• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.9 no.3 s.23
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• pp.203-231
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• 2005

Students in East Asia have consistently out-performed their counterparts in the West in recent international studies of mathematics achievement. But some studies also show that East Asian students are more rigid in thought, and lack originality and creativity. While different theories have been proposed to account for these student performances, relatively few research studies have been done on classroom practices, potentially a major variable for explaining student performances. This paper will report on the results of two classroom studies: the TIMSS 1999 Video Study and the Learners' Perspective Study (LPS). Results the quantitative analysis of the TlMSS 1999 Video Study data show that the East Asian classrooms were dominated by teacher talk, and the mathematics content learned was abstract and unrelated to the real life. On the other hand, the characteristics of the instructional practices in Hong Kong as judged by an expert panel are that student learned relatively advanced mathematics content; the components of the lessons were more coherent, and the presentation of the lessons was more fully developed. Hong Kong students seemed to be more engaged in the mathematics lessons, and the. overall quality of the lessons was judged to be high. Results of the analysis of the LPS data also show that the classrooms in the East Asian city of Seoul were in general teacher dominated, but students were usually actively engaged in the mathematics learning. Emphasis on exploration of mathematics and practicing exercises with variation was common. It is argued that the quality teaching in the East Asian classrooms laid a firm foundation in mathematics for students, and that constitutes a necessary condition for the development of students' creativity. In order to fully develop the creativity of East Asian students, they need to be given the right environment and encouragement.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.289-309
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• 2018

There has been a gradually increasing focus on adopting mathematical modeling techniques into school curricula and classrooms as a method to promote students' mathematical problem solving abilities. However, this approach is not commonly realized in today's classrooms due to the difficulty in developing appropriate mathematical modeling problems. This research focuses on developing reformulation strategies for those problems with regard to mathematical modeling. As the result of analyzing existing textbooks across three grade levels, the majority of problems related to the real-world focused on the Operating and Interpreting stage of the mathematical modeling process, while no real-world problem dealt with the Identifying variables stage. These results imply that the textbook problems cannot provide students with any chance to decide which variables are relevant and most important to know in the problem situation. Following from these results, reformulation strategies and reformulated problem examples were developed that would include the Identifying variables stage. These reformulated problem examples were then applied to a 7th grade classroom as a case study. From this case study, it is shown that: (1) the reformulated problems that included authentic events and questions would encourage students to better engage in understanding the situation and solving the problem, (2) the reformulated problems that included the Identifying variables stage would better foster the students' understanding of the situation and their ability to solve the problem, and (3) the reformulated problems that included the mathematical modeling process could be applied to lessons where new mathematical concepts are introduced, and the cooperative learning environment is required. This research can contribute to school classroom's incorporation of the mathematical modeling process with specific reformulating strategies and examples.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.14-23
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• 2009

Most of the volunteering and community service had no direct link with classroom learning. Service-learning educational methodology that directly and intentionally integrates the classroom learning with service to the community. Research has found that this combination can improve the academic learning of the course material, give participants a deeper understanding of the social issues they address and provide valuable community services. And, service-learning has been offend environment to meet many of the KEC 2005 criteria that many be difficult to integrate into traditional engineering course. In studying, recognizing why service learning is a new attempt what is different form other learning experiences, we would like to search management strategies for service learning course and program development.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.701-725
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• 2017

Students need to have opportunities to share their ideas with peers by taking part in the conversation voluntarily that is, by persuading others and reflecting the consequences. Recognizing the importance of this point, this study intended to examine students' argumentation occurring in the process of performing tasks in the math classroom. Also, it tried to explore the types of the argument that students used in the classroom and the reason why they employed them with a focus on 'rebuttal', which is one of the six elements of the argument scheme such as claim, data, warrent, backing, qualifiers, and rebuttal. The analysis of argumentation is based on the five argumentation schemes suggested by Verheij(2005). The experimental class was conducted twice a week with four participants who are third grade middle school students. In the argumentation class students were promoted to address two different kinds of geometrical tasks. After the second session of class, the researcher conducted the semi-structured interview. Accordingly, this study contributes to the existing research by making students to have concrete and active argumentation while obtaining the sound understanding of the argumentation.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.159-171
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• 2009

