Significant differences were found in the quantity and quality of mathematical performance. The regular environment focusing on speed and accuracy were found to be directly linked to low levels of performance. The findings above provide implications to the cognitive benefits of multiple-solution demand and corresponding time setting.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.357-371
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to decide the task space and Rating Scheme of task difficulty in complicated mathematical modelling situations. One of main objective was also to conform the validation of Rating Scheme to determine the degree of difficulty by comparing the student performance with the statement of the theoretical model. In spring 2014, the experimental setting was in Modelling Course for 38 in-service teachers in mathematics education. In conclusions, we developed the Model of Task Space based on their solution paths in mathematical modelling tasks and Rating Scheme for task difficulty. The Validity of Rating Scheme to determine the degree of task difficulty based on comparing the student performance gave us the meaningful results. Within a modelling task the student performance verifies the degree of difficulty in terms of scoring higher using solution approaches determined as easier and vice versa. Another finding was some relations among three research topics, that is, degree of task difficulty on rating scheme, levels of students performance and numbers of specific heuristic. Those three topics showed the impressive consistence pattern.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.545-566
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to show that research community activities can contribute to the professional development in respect of average concepts and mathematical creativity. In the community, activities were undertaken to transform the existing task into the task that contributes to the manifestation of creativity. In this process, researchers tried to connect the theory with the practice of the class, and the teacher acted as an active learner. The findings show that the teacher who had difficulty in teaching average could overcome difficulties, and also derived the way of task modification and strategies necessary for teaching average. The modified task induced improvements in students' achievement levels, which led to change in teachers' perspective on the relationship between mathematical creativity and learning. Research community activities have been shown to have contributed to improvements with regard to both teaching the average and promoting mathematical creativity.