• School Mathematics
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.665-683
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study is to improve forward mathematics study by analyzing the effects of the teaching and learning process applied situation-based mathematical problem posing activity on problem solving ability and mathematical attitudes. For this purpose, the research questions were established as follows: 1. How the situation-based mathematical problem posing activity(WQA activity) changes the problem solving ability of students? 2. How the situation-based mathematical problem posing activity(WQA activity) changes the mathematical attitudes of students? The results of the study were as follows: (1) There was significant difference between experimental group and comparative group in problem solving ability. This means that situation-based mathematical problem posing activity was generally more effective in improving problem solving ability than general classroom-based instruction. (2) There was not significant difference between experimental group and comparative group in mathematical attitudes. But the experimental group's average scores of mathematical attitudes except mathematical confidence was higher than comparative group's ones. And there was significant difference in the mathematical adaptability. The results obtained in this study suggest that the situation-based mathematical problem posing activity can be used to improve the students' problem solving ability and mathematical attitudes

• Research in Mathematical Education
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.1-31
• /
• 2007

Recent research has documented that there is a close relationship between problem posing and problem solving in arithmetic. However, most studies investigated the relationship between problem posing and problem solving only by means of standard problem situations. In order to overcome that shortcoming, a pilot study with Chinese fourth-graders was done to investigate this relationship using a non-standard, realistic problem situation. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between students' problem posing and solving abilities. Based on that pilot study, a more extensive and systematic ascertaining study was carried out to confirm the observed relationship between problem posing and problem solving among Chinese elementary school children. Results confirmed that there was indeed a close relationship between both skills.

• School Mathematics
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.651-674
• /
• 2011

Functional thinking is a central topic in school mathematics and the purpose of teaching functional thinking is to develop student's functional thinking ability. Functional thinking which has to be taught in elementary school must be the thinking in terms of phenomenon which has attributes of 'connection'- assignment and dependence. The qualitative methods for evaluation of development of functional thinking can be based on students' activities which are related to functional thinking. With this purpose, teachers have to provide students with paradigm of the functional situation connected to the other subjects which have attributes of 'connection' and guide them by proper questions. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find teaching method for functional thinking by situation posing connected with other subject. We suggest the following ways for functional situation posing though the process of three steps : preparation, adaption and reflection of functional situation posing. At the first stage of preparation for functional situation, teacher should investigate student's environment, mathematical knowledge and level of functional thinking. With this purpose, teachers analyze various curriculum which can be used for teaching functional thinking, extract functional situation among them and investigate the utilization of functional situation as follows : ${\cdot}$ Using meta-plan, ${\cdot}$ Using mathematical journal, ${\cdot}$ Using problem posing ${\cdot}$ Designing teacher's questions which can activate students' functional thinking. For this, teachers should be experts on functional thinking. At the second stage of adaption, teacher may suggest the following steps : free exploration ${\longrightarrow}$ guided exploration ${\longrightarrow}$ expression of formalization ${\longrightarrow}$ application and feedback. Because we demand new teaching model which can apply the contents of other subjects to the mathematic class. At the third stage of reflection, teacher should prepare analysis framework of functional situation during and after students' products as follows : meta-plan, mathematical journal, problem solving. Also teacher should prepare the analysis framework analyzing student's respondence.

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