• The Mathematical Education
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.357-381
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• 2014

This study analyzed the cases of three teacher communities participating in an innovative professional development program and clarified the characteristics and the process of lessons for mathematics-oriented convergence that were developed and applied during the program. Each of the teacher communities designed and implemented lessons according to the context of each community and the concept of lessons for mathematics-oriented convergence were developed and refined. The lessons developed by the three teacher communities were characterized as convergence problem posing lessons using technology, convergence of various subject content focused on mathematical concepts through team teaching, and convergence lessons according to students' achievement levels. The program contributed to teacher community activities by proving sustainable professional development in the area of convergence education, a connection between the content of their professional development and the context of the field, and opportunities for active participation in the process of developing and implementing the convergence lessons.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.484-499
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• 2015

This study explores the impact of a STEM integration teacher professional development program focusing on teachers' perception of engineering and their attitudes toward integrating engineering into teaching. A total of sixty-eight teachers from ten schools participated in the program for five days. Data are collected from three main sources including (1) pre and post concept maps probing teachers' perceptions about the engineering discipline, (2) a pre and post survey measuring teachers' self-efficacy of teaching science/mathematics within the engineering context, and (3) engineering integrated science and (or) mathematics lesson plans and teaching reflections. This study utilizes both qualitative and quantitative research methods depending on the data we have collected. The results show that both science and math teachers thought that integrating engineering into teaching provided valuable outcomes, i.e., promoting students' learning about engineering and improving their interest in science or math through real-world problem solving exercises. Participants also felt more comfortable about integrating engineering in their teaching after the program. The results also imply that the teachers' understandings of engineering become more concrete after the program. This study also provides an overview of the challenges and advantages of teaching engineering in K-12 science and mathematics classrooms.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.267-282
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to develop and apply a Convergence program for teaching of congruence and symmetry and to investigate the effects of the mathematical creativity and convergence talent. For these purposes, research questions were set up as follows: 1. How is a Convergence program for teaching of congruence and symmetry developed? 2. How does a Convergence program affect the mathematics creativity and convergence talent of fifth grade student in elementary school? The subjects in this study were 16 students in fifth-grade class in elementary school located in Songpa-gu, Seoul. A Convergence program was developed using the integrated unit design process chose the concept of congruence and symmetryas its topic. The developed program consisted of a total 12 class activities plan, lesson plans for 5 activities. Mathematics creativity test, a test on affective domain related with convergence talent measurement were carried out before and after the application of the developed program so as to analyze the its effects. In addition, students' satisfaction for the developed program was investigated by a questionnaire. The results of this study were as follows: First, A convergence program should be developed using the integrated unit design process to avoid focusing on the content of any one subject area. The program for teaching of congruence and symmetry should be considered students' learning style and their preferences for media. Second, the convergence program improved the students' mathematical creativity and convergence talent. Among the sub-factors of mathematical creativity, originality was especially improved by this program. Students thought that the program is good for their creativity. Plus, this program use two subject class, Math and Art, so student do not think about one subject but focus on topic 'congruence and symmetry'. It help students to develop their convergence talent.