• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.247-264
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• 2021

The area of a trapezoid is an important concept to develop mathematical thinking and competency, but many students tend to understand the formula for the area of a trapezoid instrumentally. A clue to solving these problems could be found in Dienes' theory of learning mathematics and Watson and Mason' concept of example spaces. The purpose of this study is to obtain implications for the teaching and learning of the area of the trapezoid. This study analyzed the example spaces constructed by students in learning the area of a trapezoid based on Dienes' theory of learning mathematics. As a result of the analysis, the example spaces for each stage of math learning constructed by the students were a trapezoidal variation example spaces in the play stage, a common representation example spaces in the comparison-representation stage, and a trapezoidal area formula example spaces in the symbolization-formalization stage. The type, generation, extent, and relevance of examples constituting example spaces were analyzed, and the structure of the example spaces was presented as a map. This study also analyzed general examples, special examples, conventional examples of example spaces, and discussed how to utilize examples and example spaces in teaching and learning the area of a trapezoid. Through this study, it was found that it is appropriate to apply Dienes' theory of learning mathematics to learning the are of a trapezoid, and this study can be a model for learning the area of the trapezoid.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.45 no.2 s.113
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• pp.177-189
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• 2006

This study focuses on the analysis of prospective elementary teachers' representation of trapezoid area and teacher educator's reflecting in the context of a mathematics course. In this study, I use my own teaching and classroom of prospective elementary teachers as the site for investigation. 1 examine the ways in which my own pedagogical content knowledge as a teacher educator influence and influenced by my work with students. Data for the study is provided by audiotape of class proceeding. Episode describes the ways in which the mathematics was presented with respect to the development and use of representation, and centers around trapezoid area. The episode deals with my gaining a deeper understanding of different types of representations-symbolic, visual, and language. In conclusion, I present two major finding of this study. First, Each representation influences mutually. Prospective elementary teachers reasoned visual representation from symbolic and language. And converse is true. Second, Teacher educator should be prepared proper mathematical language through teaching and learning with his students.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.565-586
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• 1998

Like many other school subjects, terminology is a starting point of mathematical thinking, and plays a key role in mathematics learning. Among several areas in mathematics, geometry is the area in which students usually have the difficulty of learning, and the new terms are frequently appeared. This is why we started to investigate geometric terms first. The purpose of this study is to investigate geometric terminology in school mathematics. To do this, we traced the historical transition of geometric terminology from the first revised mathematics curriculum to the 7th revised one, and compared the geometric terminology of korean, english, Japanese, and North Korean. Based on this investigation, we could find and structuralize the following four issues. The first issue is that there are two different perspectives regarding the definitions of geometric terminology: inclusion perspective and partition perspective. For example, a trapezoid is usually defined in terms of inclusion perspective in asian countries while the definition of trapezoid in western countries are mostly based on partition perspective. This is also the case of the relation of congruent figures and similar figures. The second issue is that sometimes there are discrepancies between the definitions of geometric figures and what the name of geometric figures itself implies. For instance, a isosceles trapezoid itself means the trapezoid with congruent legs, however the definition of isosceles trapezoid is the trapezoid with two congruent angles. Thus the definition of the geometric figure and what the term of the geometric figure itself implies are not consistent. We also found this kind of discrepancy in triangle. The third issue is that geometric terms which borrow the name of things are not desirable. For example, Ma-Rum-Mo(rhombus) in Korean borrows the name from plants, and Sa-Da-Ri-Gol(trapezoid) in Korean implies the figure which resembles ladder. These terms have the chance of causing students' misconception. The fourth issue is that whether we should Koreanize geometric terminology or use Chinese expression. In fact, many geometric terms are made of Chinese characters. It's very hard for students to perceive the ideas existing in terms which are made of chines characters. In this sense, it is necessary to Koreanize geometric terms. However, Koreanized terms always work. Therefore, we should find the optimal point between Chines expression and Korean expression. In conclusion, when we name geometric figures, we should consider the ideas behind geometric figures. The names of geometric figures which can reveal the key ideas related to those geometric figures are the most desirable terms.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.113-125
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• 2016

The concept and measuring activities of the height of figures are essential to find the areas or volumes of the corresponding figures. For plane figures, the height of a triangle is defined to be the line segment from a vertex that is perpendicular to the opposite side of the triangle, whereas the height of a parallelogram(trapezoid) is defined to be the distance between two parallel sides. For the solid figures, the height of a prism is defined to be the distance of two parallel bases, whereas the height of a pyramid is defined to be the perpendicular distance from the apex to the base. In addition, the height of a cone is defined to be the length of the line segment from the apex that is perpendicular to the base and the height of a cylinder is defined to be the length of the line segment that is perpendicular to two parallel bases. In this study, we discuss some pedagogical problems on the concepts and measuring activities of the height of figures to provide alternative activities and suggest their educational implications from a teaching and learning point of view.

• School Mathematics
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.327-339
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• 2006

In this study, a teaching units for teaching and learning of secondary preservice teachers' mathematising is designed, focusing on reinvention of Bretschneider's formula. preservice teachers can obtain the following through this teaching units. First, preservice teachers can experience mathematising which invent a noumenon which organize a phenomenon, They can make an experience to invent Bretscheider's formula as if they invent mathematics really. Second, preservice teachers can understand one of the mechanisms of mathematics knowledge invention. As they reinvent Brahmagupta's formula and Bretschneider's formula, they understand a mechanism that new knowledge is invented Iron already known knowledge by analogy. Third, preservice teachers can understand connection between school mathematics and academic mathematics. They can understand how the school mathematics can connect academic mathematics, through the relation between the school mathematics like formulas for calculating areas of rectangle, square, rhombus, parallelogram, trapezoid and Heron's formula, and academic mathematics like Brahmagupta's formula and Bretschneider's formula.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.27-51
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• 2012

This paper analyzed the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) presented in three novice teachers' mathematics instruction. PCK was analyzed in terms of the knowledge of mathematics content, the knowledge of students' understanding, and the knowledge of teaching methods. Teacher A executed a concept-oriented instruction with manipulative materials because she had difficulties in learning mathematics during her childhood. Teacher B attempted to implement an inquiry-centered instruction in the lesson of looking for the area of a trapezoid. Teacher C focused on the real-life connection to mathematics instruction. There were substantial differences among the teachers' PCK revealed in mathematics teaching, depending on their instructional goals. The detailed analyses of three teachers' teaching in terms of their PCK will give rise to the issues and suggestions of professional development for beginning elementary school teachers in mathematics teaching.