• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.253-266
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• 2017

The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceptions of Elementary school teachers on mathematics instruction. To do this, 7 test items were developed to obtain data on teacher's perception of mathematics instruction and 73 teachers who take mathematical lesson analysis lectures were selected and conducted a survey. Since the data obtained are all qualitative data, they were analyzed through coding and similar responses were grouped into the same category. As a result of the survey, several facts were found as follow; First, When teachers thought about 'mathematics', the first words that come to mind were 'calculation', 'difficult', and 'logic'. It is necessary for the teacher to have positive thoughts on mathematics and mathematics learning, and this needs to be stressed enough in teacher education and teacher retraining. Second, the reason why mathematics is an important subject is 'because it is related to the real life', followed by 'because it gives rise to logical thinking ability' and 'because it gives rise to mathematical thinking ability'. These ideas are related to the cultivating mind value and the practical value of mathematics. In order for students to understand the various values of mathematics, teachers must understand the various values of mathematics. Third, the responses for reasons why elementary school students hate mathematics and are hard are because teachers demand 'thinking', 'because they repeat simple calculations', 'children hate complicated things', 'bother', 'Because mathematics itself is difficult', 'the level of curriculum and textbooks is high', and 'the amount of time and activity is too much'. These problems are likely to be improved by the implementation of revised 2015 national curriculum that emphasize core competence and process-based evaluation including mathematical processes. Fourth, the most common reason for failing elementary school mathematics instruction was 'because the process was difficult' and 'because of the results-based evaluation'. In addition, 'Results-oriented evaluation,' 'iterative calculation,' 'infused education,' 'failure to consider the level difference,' 'lack of conceptual and principle-centered education' were mentioned as a failure factor. Most of these factors can be changed by improving and changing teachers' teaching practice. Fifth, the responses for what does a desirable mathematics instruction look like are 'classroom related to real life', 'easy and fun mathematics lessons', 'class emphasizing understanding of principle', etc. Therefore, it is necessary to deeply deal with the related contents in the training courses for the improvement of the teachers' teaching practice, and it is necessary to support not only the one-time training but also the continuous professional development of teachers.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.335-352
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• 2005

In this paper, we consider a center of gravity of convex polygon which could be an enriched topic for the gifted in mathematics(7th grades) and suggested a case that the gifted experienced a center of gravity. Based on properties of Archimedes' center of mass, we define it as a point which make a polygon be in counterpoised with its area and explain how to find that point through using integral calculus or internal division. Then we consider that the gifted would experience various kinds of mathematical thinking and apply diverse ways of problem solving 3s searching for this topic. As this research, the teacher would be able to conduct the gifted with penetration into center of gravity and to let them participate in advanced learning courses which value ma-thematical thinking while they undergo similar experiences such as mathematicians.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.101-120
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• 2019

The goal of this study was to apply an expectancy-value model(Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) to explain changes in six multi-ethnic students' achievement motivation in mathematics during sixth (2012) to eighth (2014) grades. In order to achieve this goal, we used narrative research methods. Although individual students' achievement motivation and mathematics related life experiences differed, there are some common factors influencing their motivation development, especially (a) roles played by parents and teachers; (b) assessment of peers' competencies; (c) past learning experiences related to mathematics curriculum; (d) perception of the relationship between mathematics competency and other subjects; (e) home backgrounds; and (f) perceived task values. In this study, we achieved some insight into why some multi-ethnic students are willing to study hard to get good scores while others are uninterested in mathematics, and why some multi-ethnic students are likely to pursue new mathematical tasks and persist despite challenges, while others easily give up studying mathematics in the face of adversity. We argue that in order to increase and sustain multi-ethnic students' achievement motivation, educators and parents should recognize that motivation is contextually formulated in the intersection of current people, time, and space, not a personal entity formed in an individual's mind. The findings of this study shed light on the development of achievement motivation and can inform efforts to develop multi-ethnic students' positive motivation, which might influence their mathematics achievement and success in school.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.351-367
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• 1999

