Yang Xin Rong

DOI: Vol.17(No.2) 79-97, 2013

This paper reports findings from a survey of senior secondary school students` epistemo-logical conceptions of mathematics with the adaption of the instrument of the "Concep-tions of Mathematics"-Inventory in China. The survey included a sample of 414 Grade 10 students, 441 Grade 11 students, and 400 Grade 12 students from three provinces. De-scriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and T-test were employed to analyze data in this study. It was found that senior secondary school students mainly focused on objectivity and reality of mathematics, without highlighting the characteristics of sociality, subject-tivity, and creativity of mathematics. In addition, besides gender differences, differences were identified among students from different grades, different areas, taught by teachers with different teaching experience and experience in using reformed curriculum.

Senior secondary school students, epistemological conceptions of mathemat-ics, characteristics, development process

Patkin Dorit , Fadalon Limore

DOI: Vol.17(No.2) 99-118, 2013

The present study focuses on the contribution of a teaching unit to the development of spatial ability of third graders in general and from a gender point of view in particular. The research population consisted of seventy-four pupils: thirty-seven pupils in the ex-perimental group who attended the teaching unit and thirty-seven pupils in the control group. The spatial ability of all the pupils was examined by means of common tests which checked cognitive capabilities of spatial ability. The research findings illustrate an improvement in the spatial ability of the experimental group pupils following the partici-pation in the teaching unit. Moreover, regarding the gender aspect, the findings show that there was no significant differentiation between the spatial ability of third grade boys and the spatial ability of girls of the same age group.

Spatial ability, teaching unit, gender differences, 3D shapes, solid geometry, third grade pupils` spatial ability

Hye Mi Oh , Jee Hyun Park , Oh Nam Kwon

DOI: Vol.17(No.2) 119-131, 2013

It is the first time that there is a subject, advanced mathematics in the 2009 revised high school curriculum. Therefore it is posing a challenge to the teachers who are teaching it. At the advanced level, it is important for learners to reflect on their mental mathematical activities. This research analysed pre-service secondary teachers` reflective thinking in solving the tasks specific for the teaching and learning of polar coordinates. We report how and through what process mathematical tasks that can create disequilibrium for pre-service secondary teachers enable reflective thinking and expand pre-service secondary teachers` thoughts and recognition of defining reflective thinking in looking back on one`s problem solving and thinking processes.

Reflective thinking, polar coordinates, pre-service teachers, mathematical tasks

Moon Ja Jeong , Seong A Kim

DOI: Vol.17(No.2) 133-152, 2013

In this research, we investigated students` understanding of the definitions of sequence of continuous functions and its uniform convergence. We selected three female and three male students out of the senior class of a university and conducted questionnaire surveys 4 times. We examined students` concept images of sequence of continuous functions and its uniform convergence and also how they approach to the right concept definitions for those through several progressive questions. Furthermore, we presented some sugges-tions for effective teaching-learning for the sequences of continuous functions.

Concept image, concept definition, sequence of continuous functions, the uni-form convergence, the point-wise convergence, the ε-N definition, the ε-N proof