• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.63-78
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• 2013

Trigonometric ratios are difficult concepts to teach and learn in middle school. One of the reasons is that the mathematical terms (sine, cosine, tangent) don't convey the idea literally. This paper deals with the understanding of a concept from the learner's standpoint, and searches the orientation of teaching that make students to have full understanding of trigonometric ratios. Such full understanding contains at least five constructs as follows: skill-algorithm, property-proof, use-application, representation-metaphor, history-culture understanding [Usiskin, Z. (2012). What does it mean to understand some mathematics? In: Proceedings of ICME12, COEX, Seoul Korea; July 8-15,2012 (pp. 502-521). Seoul, Korea: ICME-12]. Despite multi-aspects of understanding, especially, the history-culture aspect is not yet a part of the mathematics class on the trigonometric ratios. In this respect this study investigated the effect of history approach on students' understanding when the history approach focused on the mathematical terms is used to teach the concept of trigonometric ratios in Grade 9 mathematics class. As results, the experimental group obtained help in more full understanding on the trigonometric ratios through such teaching than the control group. This implies that the historical derivation of mathematical terms as well as the context of mathematical concepts should be dealt in the math class for the more full understanding of some mathematical concepts.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.189-209
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• 2009

One of the characteristics in math -abstract concept- makes the students find difficulties in understanding general ideas about math. This study is about how much do the modeling lessons using the technical instruments which is based on the realistic mathematical theory influence on understanding the mathematical concept. This study is based on one of the contents the first grade of middle school students study, the function, especially the meaning of it. Some brilliant students being the objects of this study, mathematically experimental modeling lesson was planned, conducted. Survey on the students' attitudes about math before and after the modeling classes and Questionnaire survey on the effectiveness about the modeling class were conducted and their attitudes were recorded also. This study tells that students show very meaningful changes before and after the modeling class and scientific knowledge seems to be very helpful for the students to understand the mathematical concept and solve the problems. When scientific research and development get together with mathematics, students will be more motivated and be able to form the right mathematical concept easily.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-31
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• 2007

Negative numbers have been one of the most difficult mathematical concepts, and it was only 200 years ago that they were recognized as a real object of mathematics by mathematicians. It was because it took more than 1500 years for human beings to overcome the quantitative notion of numbers and recognize the formality in negative numbers. Understanding negative numbers as formal ones resulted from the Copernican conversion in mathematical way of thinking. we first investigated the historic and the genetic process of the concept of negative numbers. Second, we analyzed the conceptual fields of negative numbers in the aspect of the additive and multiplicative structure. Third, we inquired into the levels of thinking on the concept of negative numbers on the basis of the historical and the psychological analysis in order to understand the formal concept of negative numbers. Fourth, we analyzed Korean mathematics textbooks on the basis of the thinking levels of the concept of negative numbers. Fifth, we investigated and analysed the levels of students' understanding of the concept of negative numbers. Sixth, we analyzed the symbolizing process in the development of mathematical concept. Futhermore, we tried to show a concrete way to teach the formality of the negative numbers concepts on the basis of such theoretical analyses.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.63-77
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• 2010

This study was to investigate the differences of 'math talks' between concept-based storybook reading and context-based storybook reading activities. The teachers carried out storybook reading activities with their children using either four concept-based storybooks or four context-based storybooks. Fifty-six storybook reading activities from seven kindergarten classrooms were observed. The data were collected through participant observations and audio recordings. The transcriptions of 'math talks' during storybook reading activity were classified in terms of the levels of instructional conversation, types of mathematizing, and the mathematical processes involved. The results indicated that the 'math talks' during the concept-based storybook reading activity were higher than those of the context-based storybook reading activity in terms of both the instructional conversation and in quantifying and redescribing of mathematizing. However, the 'math talks' during the context-based storybook reading activity were higher than those of the concept-based storybook reading activity in connecting and reasoning of the mathematical processes involved. These findings suggest that early childhood teachers need to improve the level of instructional conversation during math storybook reading activities.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.163-175
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• 2003

