• Human Ecology Research
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.105-120
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• 2020

This study helps infant teachers practice a constructivism-based teacher education program that supports infant mathematical inquiry activities and examines improvements in mathematical teaching knowledge, mathematical teaching initiatives, mathematical interaction, constructivism belief and mathematical teaching efficacy. Twenty two experiment group infant teachers and twenty two comparison group infant teachers were chosen at two workforce educare centers. The experiment group infant teachers participated in 18 sessions of a constructivism teacher training program for 8 weeks, but the comparison group infant teachers did not take part in the program. Pretest and post-tests were implemented for the mathematical teaching knowledge, mathematical teaching initiatives, mathematical interactions, constructivism belief and mathematical teaching efficacy in the experiment group. Independent sample t-test and ANCOVA were tested using Windows SPSS statistics 21.0. The homogeneity test for the experiment and comparison group revealed significant differences. ANCOVA was carried out after the pretest score was controlled as a co-variance. Significant differences were indicated in mathematical teaching knowledge, mathematical teaching initiative, mathematical interaction, constructivism belief and mathematical teaching efficacy. The results indicated that a constructivism-based teacher education program to support infant mathematical inquiry activities influenced improvements in mathematical teaching knowledge, mathematical teaching initiative, mathematical interaction, constructivism belief and mathematical teaching efficacy. This study proved the effects of the program based on constructivism theory content for the knowledge, skills and attitude about infant teaching of mathematical initiatives and practiced a program of exploration, investigation, application and assessment for infant teachers. The results can help infant teachers teach mathematical exploration activities and help activate infant mathematical exploration activities.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.50 no.8
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• pp.113-123
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• 2012

This research has an objective of investigating the challenges that student teachers encounter during practicum, the difference between teachers' image based on sociodemographic variables, recognition and satisfaction for practicum, and the effect of teachers' image and practicum experience on the satisfaction for the practicum. The participants of this study included 500 student teachers who enrolled in the department of early childhood education in a 2 or 3-year college or a 4-year university and completed practicum in the Chungcheong area. The instruments for this study were Teacher's Image Scale, Practicum Experience Scale, Practicum Satisfaction Scale and a questionnaire for sociodemographic variables. The results were as follows: First, the highest level of teachers' image was obtained for student teachers enrolled in a 2-year college, completed practicum in large cities and finished practicum at an institution with a size of 3-6 classes. Also, the highest level of 'recognition for practicum' of student teachers was observed when they were instructed by a guidance teacher with a degree from a graduate school and with a first degree certification in public kindergarten. Second, the satisfaction for practicum of student teachers was mostly affected by' the atmosphere of the practice institutions', while personality affected the teachers' image.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.359-376
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• 2022

Based on an ecological model of teacher agency, the purpose of this study was to examine the relevance of HE (home economics) subjects and CSE (comprehensive sexuality education) for HE teachers, and their implementation in HE classes. To achieve this, a survey was conducted with HE teachers nationwide for which 243 responses were collected, and interviews were conducted with five HE teachers who were actively practicing CSE. The results of the survey and interview were as follows. First, HE teachers strongly recognized the relevance of HE subjects and the topic of CSE with an average score of 4.63 (out of 5 points), and practiced CSE at an average of 72.23% (97.12%~43.21%) in their class. Second, based on the ecological approach model of teacher agency, the factors facilitating the CSE practice of HE teachers included: childbirth and parenting experienced as parents, experiences of students encountering sexual problems in school, the philosophy and content of HE subjects, positive feedback from students and support from fellow teachers, and intention to help students in their lives. Conversely, HE teachers cited a lack of sexual education experience as learners, complaints from parents, weakness of HE teacher networks, lack of specific statements in curriculum and textbooks, insufficient class content and teacher training, and lack of absolute class time. This study is significant in revealing that CSE is highly relevant to the contents of HE subjects and is already being practiced in HE classes.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 2012

This study aimed to explore teachers' perceived beliefs regarding teaching practice in the context of three-year Professional Development Project (ProDev) implementing lesson study incorporating Open Approach. The data were collected through questionnaire distributing to the teachers in three schools. Qualitative data were collected through participatory observation on teaching practice and interviewing members of lesson study team. The findings revealed that teacher's perceived beliefs regarding teaching practice could be categorized into three categories according to 3 phases of lesson study as the followings: 1) Perceived beliefs related to collaboratively designing research lessons 2) Perceived beliefs related to collaboratively observing their friend teaching the research lesson 3) Perceived beliefs related to collaboratively doing post-discussion or reflection on the activities of the two phases.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.149-174
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• 2012