The objective of this research is to explore a method to utilize a programmable robot, as a potential learning tool in the elementary school's curricula. Due to their programmability and operational ease of use, programmable robots are among digital toys that today offer specially instructive features. In this research, we developed the robot game-based project contents as a tool for teaching the elementary school children to learn the algorithm, the essential part of computer programming. The LEGO material, selected as the construction kit for robot, consists of a mechanical assembly system, a set of sensors and actuators, a central control unit, a programming environment. The project requires the children to complete 3 separate tasks, each of which is developed based on the principles of algorithm. The classroom feedback supports that the robotic experiences provided the children with fun and absorption. It is likely that implementing learning with robot in regular classroom in elementary school can bring new possibilities to the educational system, provided that a thorough preparation backs up the plan.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.247-265
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• 2015

Mathematics textbook plays a significant role in shaping students' learning of mathematics. Logic, rigor and abstraction as typical features of the formalization of mathematics, dominate mathematics textbooks around the world, which is regarded as one of the important origins of students' learning difficulties in mathematics. An innovative series of Chinese mathematic textbooks is presented in this paper. Supported by the supplementary materials excerpts from the textbooks, it gives a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the principles of design and implementation of this series of mathematics textbooks. The effectiveness of this series of textbooks is demonstrated by student achievement and secondary research data. It shows that series of Chinese mathematic textbooks has largely decreased students' learning difficulties in mathematics and enhance classroom teaching efficiency. It suggests that prioritizing the essence of mathematics and reducing abstraction is an important notion for mathematics textbook design and implementation.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.02a
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• pp.954-959
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• 2006

Virtual Reality simulation enables immersive 3D experience of a Virtual Environment. A simulation-based VE can be used to map real world phenomena into virtual experience. This research studies on the use of Newton's physics law to demonstrate the effects of forces upon object's falling movement, and their effects towards other fallible objects. A reconfigurable simulation enables users to reconfigure the parameters of the objects involved in the simulation, so that they can see different effects from the different configurations, such as force magnitude and distance between objects. This concept is suitable for a classroom learning of physics law. Preliminary implementation is done on a PC with a joystick for 4DOF movement. The graphics is implemented by SGI OpenGL Performer. A middleware called NAVERLib that consists of Performer's modules for easy XML-based configuration is used for management of visualization, network and devices connection, and where the engine of this domino simulation is attached.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 2000

Although computer technology has a great potential for improving mathematics learning practice, it rarely used in mathematics classroom. The purpose of this study is to suggest the future direction for research in mathematics computer technology. First, there has to be a research on mathematics curriculum that take computer technology into account. Second, research on teaching sequence for certain content area is needed. Because computer technology would change the order of teaching sequence. Third, how students would learn with computer technology? how do they acquire knowledge and make sense of it? Fourth, how could we assess the learning with computer technology? Most of all, because teachers play a key role to succeed in educational reform, they have to be familiar with computer technology and software to introduce it into mathematics learning and to use it properly.

• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.309-339
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• 2003

This paper provides an overview of second language (L2) socialization research, some examples of recent studies addressing this topic, and finally a theoretical reconceptualization of L2 socialization. The three studies to be presented include secondary schools in an English-as-a-foreign-language context in Central Europe, mainstream classes in an English-as-a second-language school in Western Canada, and programs for English language and nursing skills for immigrant Canadians. This empirical, qualitative research does not support a linear, deterministic view of L2 socialization; such a view assumes, erroneously, that students or other novices are fully willing and able to adopt stable, monolingual, local target L2 norms and that members of the target culture are both competent and receptive to the newcomers. Some consequences and implications of these findings are discussed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2001

The current status of in-service teacher development shows that teachers' awareness can be enhanced through critical reflection. This study shows how an English teacher improved her own teaching situation through action research. It reports back the action research the teacher-researcher carried out in the EFL classroom setting. Aiming to improve the pupils' English speaking ability, the teacher introduced 'Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)' to the English class. The teacher and the pupils took part in the evaluation process of learning and teaching. It was found that the new approach to teaching speaking helped the pupils improve speaking ability and take an active role in learning process. It is further suggested that teacher-initiated action research can be done in collaboration with colleagues, administrators and researchers.