Oh Nam Kwon,Min Kyeong Kim

DOI: Vol.4(No.1) 1-22, 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using graphing calculators on students` understanding of the linear and quadratic function concepts. The populations of this study are tenth graders at high school in Seoul, one class for the treatment group and another class for the comparison group, and experiment period is 14 weeks including two weeks for school regular exams. Function tests used in the study was proposed which described a conceptual knowledge of functions in terms of the following components: a) Conceptual understanding, b) Interpreting a function in terms of a verbal expression, c) Translating between different representations of functions, and d) Mathematical modeling a real-world situation using functions. Even though the group test means of the individual components of conceptual understanding, interpreting, translating, mathematical modeling did not differ significantly, there is evidence that the two groups differed in their performance on conceptual understanding. It was shown that students learned algebra using graphing calculators view graphs more globally. The attitude survey assessed students` attitudes and perceptions about the value of mathematics, the usefulness of graphs in mathematics, mathematical confidence, mathematics anxiety, and their feelings about calculators. The overall t-test was not statistically significant, but the students in the treatment group showed significantly different levels of anxiety toward mathematics.

Joong Kwoen Lee

DOI: Vol.4(No.1) 23-31, 2000

This research elaborated five components for pre-service mathematics teacher training: 1) Mathematical content knowledge, 2) Pedagogical content knowledge, 3) Pedagogical reasoning, 4) System of training, and 5) Mathematics teachers` beliefs. For the effect teaching, mathematics teacher program should be reformed. The key to improvement should be concentrated on developing knowledge about effective teaching and translating it into algorithms those teachers can learn and incorporate in their planning prior to teaching. A theory of instruction must specify the ways in which a body of knowledge should be structured so that most readily grasped by the learner. A theory of instruction should specify the most effective sequences in which to present the materials to be learned.

Kyung Soon Jeon

DOI: Vol.4(No.1) 33-43, 2000

The purpose of this paper was to introduce sociocultural theory which is a different epistemological perspective from constructivism and to understand the sociocultral theory in a systemic way by providing four specific criteria for a sociocultural theory from the analysis of Vygotsky`s ideas. The four criteria are the followings: First, the origin of learning is not at the individual level, but at the social. Second, Learning takes place in a sociocultural framework through ZPD and there exists the stage of pseudo concept before it gets to a true concept. Third, a clear focus on action, especially mediated action, and the concept of psychological tools should be discussed in the boundary of a sociocultural theory. Fourth, actors in a learning process are not an individual child alone. In consequence, the role of adults, particularly teachers, are significant in a child`s learning, and this fact provides a great potential for the active role of teachers in the students` learning of mathematics from the sociocultural perspective.

Steven H . Kim,Oh Nam Kwon,Eun Jung Kim

DOI: Vol.4(No.1) 45-55, 2000

The rapid proliferation of wireless networks provides a ubiquitous channel for delivering instructional materials at the convenience of the user. By delivering content through portable devices linked to the Internet, the full spectrum of multimedia capabilities is available for engaging the user`s interest. This capability encompasses not only text but images, video, speech generation and voice recognition. Moreover, the incorporation of machine learning capabilities at the source provides the ability to tailor the material to the general level of expertise of the user as well as the immediate needs of the moment: for instance, a request for information regarding a particular city might be covered by a leisurely presentation if solicited from the home, but more tersely if the user happens to be driving a car. This paper presents system architecture to support mobile instruction in conjunction with knowledge-based tutoring capabilities. For concreteress, the general concepts are examined in the context of a system for mathematics education on the Web.