This study aims to study the discourses influencing high school students' concept and attitude toward mathematics, and to examine how gender differences concerning mathematical aptitude are created. This study is based on the results of previous two studies which suggested that mathematical competence differs not only according to gender, region and school year, but also even within the same gender. For this study, 12 students ranking in the top 10% at two co-ed high schools were interviewed to find out 1) what discourses are related to gender and mathematics, 2) in what way these discourses are formulated and gain currency, and 3) how they have affected students in general. Common notions concerning mathematics may be summed up as follows: 1) Most of the students believe that gender difference in mathematical aptitude results because biologically men tend to be strong in mathematics and analytical skills while women tend to have better linguistic ability. This concept can help male students' studying to have a greater learning toward mathematics. 2) A large number of the students believe that male students' studying method is based on comprehension whereas female students' method is based on retention, and hence the former group tends to be better at applying their learning than the latter group. This notion seres to encourage male students and discourage female students from tackling difficult mathematical problems. 3) Many students believe that, although female students may surpass their male counterparts in middle school or the first year of high school, they will eventually fall behind by the 3rd year. Despite research which shows that these common beliefs are not grounded in scientific proof, high-school girls, who may be strong in mathematics, lose self-confidence and feel a sense of crisis. The mechanisms which produce and reinforce such concepts as those mentioned above can be summarized as follows: 1) Regarding the choice of majors and future career paths, parents show different attitudes toward sons and daughters, and this tends to influence high-school girls and hinders them from entering mathematics-related fields. 2) Teachers with value systems based on stereo-typed gender roles affect students a great deal, and give different advice according to gender of their students, for selecting their major fields - for instance, whether to study the natural sciences as opposed to humanities. 3) This study indicates that peer-group behavior, of either support or exclusion, also reinforces the process of internalizing notions of gender difference related to mathematical aptitude. 4) The gender-based notion that men are naturally more inclined to have better mathematical ability has caused male students to choose the natural science subjects and female students to turn to the humanities. The discourses discussed above, propagated in schools and homes, and in the mass media, are continually reinforced along with general gender inequalities in the society at large.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.279-294
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• 1999

The level-based task learning had an effect on enhancing the math achievement of enrichment and ordinary classes. Besides, the analysis of mathematical attitude change showed that the level-based task learning took effect in the experimental class in every domain, including self-confidence, flexibility, will power, reaction and value, while it made little difference to the comparative class. The findings were as follows in detail. 1. The Outcome of the Achievement Test 1) The Enrichment Class In the first two tests, there were little differences in the enrichment class, But the disparity between the experimental and comparative classes became larger as this study advanced with 4.3 for the third test, 6.4 for the fourth and 6.1 for the fifth. 2) The Ordinary Class In the first to fifth achievement tests, the ordinary class made less difference than the enrichment class did. But there appeared some effect as this study progressed, since the mean grade disparity between the experimental and comparative classes was 2.1 for the first test, 3.5 for the second, 3.9 for the third, 4.4 for the fourth and 6.3 for the fifth. 3) The Supplementary Class The supplementary class showed no big difference in the first two tests. But, like the ordinary class, there was some effect with the lapse of the third 2.9 for the test, 3.2 for the fourth and 4.1 for the fifth. 2. The Change of Mathematical Attitude 1) The Experimental Class The task learning by level had a great deal of effect on the experimental class, as the pre-and post-comparative analyses showed that this class's grades were 5.1 for self-confidence, 10.8 for flexibility, 11.3 for will power, 9.7 for curiosity, 10.9 for reaction and 2.8 for value. 2) The Comparative Class The relative comparison between the comparative class and experimental class revealed that there was a hole effect on the comparative class. 3. The Outcome of Questionnaire Survey 1) They showed a positive reaction, as 40.1% of them answered the level-based task loaming served to raise their achievement, and 48.0% told so-so, and 11.9% replied they weren't helped by it. 2) The results after the experiment were;37.8% of the students say they under- stood practically everything while 12.6% of them say they under stood almost half. 3) The will to learn after the experiment shows dramatic changes between the two classes, The students in the enrichment class showed better will to learn than the students in the ordinary and supplementary classes did.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.111-119
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• 1999