The research was aimed to find a special quality to the mathematical concept development using a graphing calculator in the collaborative learning. I could observe the process in which the students had formed the generalized and abstract mathematical concepts after they were given different concepts. I \ulcorner-Iso observed the characteristics of how they started with a vague syncretic conglomeration and approached to the complicated thoughts and genuine concepts. The advance of the collection type was achieved in the process of teacher's confirming of what the students had observed with a calculator. The language and the instrument were used in order for students to control the partial process. Also, they were given similar types of problems to make them clear when the students confronted 'the crisis of thoughts' at the level of pseudo-concept.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.193-213
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• 2016

This study has two goals. The First is to develop and apply a step-by-step program and the degree to which students' mathematical skills. The second is to analyze mathematical attitude change around the first grade students was done. The program for learning complement number is composed of series of 5 steps and 11 classes. Play for learning complement number, taking into account the difficulty of the learning steps 1-5 are organized. First step is composed of the classes which fragmented pieces of shapes to complete the entire geometry with fun activities for the entire part of the concept of learning and it maintenance concepts and can naturally learn by associating step. In second step, tools to take advantage of the real world and collecting the conservative concept. 3rd steps is to repair the mathematical concept of the parish in the learning stage of expansion. 4th step is halrigalri, number cards, making ten games etc. 5th step is to verify the concept of complement number and number operation ability. The concept of complement number through fun activities can improve students' mathematical skills, and mathematical attitude change. Early in the program, students use the finger to throw acid in the process. Simple addition and subtraction calculations may take a long time and error, but more and more we progress through the program using the fingers is eliminated and a more complex form calculations was not difficult to act out.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.319-335
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• 2019

In this paper, we examine the effectiveness of calculation according to automation, which is one of Computational Thinking, by coding the conceptual process into Python language, focusing on the concept of divisibility in elementary school textbooks. The educational implications of these considerations are as follows. First, it is possible to make a field of learning that can revise the new mathematical concept through the opportunity to reinterpret the Conceptual Thinking learned in school mathematics from the perspective of Computational Thinking. Second, from the analysis of college students, it can be seen that many students do not have mathematical concepts in terms of efficiency of computation related to the divisibility. This phenomenon is a characteristic of the mathematics curriculum that emphasizes concepts. Therefore, it is necessary to study new mathematical concepts when considering the aspect of utilization. Third, all algorithms related to the concept of divisibility covered in elementary mathematics textbooks can be found to contain the notion of iteration in terms of automation, but little recursive activity can be found. Considering that recursive thinking is frequently used with repetitive thinking in terms of automation (in Computational Thinking), it is necessary to consider low level recursive activities at elementary school. Finally, it is necessary to think about mathematical Conceptual Thinking from the point of view of Computational Thinking, and conversely, to extract mathematical concepts from computer science's Computational Thinking.

• Journal of the Chungcheong Mathematical Society
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.315-321
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• 2013

Let $D_0$, $D_1{\subset}\bar{R}^n$ be non-empty sets and let ${\Gamma}$ be the family of all closed curves which join $D_0$ to $D_1$. In this note, we introduce the concept of the mathematical conductance $C({\Gamma})$ of a curve family ${\Gamma}$ and examine some basic properties of mathematical conductance. And we obtain the inequalities in connection with capacity of condensers.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.77-82
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• 2002

This paper is concerned with the mathematical concept displayed in Buddhism, which is reasonable enough to consider as a philosophy and encompasses the concept of infinity as scientific as that of mathematics. The purpose of this paper is to examine the changing process of the Buddhism concept of infinity on the basis of time sequence and to combine this with that of mathematics.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.79-90
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• 2012

This research investigated if the embodied symbol using a turtle metaphor in a microworld environment works as a cognitive tool to mediate the learning of combinatorics. It was found that students were able to not only count the number of cases systematically by using the embodied symbols in a situated problem regarding Permutation and Combination, but also find the rules and infer a concept of Combination through the activities manipulating the symbols. Therefore, we concluded that the embodied symbol, as a bridge that connects learners' concrete experiences with abstract mathematical concepts, can be applied to introduction of various mathematical concepts as well as a combinatorics concept.