This research aims at exploring what Korean teachers of English need for their effective professional development, particularly from the perspectives of peer trainers who are school teachers as well as teacher trainers. The research is based on an assumption that despite the critical roles of peer trainers in the changing process of English education, very little attention has been paid to listening to their voices. Having an awareness of the meaningfulness of their voices in teacher education, the researcher collected and analyzed the data, employing a questionnaire responded by 32 peer trainers and in-depth group interview with 6 peer trainers who responded the questionnaire. The research findings suggest that the majority of peer trainers believe that the priority should be put on teaching practice rather than language competence for Korean English language teacher development. It has been found that they believe that teacher learning within the workplace with some support from outside experts is the most effective way of making classroom change possible and keeping teachers' professional development sustainable. Finally, the research suggests school-based professional development as an alternative strategy to satisfy their needs on effective and sustainable professional development.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.181-198
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• 2013

Teaching and learning mathematics in a classroom setting is based on the interactions between the teacher and her students. Using classroom observations and interviews of students and the teacher, this research examines a first-year teacher and her students' interactions in the mathematics classroom. In this mathematics classroom, teacher and students interaction had inconsistency between mathematical topics and non-mathematical topics. For non-mathematical topics, their interactions were very active but for mathematical topics their interactions were very limited. This paper ends with raising questions for future research and calling for the opportunities for first-year teachers to reflect on their interactions with their students, in particular about mathematical topics.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-26
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• 2024

As the limitations of professional development programs and individual attempts to improve teaching expertise have been reported, mathematics teachers have operated various types of teacher learning communities as alternative teacher professional programs. A teacher learning community can be considered a Community of Practice(CoP) in that it satisfies three factors of Cop, which are common purpose, mutual participation, and shared repertoire, so the 'learning' of a teacher community can be interpreted based on the theory of CoP. The purpose of this study is to investigate the process of identity development of five mathematics teachers who have been continuously involved in teacher communities. For this, the researcher collected data on the entire process of community activities through participant observation and conducted individual follow-up interviews to explore mathematics teachers' narratives and personal experiences. Results indicated that mathematics teachers experienced the development of practical knowledge related to mathematics teaching and learning, improvement of teaching practice through continuous reflection and introspection, and recognization the shared value of togethering through community immersion. Based on these experiences, implications for the effective operation of learning communities such as national support of teacher learning communities and horizontal and cooperative teacher norms were discussed, and follow-up research was proposed.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.433-457
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• 2022

An effective teacher community helps the participating teachers improve their instructional quality. This study reports a teacher community consisting of 15 elementary school teachers and one teacher educator. This paper analyzed 15 mathematics lessons in which the teachers implemented the five practices for orchestrating productive mathematics discussions by Smith and Stein (2018) based on the grade-specific discussions as well as the whole community's discussions. The results of this study showed that the overall levels of each practice either increased gradually or maintained at the highest Level 4, as mathematics lessons had been implemented. Specifically, the following practices were quite successful: setting goals for a lesson, selecting an appropriate task, anticipating student responses, and selecting student solutions. However, both sequencing and connecting student solutions were implemented at various levels. Monitoring student work tended to remain at Level 2 which included incorrect implementation of the practice. This paper closes with implications related to the skillful implementation of the five practices through a teacher community.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.93-110
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• 2020

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the early childhood education teacher's ability to implement play-centered curriculum that is recognized by an early childhood education expert based on an analysis of focus group interviews. Methods: Two professors of early childhood education, two directors of daycare centers, and two early childhood education teachers participated in the focus group interview. The interview was conducted three times. The interviewed data were categorized and compared. Results: The action competence of the play-centered curriculum required for early childhood teachers were categorized into the following categories; comprehending play, recognizing play, and practicing child-centered play. Detailed factor competencies were required for understanding play, reflective thinking, reading play, recording play, playing like a child, and supporting play. Conclusion/Implications: For actualizing play-centered curriculum, early childhood education teachers needed to comprehend, recognize, and practice for child's play. Furthermore, we discussed the necessity and direction of teacher education to improve the teacher's action competence for play-centered curriculum.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.341-363
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• 2017

This case study contributes to the efforts on identifying the essential features of responsive teaching practice where students' mathematical thinking is central in instructional interactions. We firstly conceptualize responsive teaching as a type of teachers' instructional decisions based on noticing literature, and agree on the claim which teachers' responsive decisions should be accounted in classroom interactional contexts where teacher, students and content are actively interacting with each other. Building on this responsive teaching model, we analyze classroom observation data of a 7th grade teacher who implemented a lesson package specifically designed to respond to students' mathematical thinking, called Formative Assessment Lessons. Our findings suggest the characteristics of responsive teaching practice and identify the relationship between noticing and responsive teaching as: (a) noticing on students' current status of mathematical thinking by eliciting and anticipating, (b) noticing on students' potential conceptual development with follow-up questions, and (c) noticing for all students' conceptual development by orchestrating productive discussions. This study sheds light on the actual teachable moments in the practice of mathematics teachers and explains what, when and how to support teachers to improve their classroom practice focusing on supporting all students' mathematical conceptual development.