Learning from Korea about Math Education

1. Learning from Korea about Math Education 5 7 7 Sookyoung Lee, Min Sun Chung, Minji Kim 1 Dr. Shi Hae Kim 2 Department of Teacher Education, University of Wisconsin - Parkside abstract Math Learning Process Results • Improving math competency holds a high position on the national educational agenda. Cross-cultural studies help us to find applications to improve our math teaching. • Korean students rank high in international math tests. We studied Korean students’ math learning strategies by examining what and how the Korean teachers instruct at school as well as the Korean students’ culture of practicing math at home. • Results show that Korean students are more exposed to conceptual learning which is composed of in-depth and higher-level complex practicing with more integrated and combined questions. • Korean teachers demonstrate concepts, and students practice procedures at home from early grades. The result of this rigorous and ongoing routine is that Korean students can learn more and better with each additional year of schooling. Once they leave school, the students master the concepts through diverse and complex practice enabling them to generalize the concepts and then apply them to other situations. • In conclusion, this study sets out some general points and suggestions for improving math instruction and curriculum in American classrooms. • Korean Students: • can increase speed for math learning. • can increase procedural skills. • can increase conceptual understanding. • can increase conceptual capacity. • can do mastery learning. • can build on ability to master other concepts. • can do individualized lesson practice at home and/or at after school program. • do not forget the pre-mastered concepts, so there is less time consumed for review. • do self-study . This increases independent and active learning. • practice more problems, so there is big gap in high school between those who do well and those who do not. • are aware of high expectation on math and high competition motivate them to try harder. • create math muscles so they increase their confidence. • Korean math education : • provides diverse and varied experiences. • has a big parental support of after school programs. • challenges more, and enables students to explore more; therefore they get better scores in math. • focus on increasing speed in early ages and multiple representations up to the abstractive level. . • provides expanded experiences. • Most Koreans believe that academic success is directly connected to social success, and this creates high competition among students. Math is considered as a major subject. • To prepare for highly competitive college entrance exams, students study not only at school but also at home. • Compared to the U.S. math curriculum, Korean students are exposed to more integrated and complex math instruction. This is possible because students are well prepared by practicing an extensive amount of math questions after school. Private tutoring, small group tutoring or self-study are the common afterschool study methods in Korea. • Students practice a sufficient amount of problems to master the concepts they learn at school. This helps them to increase their procedural skills. The level of difficulty is high and sufficiently complex that students are able to develop their problem solving skills. The two major math competency strands, procedural skills and conceptual understanding, enable students to learn at school better. Through extensive practice at home and being exposed to integrated math instruction at school, students learn to perform well in advanced math. Mastery learning of each step makes it possible for them to learn the next level of math easily and completely. • The whole process helps them develop a desirable learning disposition toward math. Schooling Curriculum - Diverse & varied, complex Instruction Social Environment: high competition Home Education After school Self-study Everyday work Sufficient practice Mastery learning in Conceptual Learning Procedural Skills Desirable Dispositions in Doing math Letter from a 3rd grade teacher in korea implications Question example 1: Division Question example 2: fraction • It is never too early to get serious with math : Early starting makes differences. • It is important to recognize that mastering math requires sufficient amount of time. • Highly effective math education should provide more diverse integrated, overall, and complex practice to build conceptual capacity from as early a grade as possible. • Parents should be more actively involved in their children’s learning; parents should recognize that children will master the concepts after sufficient practice. • Without the parents’ support, such as cram schools, tutoring, or individual self-study time, students can not master the concepts. • Since higher level concepts in math can not be fully understood without mastering prior concepts, students should reach mastery on every step. • Educators need to create motivation for students to work harder in math. • Students need to practice math everyday. • After school programs should provide more of a self-guided-study environment, not just a caring custodial environment. • Schools should support and recognize advanced students in math.. • Math instructions should cover all three representation levels: concrete, pictorial, abstractive (generalization) Express the red part of the whole square as a fraction form. Mrs. Kim Fill the blanks. I would like to inform that your son, Jintak, does not master the multiplication table yet, which should have been done in 2nd grade. He cannot follow the 3rd grade Math without completing the multiplication skills. I strongly suggest you help him to master the multiplication table. If you contact me. Sincerely, 진탁이어머님께, 진탁이어머님, 진탁이담임입니다. 진탁이가아직구구단을외지못합니다. 구구단은2학년때배우는과정입니다. 수업에지장이많사오니가정에서특별히관심을가지고지도해주시기바랍니다. 진탁담임. Your son’s teacher, Ms. Lee • This problem is in a 3rd grade work book. • The problem requires the student not only to understand the concept of area, but also to understand the concept of the fraction. • Using supporting lines students need to see the equally divided shapes within the square. • Students are asked to apply their knowledge of fractions in solving the question. • This problem is on 3rd grade text book. • This problem can be solved with fully understanding relationships of quotient, remainder, and divisor. It is not easy to solve by understanding only the process of division. • This letter is from an elementary school teacher to a mother whose son did not fully understand multiplication at the beginning of school year. • This letter represents how much school education and home education are connected closely, and how much parents are involved in their children’s learning. • Most teachers and parents think that students should master what they have learned before moving to a new concept, and this is accepted as the responsibility of parents as well as teachers.