This paper discusses jLogic, a mathematical logic education software developed by the author. jLogic is basically a MS-Windows based software that can construct first-order models, formulas and thet their satisfiablity. Logical formulas are easily input by a "keyboard" maintained by jLogic. A special finite model, called the "Toy World" can be visually cinstructed and modified. The user is supposed to answer the following 3 questions about the selected logical expression: 1. Is it a grammatically correct logical formula? 2. Is it a sentence that has a definite truth value? 3. Is th sentence true or false? When the user inputs his answer in the "Inspector window" and then presses the OK button, jLogic instantly tests the validity of the answer and tells the user the result. jLogic is freely downloaded from http://gauss.kyungpook.ac.kr/~jlogic/

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.1-20
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to suggest the new way about performance assessment through analyzing about what changes are occurred on mathematical attitude and interest by performance assessment as comparing and analyzing the effect on learners' mathematical preferences and learning attitudes through the application of teaching and evaluating model utilizing portfolio products using mathematical history which is one of the various ways of performance assessment. That can satisfy the feature of performance assessment that realizes instruction and assessment simultaneously on the first grade at high school. Also, it can reduce the teachers' works, search the potential ability of students, realize level type curriculum, and draw out the learners' interests because it is a self-leading instruction that consists of student-centered learning. For the purpose of this study, the role of mathematical history and its advantage and the way of utilizing it in mathematical history by referring to sundry records were studied. Evaluation, the way of performance assessment and scoring were also considered to design portfolio teaching and evaluating model using mathematical history. To solve the another tasks for this study, mathematical preference factors and mathematical learning attitude factors are used. Mathematical preference factors divide into confidence, flexibility, will, curiosity, reflection, and value and then make 4 questions each factor. And mathematical learning attitude factors divide into self-esteem, attitude, and learning habit and then make 10 questions each factor. These factors need to be reorganized the materials which are made by Korean Education Development Institute(1992) to be agreed with the purpose of this study.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.199-210
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• 2004

This study investigates 55 preservice secondary mathematics teachers' situational understanding of functional relationship. Functional thinking is fundamental and useful because it develops students' quantitative thinking about the world and analytical thinking about complex situations through examination of the relations between interdependent factors. Functional thinking is indispensable for understanding natural phenomena, for investigation by science, and for the technological inventions in engineering and navigation. Therefore, it goes without saying that teachers should be able to represent and communicate about various functional situations in the course of teaching and learning functional relationships to develop students' functional thinking. The result of this study illustrates that many preservice teachers were not able to appropriately represent and communicate about various functional situations. Additionally, it shows that most preservice teachers have limited understanding of the value of teaching function.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.221-241
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• 2013

The data for the present paper was a part of a large research project conducted to assess preservice teachers' knowledge related to fractions and place value at a southwestern public university in 2007. The study utilized convenience sampling, consisting of 150 elementary preservice teachers who were enrolled in a mathematics methods course before their student teaching. The results demonstrated preservice teachers' knowledge of teaching comparison, addition, subtraction, and multiplication of fractions was insufficient even though these should be basic knowledge. Teacher preparation programs should emphasize profound knowledge for teaching fractions using representations.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.139-152
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• 2017

In this paper, we examine how secondary school mathematics textbooks on calculus introduce the history of calculus. In order to identify the problem, we consider the Babylonian integration by trapezoidal rule, which was made to calculate the location of Jupiter in 350-50 B.C., and the integration by the method of the rotating plate of ibn al-Haytham in Egypt, about 1000 years. In conclusion, our secondary school mathematics textbooks describe Newton and Leibniz as inventing calculus and place their roots in ancient Greece. The origin of the calculus is in Babylonia and the Faṭimah Dynasty (909-1171) (Egypt) and it is desirable that the calculus is developed in Europe after the development of the power series in India, and that the value of Asia Africa is introduced in the textbooks.